Marathon Training - Week 5

This week has not gone to plan at all!

The temperature of 86F (30C) on Tuesday combined with the fact I did my long run on Monday morning meant I wasn't able to complete my speed workout fully (I did manage 2/3rds of it). I then traveled for work from Wednesday to Friday and was stuck with very old hotel gym equipment. I managed a cross-training workout on Wednesday on the bike but had no intention of trying to run on the old treadmill, so I decided to focus on some strength exercises for my calves - which turned out to be a very bad idea.

I returned home on Friday afternoon, had dinner and set out for my scheduled tempo run (only 2 miles at short tempo pace). Half way through my second mile I felt a searing pain in my right calf muscle that appeared with no warning at all. I have had dull aches in my calf muscles before when running, but nothing like this. I slowed down and ran the rest of the mile in the hope that the pain would subside - but no luck. I decided against attempting the remaining 2 miles of my run at easy pace and began the slow walk home stopping along the way to stretch the muscle gently.

By the time I got home the pain was all the way up the back of my right leg. I had overworked my calf muscle with the strength exercises and had strained it. I got my ice pack out of the freezer and applied it to my right calf. After 15 minutes of ice treatment, the ice pack was now just a pack of warm water but the pain was still the same.

On Saturday morning I bought an ACE compression support and elevated my leg to complete the RICE quartet. I continued to apply ice and compression throughout Saturday and decided to also buy a foam roller to help speed my recovery. By Saturday afternoon I was able to walk relatively freely and by Sunday evening my calf felt better even still with only mild discomfort during focused stretching of the area of the muscle that I had strained.

Today I did a yoga workout and I think I'll add a couple of them to my weekly workout schedule to help keep my body relaxed. I have a history of tight calf muscles and yoga should help with that.

While I might be able to get through my long run at 8:40/mile pace today, I don't think it is worth the possible damage that I could do to my calf muscle. I am early enough in my program and I have a good enough endurance foundation that I can miss a couple of long runs at this stage.

I plan a few days of rest, compression, stretching, foam rolling and yoga and hopefully I will be back ready to run Week 7 of my Marathon Training program.

Speed
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Plan: 10-20 min warm up, 3 x 1600m (6:49) (1 min RI), 10 min cool down
Actual: 1200m warm up, 2 x 1600m (6:47, 6.53) (1 min RI), 10 min cool down

Tempo
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Plan: 6 mile run: 2 miles easy (8:57/mile), 2 miles @ short tempo (7.22/mile), 2 miles easy
Actual: 4 mile run: 2 miles easy (8:40, 8:20), 2 miles @ short tempo (7:11, 7:17)

Long
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Plan: 12 miles @ Marathon Pace + 30 (8:40/mile)
Actual: None