Good morning!
Coffee & Chat has been on hiatus for a couple of weeks due to computer problems, but after 5 visits to a computer repair shop, I am now once again operational. A bit frustrating, but I survived.
My 30 days of downtime from running ended last Monday, which happened to coincide with my 55th birthday. I was eager to get back on the road and it felt great to be lacing up my Saucony Kinvara’s! After a 4 minute walk, I eased into a comfortable pace and enjoyed 40 minutes of wonderful running. I felt much better than I would have expected and experienced no problems with my calf’s. My only negative was a stumble just after my turn to had back home that resulted in a scraped knee and a bit of a sore hand. I told a few people that a squirrel tripped me, but that was a bit of embarrassment fiction. Nevertheless, despite the tumble, I enjoyed celebrating my birthday moving my running shoes.
I was back in my Kinvara’s on Friday and the results were not quite as positive as the previous run. Just before mile 1, I felt a slight tug on the lower calf and I instantly stopped running. Yeah, a bit frustrating, but my eagerness was most likely the culprit. Monday’s run was on a flat terrain, while Friday’s was started out on some hills, which is not the smartest move for working calf muscles back into shape. Thankfully, I did not push through but instead walked back home. After getting back home, I hung out and when Kathy got home, we took a great walk that left me feeling good about my calf’s.
Tomorrow, I will be back in my Kinvara’s and I will temper my eagerness to repeat the 40 minute run of the previous week, and do an easy run/walk. My daughter reminded me that I need to not only strengthen the calf, but I also need to be stretching it regularly. I will do that today, as well as some self-myofascial release (foam rolling) and then I will begin the process of building up the calf muscles ability to handle the stress of running. It is always about patience for me!
This week is going to be awesome! After a practical tomorrow in group fitness instruction and a couple of midterms on Tuesday, I am going to take the train from here and go to Washington DC for an Ideafit conference. I am looking forward to the train ride and really excited about the conference and all the classes on fitness.
Hopefully I will be able to do a chat while riding the rails on Wednesday. I may even tweet along the way, so follow me at: https://twitter.com/nofinishlinerun. Have a great Sunday!
God Bless!
Mike
Coach Mike’s running tip
Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) (foam rolling) after a run will make your next run more enjoyable.
