An unfortunate sequence of events conspired to give me an injury this week. Sunday my calves were tight after 18 miles on treadmill. A few easy runs and I’m sure I could have absorbed that, but I spent Monday and Tuesday on site in stiff work boots, that I hadn’t worn for two months. This would have been manageable too, but then I spent those days going up and down four flights of stairs carrying heavy rubble sacks. It was too much for my wimpy calves and they flared up quite badly. The right one was worse and I couldn’t run properly for a lot of this week.
I would normally be very upset and frustrated by this but, too be honest, one smile from my little girl puts everything into perspective. Two GB sprinters were in a motorbike crash this week and may never compete again, reminding me how lucky I was to only break a thumb. Also, for some peculiar reason, I seem to be able to run up incredibly steep hills with no pain at all, which is convenient as I happen to live up an incredibly steep hill. Not the most specific prep for a flat road marathon, but great cardio and better than bloody aqua jogging.
So, focusing on the positives of this week:
- a whole week without coffee or caffeine, massive achievement for someone who was on 4 cups a day
- my thumb is getting so much better, it could actually be stronger than before I broke it
- running up and down a hill is great for my technique, which I feel I was letting slip lately
- the weather has been simply stunning, and makes this place a paradise
| 16/1/2017 | AM | PM |
| Monday | REST | 10 tm |
| right calf (soleus) very stiff. Start run slowly, it eases off last few miles | ||
| Tuesday | 4 tm | 1 tm |
| worse than yesterday, have to quit PM run | ||
| Wednesday | REST | 7 |
| try running on road in dark, as tm seems to aggravate. Very stiff, gets better | ||
| Thursday | REST | 3 |
| very bad from the start, have to quit | ||
| Friday | REST | REST |
| Saturday | 7 | REST |
| gets better, then gets worse again. Discover can run up steep hill with no pain | ||
| Sunday | 1 x 700m hill | 2 x 700m hill |
| have to be careful on downhill, but uphill remarkably ok | ||
| TOTAL: | 35 miles. tm = treadmill | |