I woke up this morning worried. My left calve was sore and I was paranoid that it was an old injury coming back. If it did come back it would prevent me from running for a minimum of 3 weeks. I stretched it a bit and decided to go for a run before work and try it out.
During the run it felt fine. When I got back it started acting up slightly. I figured it may be due to stress, I remember Mark Allen telling me that often calve problems are stress induced. Or I figured it may be dehydration. I don't remember drinking a lot of water over the past few days. I've had lots of coffee and Coke Zero, but not much water.
The one thing I do know is that even if it becomes an injury and I can't run, I'm doing Clearwater regardless. Even if I have to hop on one leg across that finish line, that's what I'm going to do! So if it's my subconscious trying to stop me from racing, it ain't going to work:-)
I ended up drinking lots of water this morning and even took some vitamins, including fish oil and flax seed oil. I thought maybe they'd loosen things up. By in large, for most of the day it felt fine.
At lunchtime I picked up my bike, they repaired the sheared Aero Pad and Riser. They wanted to charge me $20 and I told them no way, it was a warranty issue, they back tracked quickly and agreed not to charge me. The bonus was that they gave me two nice new arm pads. They couldn't find one to match my old cheap one.
When I left the store I didn't look at the fish & chip restaurant across the street. I didn't want to be tempted again, I figured I better start eating a little healthier. Yesterday I just couldn't resist, but with no regrets, it was well worth it. They tasted so good.
Today was a warmer than normal gorgeous day. When I got home it was 18 C. For the first time in weeks, I felt strong on the bike. I was really getting worried about my lack of strength and thought I lost my mojo. Apparently not, thank goodness. I wasn't even trying very hard and I averaged 31.8 kph for over 2 hours. It felt absolutely amazing riding in warmer weather with the leaves just starting to turn colors and flying down the country roads listening to my Podcasts.
Although near the end of the ride my Podcast ended and there was silence. Just me, the road and nature. I can't remember riding without my iPhone playing something into my ears. It was really enjoyable just hearing the bike whizzing along and having no chatter in my ears.
It was another finish in the dark.
Mod Run 1:06:41 / 8.22 miles / 8:08 pace / 137 avg hr
Mod Bike 2:07:06 / 67.54 km / 31.8 kph / 125 avg hr
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4 comments:
Don't forget to prepare for the heat in Clearwater. I read a biography of a woman who runs the Badwater Ultramarathon and many of those competitors will train in too much clothing or in front of heaters on a treadmill to get the capillarys built up in their skin for better heat dissapation. As long as you (or better yet Mark Allen) have a plan it could help. You're in great shape, though, either way and will be flying in that race. I win my food battles in the grocery store or when I make myself pack a healthy lunch. -James
J, thanks for the advice. I wasn't thinking of the heat. I figured it would be cooler, but I think I'm going to put on an extra jacket to sweat just in case.
Mucho Grande
I love how you give your bike data in metric and your run data in imperial! Actually I don't love it.
Stick with KM lol
Just discovered your blog. Liking it. Good luck in your training prep
Slowdad, too funny. You see I grew up right at the time that they made the change from Imperial to Metric and know both well.
When I first started running, everything was in minute per mile. After 15 year layoff they moved it to min/kilometer and it just didn't feel right. I still like minutes per mile. Although I did make the transition from Imperial to metric on the bike. Go figure.
Maybe I'm like my grandmother. We bought her a microwave and she'd never use it. It was easier for her to use the oven.:-)
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