Unscheduled off day today. Left calf definitely not healthy. Deep in the vertical center of my lower leg there is a stiffness/pain that occurs when I move my leg forward while my foot is planted. Pretty much happens just past the 90 degree point. I could probably run today as it seems to get a bit better on warmup but I'm not going to risk further damage....it didn't get any better after yesterday's easy day and I've got too much riding on the next month or so. I'm hoping that its not really serious and just needs an extra day of rest but have broken out the ice and and rolling pin (poor man's "The Stick") just in case. I'd flirted with the idea of cross-training on my recumbent bike instead but decided one day of complete rest won't kill me...plus, I'm not sure if the bike would make it worse. I hope to be back on schedule tomorrow but there's a very real possibility I'll be punting on my Yasso 800s workout. ******* Boy, I can be a real idiot. I'm glad I married someone clearly smarter than I am to remind me of that fact (politely, of course) periodically. I bought a pair of Vibram Five Fingers and got them on Friday evening. I've read (and they even warn you) that you should gradually introduce yourself to them so you can build up any missing leg strength. I've also read that folks tend to get sore calves for a couple of weeks. So Mr. Smart Guy (me) decides to wear them after his long run on Saturday. Not that I did anything crazy, but I did putter around the house for a bit *and* drove out to the barn and walked around out there for about an hour or so. All this, of course, completely escaped my attention in trying to figure out what I'd done to deserve my sore left calf. It didn't even register when I noticed my *right* calf was a bit sore today too. Now granted, some of this started before I got the Vibrams, but I'm sure they made it much worse. And I distinctly recall saying I wouldn't do anything dumb to mess up my last months training before the marathon. All of which is why I'm so glad my wife is smarter than I am...
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