Marathon Training Week 11

After my short 3 mile run on the last day of Week 10 I flew to Phoenix (again) on Monday. There hadn't been any swelling from my run, but there was still a tender spot on my left calf muscle. As I couldn't fit my foam roller in my suitcase I went to a sports store on Monday evening and bought a softball. It might sound like a strange purchase, but I had been told that it would work just as well as a foam roller and would allow me to apply pressure to a smaller area that the foam roller allowed. Well, it certainly did allow me to apply more pressure and it was quite simply painful, but I could feel immediate release of the tight spots on my calves and the tender spot was gone after about 45 minutes of stretching and massage on Monday night.

I felt good enough on Tuesday morning to head to the hotel gym and run another 3 miles on the treadmill. While I wasn't in pain, there was certainly a tightness down the middle of my calf - which felt very much like the tightness I had had on my long runs. I had stretched before the run and took extra time after the run to stretch some more. I continued the same stretching and massage on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning and evening. I added in some single leg balancing on Wednesday and felt great on Thursday morning.

I ran 4 miles on Thursday morning with less tightness and no pain and I finally felt like I had turned the corner. I flew back to Raleigh overnight on Thursday and resisted temptation to run on Friday and Saturday. The combination of the foam roller and softball removed the tender spot on my calf completely on Friday and by the time Sunday morning came around, I was raring to go for a long run.

I started out slowly and carefully with my mind focused on how my calf was feeling as the miles ticked by. At the end of the second mile I had the option of turning for home or heading up the hill from the Greenway to Durant Road... I turned up the hill and at the top of the hill I was finally able to relax as I felt pain and ache free for the first time in weeks. The miles continued to tick by until I turned around just past the 4 mile point and began trying to work out how I could stretch the run out to a nice round 10. I gave myself the option of calling it a day at 7.5 miles but I still felt great and I headed back down the Greenway for another 2.5 miles for a total of 10 miles.

I continued the new routine of lots of stretching and massage after the run and throughout the day and had no adverse reaction to the 10 mile run! Overall it was a great week where I made some huge improvements both physically and mentally as I was able to gain some confidence back that I would be able to complete some decent training before the Marathon.

Total for Week 11: 17 miles!!

Marathon Training Weeks 9 & 10

One week of rest (Week 9) was followed by a couple of attempts at returning to running in Week 10. The Achilles pain had gone by the end of Week 9, so I decided to go for a run on Tuesday. I started out on my normal 5 mile loop and things felt fine until just past the 3 mile mark when out of nowhere I felt a sharp pain in my left calf at the intersection of my calf muscle and Achilles tendon. The pain was enough that I couldn't run and had to walk the 2 miles back home. Walking didn't hurt at all.

I applied ice, gently stretched my calf and strapped on my compression bandage - it was time to wait and see how bad this apparent calf strain was and what damage had been done. If there was any swelling it was so minimal that I couldn't feel or see it, so that was a good sign that maybe it wasn't a severe strain.

I continued with the stretching and compression for the rest of the week and added in some foam roller sessions. I also made an effort to increase my Potassium intake as it is known to help muscle recovery - I'll be eating two bananas a day now and having a glass of orange juice!

By Sunday I felt comfortable enough to go for a short, slow run to see if I would be able to help the muscle heal by doing some active recovery. I managed to complete 3 miles and at worst the calf muscle felt tight and tender. When I got home I stretched, foam rolled and then applied ice and compression. I am just waiting to see how the muscle will feel tomorrow before I decide whether the short run helped or hindered my recovery.