Thu 11/24 - AM 70 minutes incl. 5k road race

Not an especially pleasant experience, although any major health disaster with the calf was averted. Too early start time (with attendant freezing temps) combined with no caffeine only added to the fun. Given a choice I would have given anything resembling a race a wide berth with the condition of the calf still not close to right, but I had 150 reasons to show up. Still, there was no need or reason to go any faster than a canter. As ever, foolish pride took over after an incredibly awkward start stepping gingerly off the line. Reeled in various morning glories and weekend warriors until I reached my level, which was a depressingly slow 5:40 pace or so. Duked it out with two of the hoi polloi for the all important age group win (in hindsight, worth absolutely nothing) including something resembling an actual sprint the last 100m or so. Still not sure how I pulled that off without straining the calf massively. It of course proceeded to to stiffen up as soon as I was through the chute. Very slow 30 minute cooldown on the rail trail (its proximity for warmup and cooldown being the best thing about the location of this race). Surely set things back yet again with this, hopefully the overall trend remains oriented toward recovery though.