Wow...what a difference 24 hours makes. Not only did I not get to double yesterday, but after putting ice on my calf last night, everything went downhill from there. I woke up in the middle of the night in writhing pain in my left calf. After a couple of hours of not being to sleep I was able to find some oxycodone. It killed most of the pain and at least made things bearable although I was never able to get back to sleep. I've just never had pain like this. Not only could I not put any pressure on the leg, but it hurt simply lying down. I managed to get into the PT this afternoon and got checked out.
We ruled out a stress fracture but the PT didn't even have to touch my calf to see the big knot in it. It was so sensitive to the touch that she wasn't able to work it over as much as she would have liked but it was a start.
In hindsight, I deserve what I got. 100+ mile weeks are simply not a smart thing for me. I've talked about it over and over. Every time I approach 100 miles my body starts to break down. The difference this time is I felt good during virtually all of the mileage. The consequences didn't come until two days later though. So I'm recommitting to myself once again to never ever try for 100 miles again no matter how good I might feel in the beginning or middle of the week. It's not wise, and frankly, not necessary. I need to be happy with mid 80s mileage any extra energy on getting higher quality workouts. It is those that will help me most in my marathon racing. All I did by running 103 miles last week was get hurt, seriously jeopardize my November marathon plans and make it so my mileage this week will be almost zero. Not smart.
It wasn't just the mileage thought. It was how I got there. I jumped from 60s, to low 80s to 103 miles. Somehow I didn't feel like the 10% rule applied to me. And I still believe 10% is probably too conservative for someone who has been building up a pretty good base for a few years now. But jumping 25% week to week while doing to hard workouts in a week is insane.
The third factor was likely my shoes. I fell in love with the Brooks Launch and ran way too much in them. They are a straight up neutral shoe. I have a mild to moderate pronation. If I were a mid mileage guy, I may have been OK. But where the injury is and the movements that make it hurt are an indication of a collapsing arch caused in part by an unsupportive shoe. So I am putting aside the Launch, at least as a primary shoe. Too bad....I love that shoe more than any other.
So I will have to jump back to the Infinity or the Ravenna which is a new mild/moderate suport shoe that they have come out with that is also pretty light. Ugh...why do I do these things. | 