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Return to -- Maine? Reality?

Meg and I ran again on Saturday, the same course as before, but reversed. I'm sure it is more than 3.5 miles. Aerobically I felt good most of the way, but I had noticed that my calves have really tightened up, so I did an unusual thing: I stretched a little before I ran. After about three miles one of my calves was really tightening up. I ended up walking the last 1/4 mi+.
I'm not blaming it on the stretching. Conventional wisdom for runners says you should increase mileage by only 10%/week. I put mine up by around 30%, and increased the intensity during the same week.
The calf feels good today. I may be able to get through this just by dropping the mileage back naturally (because I'm not on vacation any more).
I'm considering that I may have to initiate some of the things that mature runners do, like regular stretching and strength training. I hate to consider it, but I don't want to spend the summer with a nagging tightness, or go down with an injury.

Comments

Jeff said…
When Meg got home we went for a run. My calf was fine and stayed fine afterward; I actually ran for significant parts of the whole thing. I'm starting to think if I keep at it I could actually be able to really run for a whole 5K in a couple more weeks. I might be ready to bust a good time at the Sea Dogs 5K.
6:11 PM
Pete said…
Be careful if the tightness seems to include the Achilles tendon and stay on flat ground to the degree possible.

I have registered for the Mother's Day race and am hoping to bust a decent time (sub 21:00)
12:56 PM
Jeff said…
It was really like the top of the achilles, and I worried because I had achilles plus plantar issues two summers ago and a little bit last summer. I ran Monday and again today and played wallyball on Tuesday, and everything's fine --maybe a little sore last night.
I'm starting to suspect bike riding as a contributing cause, because I had been for kind of a long, if leisurely, ride the day before, and of course, I rode quite a bit the last two summers.
4:30 PM
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