Monday, February 13, 2012

And Then It Happened (Injury Bug)

Happy Monday everyone.  Well not really a happy Monday for me.  The ugly injury bug bit me hard on Friday.  Let me just preface the story with the fact that I am a big baby when I am hurt.

Friday was a normal easy run day.  It was scheduled to be 8 miles at an easy pace.  Well as soon as I hit the road to start my run, I felt a slight pain in my left calf.  I ignored it thinking that I was just still tight and that the pain would go away.   And mostly it was just a dull throb for the first 3 miles.  Then it started to flex its control.

It felt like a cramp.  So I just did what you normally do when you have a cramp while running.  Run it quickly while still moving.  Well it didn't work.  So I decided that I would take it easy for a couple of blocks.  Well this still didn't help.  In fact it started hurting more.

Now on the verge of panic, I tell myself to just continue slowly.  Not racing so time is not important.  So I finish the run.  By now my calf is screaming bloody murder.  It hurts like crazy.  So I decide to R-I-C-E it.  I immediately get everything together.  I get an ice pack and  ace bandage.  I wrap it and sit there with it elevated for the rest of the afternoon.

It still feels a little tight but I know that I have a 45 mile ride on Saturday.  I caution myself against getting upset.  I say the worst thing that could happen is that I would just have to cancel the weekend workouts.  Well the ride went really well.  No issues.  So now I am thinking that maybe the pain will go away once I start running.  Sunday I had a 16 mile run scheduled.  So again my plan was to just take it easy and go as far as I could.  Well I didn't get very far.  I started to run and the pain immediately returned.

So I went back inside and decided to just take the day off.  Well its Monday now and there is still pain there.  I am not very happy with it but what can you do.  I just have to face the reality of age.  I am not going heal as quickly as before and I just have to accept that.

I have to trust that I have built a solid base and I will be ok.  Tomorrow is a 7 mile run.  I am going to start it on the treadmill and see how it goes.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday

Well today was a much better day.  Not feeling as blah today.

Today was a 25 mile ride.  It was cold and misty but I got it in.  the story for today's ride and you know there is always a story, was an older gent riding as well.

For some reason my cycling time has been declining.  Today I averaged about 17.2.  When I look at the course it doesn't seem that daunting but it is totally kicking my butt.  This is the forth time in the past week that I have ridden this course and it's not getting any easier.

Oh well, I will get it.  I am going to continue this route and work it out.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Dragging Butt

Today my energy level has totally tanked.  I am not sure what's going on but I just want to go somewhere and sleep and sleep and sleep.

I know that over the past couple of days I have put in some hours training and running around and just doing different things but in the grand scheme of things, it hasn't been much more than I would normally do.  I am not sure what the deal is.

Am I getting sick?

Is it just old age?

Bad diet?

I don't know but I seriously have to kick this.  This morning I went to the pool.  Everything felt normal.  I was actually out of the house relatively quickly.  I made it to the pool by 6:15.  I only had to wait a minute for a lane.  Nothing major.  Today was the second straight day of speed work.  Ha, imagine me talking about speed work in the pool.  Well after my warm up, I was spent.  I had zero energy left.  I was bankrupt.  but I had to get my workout in, so I soldiered through it.  I wouldn't want to compare my time with a snail but it was all completed. Every lap and the cool down.

I left the pool and wanted to head home and find my pillow.  Well we all know that that will not happen.

At lunch today, I had an 8 mile run.  Where have all these 8 miles runs come from.  The distance is just so odd.  Also and probably more importantly it is really hard to map from the office.  I finally figured out a course (remember my energy level is still low).  I take off for the run and tell myself to just get it in.  Remember you are building.  That is my new mantra.  So I get the run down and still zero energy.

Now I struggling through the remainder of the afternoon.  And to make things even better, I have a meeting tonight which will probably last until 9 pm. Yeah.  Well at least I get to sleep until 6:30 tomorrow morning.