Wed 6/22 - PM 80 minutes plus 15 minutes in Walden

Lincoln woods. Ran with a bit of a hitch in my stride for a good 30-40 minutes thanks mainly to the calf being sore from yesterday but eventually things smoothed out a bit. Fairly tired which kept the pace on the mellow side just about the entire time. Humid enough that I was sweating a lot by the end. 

Tue 6/21 - PM 30 minutes incl. intervals

Squeezed in a brief run in the little time I had available. 100s, 200s and done. Calf held up to this, thanks in part to wearing more supportive footwear than the spikes last Friday.

Mon 6/20 - PM 50 minutes easy plus 50 minutes elliptigo

Split session beginning with an easy putter around Maynard then followed by a trip to Pine Bluff with the CH. Calf still sore but improving by the day. Very warm day.

Sun 6/19 - AM 30 minutes plus 65 minutes elliptigo plus 15 minutes in Walden

Full on cross-training triathlon, something I hope to repeat on upcoming weekends as well. Got started about 90 minutes later than I had wanted which meant being out with the sun at its highest. Still, not humid so the warmth was manageable. Pond was as ever a refreshing break.

Sat 6/18 - double, 45 minutes very easy plus 50 minutes elliptigo

AM - 45 minutes very easy. Inadvisable to run on the messed up right calf but a chance to join the CH was not something I could resist. Took it very easy and avoided any aggravations of the problem area.

PM - 50 minutes elliptigo. Still feeling the calf somewhat but not that bad on the dork bike. Likely to be my preferred mode of exercise for the next few days.

Fri 6/17 - PM 40 minutes incl. track mile, 400

Underwhelming performance undermined completely by a recurrence of the ever-present right calf strain. All it needs is the right conditions to rear its ugly head and last weekend's track 5k in spikes followed by a 5k in flats the following morning did the trick. While the calf felt tight warming up, I thought little of it and it seemed much better after doing some compressions on the affected area. This was all before putting spikes on which made all the difference as it turns out. To be more precise, running turns in spikes, as even the fast pre-race strides on the back straight weren't an issue. However, 500m into the race I could feel the thing start to spasm and from there it was a desperate attempt to not pull it completely. It's difficult to express how blindsided I was by the calf stiffening  up like this, not something that entered into my thinking in any way going in to the race. While I wasn't headed for an all-time effort to begin with thanks to being completely fried from the past two weeks of move-related nonsense and super late bedtimes, I certainly could have run a lot better if I had both legs under me. Particularly galling to get passed in the final 600 by a couple guys who I could handle with relative ease otherwise. From there I had about half an hour to prepare for the first relay in 20 or so years, as I was pressed into service to round out the DMR the club had entered. If a list were made of every single person in the club in order of preference to fill out a DMR by taking the 400 leg I would be the last person on that list but there was no one else available. Worried if not terrified over what would happen to the calf trying to run fast. Ran in trainers, pleasantly surprised by the fact that I made it through and ran under 70 seconds which was legitimately what I thought I'd be capable of. In fact I was close to 65.