I got to run today! 10 miles in what felt like a swimming pool the humidity was so high. When I took my shirt off I wrung it out and a lot of sweat poured out of it. But I refuse to complain about it, because I got to run... relatively pain free.
If you haven't been following lately, sometime last week, I somehow pulled something in my lower left calf. I would characterize this as a precursor to an injury, this was last Saturday after I had run 10 miles. Sunday, I did my usual bike ride, about 32 miles (equivalent to about 8 miles running). Monday, with full intention to do 10-12 miles, I got about 5 miles in when it felt like something moved in the muscle and I essentially limped home. Tuesday and Wednesday I concentrated on riding the bike rather than running, then attempted, somewhat successfully, another run on Thursday. It was a painful 10 miler, but I made it through (I probably shouldn't have). I took Friday off, rode 40 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday.
What I did right. I took some time off, I found an equally challenging activity that I enjoyed, and I was honest about my pain versus my soreness. I tested my strained muscle, I gently stretched it and rehabbed it with wobble board exercises, a foam roller, and a roller stick. I probably pushed it too hard on Thursday, but the ultimate result is three days off with some at-home physical therapy and it seems as though it's healing well.
I would say I am at about 90% right now and the run wasn't completely pain free, but the pain was obviously different than what I was feeling this past week and a lot less worse. I'm also walking normally with just a little twinge from time to time in the lower calf. Nothing serious, so I'm still calling it a non-injury.
What's important about injury prevention is to know when to take things down a notch. Only you know your body, you know when it's a pain that will become an injury if left untreated. You also know when it's just a pain that you can push through. Yes, you can push through some pain and come out on the other side OK, but it's not a bad idea to err on the side of caution some of the time. It's much better, for example, to focus on cycling for a week than to have to take 6-8 weeks off from doing anything because that strain became a tear.
Yes, there are people who run 100+ mile races through torn fill in the blanks and broken you know whats, but that's not most of us. Remember, this really is just something we do for exercise and enjoyment. Sometimes, I think God can use these little pains, injuries, etc to help us see that there are other things that can be just as enjoyable. Keep your eyes and ears open for all that is out there, you might just be surprised!
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