Ran the striders 10 miler today. The day started out well. I got up at 6:00 and ate the usual prerace breakfast (oatmeal and a banana). Got to the course around 7:30 AM and was warming up around 8. I ran the first 2 miles and felt good. No residual pain in my calf.
Got to the starting line and was set on running a relaxed pace from the gun. I wanted to test out my marathon pace (5:20) and it felt really easy. From the gun Joe took off and I really didn't feel like going with him to see "what I had." I ran with Paul for the entire race except for when he pulled away from me in the 9th mile.
8 of the 10 miles on course were fine; the hills were tough but the downhills were really tough. I can usually pull away from anyone on the downs, but my calf tightened up on the first few miles and I knew I had to back off. I got a bit frustrated because my usual strength had become my weakness. By the end of mile 8 I was experiencing sharp pain shooting down my right calf and knew it was game over. Paul was catching me and he looked good. I thought he had a shot at catching Joe so I amped up the pace a bit, which felt really good, and tried to pull Paul closer to Joe so he could slingshot around me to a glorious finish. I failed him miserably when my calf totally gave out and I had to pull up on the reins and come to almost a complete stop. I limped in the remaining half mile or so (it felt like 5 miles).
Overall I am quite disappointed in my body. I had plenty of fuel in the tank but my calf gave out. This very same thing happened last spring in a 10 mile race which makes it all the more aggrivating. I don't know if this calf thing is age, diet, physiologically or anatomically related but I am getting very tired of it. | 