Thu 11/17 - PM 80 minutes easy

Area 51. The recovery continues apace. Started out slowly, but gradually picked up steam and doing some actual running in the last 10 minutes. Calf held up to it fine. Also somewhat less soreness in the high hammies than yesterday, took a bit longer for it to become noticeable this time. Much cooler today than yesterday, chilly after lingering showers cleared out.

Wed 11/16 - PM 75 minutes very easy

Area 51. Not quite as slow as yesterday, but still puttering to be sure. Calf coming along, full recovery still nowhere on the horizon of course. Easy jogging until then. Obnoxious rain all afternoon, failed insofar as dressing for it. High hammies got sore right around the hour mark which was disappointing but not surprising, that area remains a mysterious subtle mess.

Tue 11/15 - PM 60 minutes very easy

Tiger Drive to Old Marlboro and Longfellow, back via Waltham. About what I expected, in that the calf is still very vulnerable but going superslow on flat ground didn't bother it. Felt better by the end as well. Continued icing and compressions are helping a great deal with the recovery from the strain.

Mon 11/14 - off

Figured there was no way I would be running today after yesterday's damage. Did enough icing and compressions on the calf over the past day and a half (incl. at 5:30 AM) to get to a point where I felt like a superslow jog on flat smooth ground was doable. That went by the boards due to being overwhelmingly tired (see 5:30 icing session). Barely able to keep my eyes open on the drive home, went straight to bed for a too long nap once I did.

Sun 11/13 - AM half marathon in 1:21

Ugly ugly effort on the NH seacoast. Started out feeling relaxed but also with a strong inkling I had bitten off more than I could chew even though the pace was modest at best. The real bs started just after five miles when I slowly came to realize my left soleus was locking up. This came as quite a surprise although maybe it shouldn't have been given the stiffness in the left ankle/heel over the past week or so. It got tighter and stiffer with each step from there on out. Layout of the course is such that I could have stopped around 7.5 mile mark and gotten a ride back to the start but instead I stubbornly soldiered on. Lost the last money spot soon after that, no real surprise given I couldn't run anything resembling a decent pace anymore. Still persisted for a pair of shoes, which I ended up winning because the race was (as expected) quite non-competitive after the top 3. Limped through the last 5k and jogged it in across the line. Did some work on the calf after the race, very tender and sore of course, remains to be seen how much of a setback this will be. More worrisome even than the calf which will heal in time was the tight heavy feeling in both hammies that got progressively worse as well. Something that's been bugging me for six weeks or so.

Sat 11/12 - AM 25 minutes very easy

Another early slog, took some doing to get out of bed and out the door. Left ankle/heel quite stiff for the first couple of minutes, then it suddenly loosened up similar to how the right VMO attachment behaves most of the time. Ahh, aging. Breezy morning.