The Process Part II

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 · Mike Davis

Good morning running world! Kathy and I are vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and so far it has not gone according to plan. The weather has been not so great but the real bummer has been Kath being sick. Hopefully the second part of our week will bring better health and a little better weather. We have a great beachside place that lets us either sit on a deck or watch the waves roll in from our living room. Yesterday I did take some positive steps in my road back to recovery but, not all positive. I did some great foam rolling and really worked my calf before heading out and had great expectations as I headed out the door. No way would I put my calf through running on the beach so I ran along the very straight and flat road outside of our accommodations. Early on my calf was great and I was feeling confident that I would exceed my total time and distances from my previous runs. As I said the route was flat and that certainly benefited my calf quite a bit. My initial plan was to move from increase from 30 to 35 minutes of running but as I ran I started thinking that 40 minutes would get me further along in my recovery process. I chat a lot about “intelligent training” and yesterday as I ran at a much faster clip than I have, as well as well as doubling my planned increase in time, I can tell you there was not “intelligent” about that. The faster pace was good for me ego and the idea that I could feel like I am getting closer to normal Mike run both clouded my better judgment. My calf felt great and I was sure that the new foam rolling method I used was magic! With the new plan of running 40 minutes I turned around at the 21 minute mark figuring I would run back faster than I ran out. Thoughts started running through my head about getting back to running intervals, greater distances and even looking for a 10K race to run. Boom; at 28:20 a sharp pain shot through my calf! Quickly I slowed to a walk. Thankfully the pain was not severe and after a couple minutes my calf felt normal. Normal enough that I was able to slowly run for 4 more minutes and reaching my initial plan of 35 minutes. My longest run both for time and distance since I hurt my calf. Most definitely I need to be more intelligent when it comes to my own training and like many runners; I am not as disciplined as I need to be. If I had slowed my pace down early and stayed with my planned time I have no doubt my run would have been a perfect 35 minutes and not interrupted by the sharp pain. Thankfully I am confident that I do not think I set myself back but, I could have and that would have been a real bummer. I am getting there and will have to be more patient as well as smarter. The nice part of my story from yesterday was I was able to jump on a path on my walk back and finish walking along the beach. Such a great feeling walking along the beach with the water so often coming up enough to hit my feet (shoes in hand). Despite the minor bump during my run, the enjoyment of being out there was wonderful. Tomorrow I will be out running again with a plan of 35 minutes of easy running. I will stick to it and then once again finish with a nice walk along the beach. Looking forward to it! Have a great day and enjoy your run! God Bless! Mike