My fifteen miler last week following a 2 mile repeats day sent my achilles way to deep into pain. So, it was a rough week last week. Mostly rest, some cross training, and a test run on Saturday on the treadmill.
I woke up this morning with my calf muscle spasming . . . not a good sign. I got up and started moving around trying to get the blood flowing. I think that is the most difficult thing about an achilles injury . . .it's hard to get blood flow to it.
After getting dressed to run, I hopped on my spinning bike and biked for 15 minutes to get the legs warmed up. Then, I headed to the health club to run on the treadmill. The treadmill seems much easier than the roads on it. The first mile was pretty painful, but then it warmed up. I started at 8.0 mph and increased .1 every half mile. The last five minutes I increased every minute to finish up at 10.1 mph. (a little tempo pacing.) I hit 8.8 in an hour. I was going to finish the last .2, but I hit some button on the treadmill accidentally that turned it off. I figured I could count the last .2 from the morning spin.
So, hopefully with lots of TLC this week I will make it to the half marathon this weekend. I would scrap it and let my leg heal, but I've already paid for the plane tickets. I'm sure I can run pretty well if I can stay healthy enough. The key will be not pushing my foot too deep this week. I hate my body sometimes. | 