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Running Break

For the past few weeks, my left calf muscle - right at the bottom of the calf and several inches above my ankle - has felt "off." It's been noticeably sore (but not painful) between runs. After a run it has felt pretty good, but when I've focused on more fore-foot to mid-foot form it's been noticeably goofy.

Today when running 8:00 straight separated by a 5:00 breather, the back of my left knee felt odd. It still feels odd now, eight hours later, and a bit like I hyperextended my knee a little.

I'm not a wimp, but if there's one thing I keep reading it's that people tend to take things too aggressively and push too hard too fast, and that only leads to injuries. I've been good about this so far - and I wouldn't even call this an injury, really - but until I get to know how my body reacts to running a bit better, I'm taking a break as a precaution.

The plan right now is to take ten days off, with ice on the calf and the back of my knee, and repeat the fifth week of C25K. I still plan to do something to keep my cardiovascular system improving - maybe I'll use the recumbent bike at Golf Evolution or something. My legs have never really been tired after I've run (because, let's be honest, I'm not exactly running very far or very fast), but I'm pleased with my cardiovascular improvement.

Which, come to think of it, goes a bit against what I just wrote about being frustrated by a lack of improvement. Early on I remember having a harder time running 2:00 straight than I did today running 8:00 straight. I attributed a lot of that to the cooler air, but that's not it, not entirely.

BTW, if you're on RunKeeper or DailyMile, look up "iacas" and add me as a friend.