First off, a huge thanks to everyone who expressed concern, gave advice, and sent “good vibes” my way on overcoming my calf pain.  The general consensus was to foam roll, ice and rest, so I did a little of everything.  I foam rolled on both Wednesday and Thursday along with doing some extra stretches.  I also have been icing my calf almost constantly as well.  (Side Note: I got an ice bag (two actually) for Christmas and it has made icing so much more pleasurable.  Gone are the days of leaky Ziploc resulting in wet pants.  Highly recommend one.)   I even did rest a bit – sort of.  Thursday was supposed to be a 4 mile run and an hour big ride.  I did still run, but only did about 3 miles.  I was relatively pain free and mainly wanted to get out and see how it felt.  I skipped the bike ride entirely, but that was more due to an emergency session of online Mario Kart Wii than the injury.  Yes, I have my priorities in order.

As for my run today, I am happy to announce that I completed all 21 miles pain free.  Well, at least I was free of any pain that was out of the ordinary for a 21 mile run.  Yes, my legs were killing me for the finale 5 miles or so, but they were just tired, not hurt.  My calf didn’t bother me at all the entire way.  Even now that I am done, it hasn’t even tightened up.  My hamstring is a bit tight, but I guess I’ll just have another appointment with the foam roller tonight and work it out.

Overall the run went fairly well.  I got a later start than I wanted (this seems to be becoming the norm) and headed out at 10:00.  My original plan was to do loops around Reeds Lake.  This way, I would be able to stay relatively close to home in case my calf acted up.  On my first lap, I ditched my water bottle in some bushes so that I didn’t have to carry it on the first loop.  I wouldn’t need it right away any ways. 

After finishing the first loop and picking up my water bottle, I decided to change up my planned route because I didn’t have any pain.  And, I realized that laps around the lake were going to get boring really quickly.  So, I ventured out and headed towards downtown, did a loop around Aquinas College and a loop through Calvin College before finishing with a second loop around the lake.

 
I definitely got slower as I progressed, but I’ll take it.  I am a little disappointed in the two miles that came in at over a 9 minute pace though.

It was actually pretty a good route.  The sidewalks were still covered in sloppy snow, but the roads were clear so I stuck to running on them.  Not too bad considering we just got 10 inches of snow on Wednesday.

After I got home, I immediately took a snow bath for my legs.  I didn’t have any ice again, but had plenty of snow.

I followed that by gorging myself with left over pasta and a gigantic chocolate milkshake.  It really hit the spot.

I get to take a rest day tomorrow, which I desperately need.  I may still head up to the pool though because I missed my Wednesday swim.  That may sound like breaking the rules of a rest day, but sometimes swimming is almost more therapeutic than doing nothing.

Again, thank you to everyone for your well wishes and advice!

All of this run training is catching up to me and I am starting to feel some aches and pains.  I am really hoping that the aches go away quickly and don’t turn into full blown injury.  Right now, it is just soreness and not debilitating.

On Monday, as I finished my run, my right calf began to hurt.  It really didn’t affect my run and I actually had a great run despite the pain.  I finished 7 miles with 7:49 pace.  I even had a final mile of 7:16.  My calf just feels really tight – like after getting cramp.  I can walk pretty much pain free.  It is at its worse climbing stairs when I have all my weight on the one foot and even then it isn’t excruciating by any means.

I took Tuesday off from running per my marathon training schedule.  I did spend an hour on the trainer which seemed to help stretch out my calf.  I also did some stretching and core training.  I stuck to only upper body work with the weights to give the legs a rest.

I woke up Wednesday almost pain free.  It was still lingering, but much better.  My 6 mile run went fairly well.  I took it nice and easy.  I had a little bit of tightness at the beginning of the run, but it was nearly gone by the time I finished my run. 

Unfortunately, though, my calf tightened right back up about an hour after my run.

So, here I sit, finishing up some work while I ice my calf and hope that it heals quickly.  I’ve got 21 miles on the schedule for Friday and really don’t want to have to miss it.

Feel free to queue up some mid 90’s Presidents of the United States for the duration of this posting if you want.

Earlier this week, I noticed a lump on my right calf.  Generally, the finding a lump, conjures up bad thoughts.  I did some research and found that the most likely causes were:

• herniated muscle (which I doubted because there was no pain)
• a cyst
• DVT (again doubted this because I am obvious very active)
• fatty build up

The lump doesn’t cause me any trouble, it is just there.  It is a little tender (like a bruise) when I push on it, but that is it.  I don’t feel it when I am running or biking either. 

In order to play it safe, I scheduled a doctor’s appointment for today to have it looked at.  Originally, I figured I should just schedule a full physical because I haven’t had one in a while.  However, there wasn’t any openings for a full physical until December (talk about ridiculous), but they could see me for the lump.

The appointment was quick and painless.  I have a lipoma which is essentially a fatty build up, so at least it was one of things I had self-diagnosed.  My doctor said that I really don’t have to worry about it unless it becomes a problem.  Usually people have them removed if they are in an inconvenient location or if they are a cosmetic problem.  Mine is currently not even visible without touching it, so I’m not going to worry about unless it grows.  I asked what the down time is if I decide to have it removed and he said there isn’t any.  It would be a quick procedure with a couple of stitches.  I even found a video of the procedure on YouTube (you can find anything online) and it didn’t look too bad.

Other than that, my training has been going very well.  I did a hard, hilly bike ride today and still managed a 19+ mph pace.  I’m going to keep working on my hill climbs in preparation for the Reeds Lake Triathlon which includes the mammoth Fulton hill.  My goal is to maintain 16-17mph on the hill come race day.  Plenty of time to get ready.

Stay tuned!