Oops, I Did It Again

Hmmmm.... first week back to running: 18 miles including 8 all at once. On Sunday, my calf was SINGING. And not a happy tune. I hoped it would feel better on Monday. It. Did. Not.

On Monday, I met my new personal training client and we ran a few miles togehter. My calf was killing me, but it was my JOB and she was paying me for running with her. I managed to finish the miles and by Tuesday, my calf hurt even when walking. It just so happened that Tuesday night at the monthly Clarksville Running Club meeting, the guest speaker was a physical therapist. She is the only game in town that has this new treatment called ASTYM. It's a SCRAPING treatment for muscles that have been injured and have healed all jumbled up--like cooked spaghetti. Basically, she scrapes this plastic thing down the muscles (it only hurts a little) and it causes inflammation (not unlike deep tissue massage) and the muscles realign correctly. Or something like that. It left me with 7 small bruises, but I have hope that it will work and I can put this injury behind me! The thing about calf injuries is they tend to linger. And linger.....

I have two more treatments scheduled for this week. In the meantime, I can run only short distances, no hills, no speedwork. I tried to figure out if 4 miles was a "short distance." My long run was this morning, so I ran in 1/2 mile increments and then walked 1/4 mile increments through 6 miles. Technically, only about 4 of them were running. I felt pretty darn good afterwards. We'll see how I feel tomorrow!

I think the run/walk thing is going to be KEY to coming back from this injury. The Women's Half Marathon is in 8 weeks. I have to take it easy, but still cover some fairly long miles with my training group. (Again, I'm getting PAID for the job, pretty much need to be there!)

At the beginning of last week, it felt completely better. I had rested, used my foam roller, massaged it, and done all the right things. Then I overzealously jumped into that 8-miler and it flared up again. Oh well, at least now I know what NOT to do.