Calf Injury and Man Flu

Got to love it.  I just started getting back into it from a minor calf injury only to be struck down with the man flu...

 

It was a 16k Friday then a 32k Saturday that caused the injury.  I actually didn't notice I had done any harm until my recovery run on Monday.  It was on my way back that I started to feel a sharp stabbing pain going up the middle of my right calf from the top of my achilles.  I walked the rest of the way home and decided a few days off would be the best medicine.  I knew I had done damage but I thought I stopped early enough for it to be OK.

 

A week later I struck out on a slow 8k to test the waters.  My calf felt tight but other than that seemed pretty good.   I then gave it a rest for another couple days and ran another 8k later that week.  After the second 8k I felt strong enough to do a 24k run on Saturday.

 

This Saturday I was actually meant to be running another 32k but I didn't want to push it and really mess myself up so I kept it to the 24k.  I felt good and kept a pace of around 5:30, which was slow but felt OK.

 

Just when I though I was back on track, Tuesday morning I was struck down with the filthy Man Flu.  And when I say struck down, I mean, struck down like a son of a bitch!  I was literally on the couch for the rest of the week, stuck in a brain fog that can only be likened to that of a really bad hangover, without the previous night's fun.  It wasn't until that Saturday that I started feeling any kind of clarity again, so I though it would be worth a little trot as I was meant to be running 36k that day.  Boy was I wrong!

 

I struck out about 9am, once the sun had a chance to get up.  The first few kilometres felt amazing and knocked a whole pile of rubbish loose from my lungs and nose.  Further in, around 12k, I started getting tired quick.  I though, well, I'm too far in to stop now so I pressed on.  I made it to the 18k turn around point feeling pretty damn shabby.  At least it was time to head home, so I spun around and made my way back.

 

Coming back through Warners Bay at around the 26k mark, I completely fell apart and decided it was time to give up and walk.  By this point the wind was quite strong in my face and I just didn't have enough juice in the tank to keep going.  Plus, I was still reasonably fresh from injury so I didn't want to completely ruin my chances of running the impending Sydney marathon.

 

I made a couple shortcuts on the way home, which dropped about 2k off the total.  This worked out quite well as the walk through the bush along the lake is a really great walk.  I even had time to top and try catch a little water dragon.  Turns out it was far too agile to be caught by a very tired long–distance runner.  Hey, it was worth a go.

 

A week on and I'm feeling strong again, although, not nearly strong enough to be running a 5:00 OA for the marathon.  Plan B is 5:20 OA or slightly under, if I can keep it together.  Oh well, see how we go.  In the very least, I can't wait to spend a few nights in the Sofitel taking full advantage of the club lounge.

 

One week to go...