On the Road Again???

Starting to fret now as the healing process drags out and the ultra-marathon gets closer and closer…


After a ten day layoff from running I ventured out for six miles Wednesday morning.  The calf was still weak and painful, though much improved from the last effort.  Didn’t seem to have stressed it too much so it was back out again Thursday.


The game plan for Thursday’s trot was to try and extend the distance beyond six miles, and if the calf felt okay to stretch it out as far as twelve.  Unfortunately, the entire run was a mild disaster.  This was the first time I strapped on the hydro belt since I began injecting the CGM sensor into my abdomen and the crazy belt rides high enough to rub up against where I had placed the sensor.  So the initial conundrum limiting any desire to run a longer distance was the need to continually keep one hand on the belt to ensure it didn’t dislodge my sensor.  Not a fun way to run!


Enduring this annoyance, I persevered and decided to run behind the local high school.  I take a road that extends 1.7 miles between River Road and Carolina Beach Road, past the local high school (and middle school and an elementary school).  There is a single left turn just before the high school which appears to run behind the school and sure enough, when you near the other end there is a road plugging back in.  Seemed a logical conclusion that this was a continuous piece of pavement, but as luck would have it, they are independent stretches and the first road dead ends at the ball fields behind the school.  There was a trail and I started running down it, assuming I could squeeze behind the fencing around all the fields, but after several hundred yards it is blocked by an impassable stand of brush and fencing, so I had to turn around and backtrack.


Of course the final straw was that my calf started giving out and although I ran the whole way (except for when I was trying to push through the brush behind the ball fields), I only logged eight miles and once again my calf is painful and swelling.  Even worse, this morning my legs were a little stiff.  I sure hope this layoff hasn’t caused my endurance to rot so much I get sore after an eight mile jaunt (though it was more likely due to an awkward running style to try and protect the calf).


What to do?  Tomorrow I will try to get six miles of road work in and follow up with an hour of rowing + an hour on the bike --- hopefully this will still provide an extended workout that doesn’t cripple me.  We’ll have to see how this pans out before deciding what to do for the last two weeks of training.  The big disappointment is not being able to test how the CGM helps me manage long runs (Saturday was supposed to be the final 26 mile training run).


Trying to keep the spirits and prepare myself as much as possible, but a disconcerting development…