Good rebound week.  Only 6 seconds longer than last week, but I’ll take it!  Very encouraged by the progress my calf has made, and am hopeful to get back to a normal routine this week.  Weather is looking great and I can’t wait to get out on the trails some more.

Monday Run – 4 / :53 / 106avg Not a very good run. My torn calf muscle was very tight and sore. I had to stop and walk several times.

Tuesday Bike – 27.6 / 1:26 / 147avg Did a 20 mile effort on the road bike. It was a good workout, but my legs were still a little tired from Saturday’s ride and didn’t quite have the same pop as last week. I think I need to be in the 23-24mph range to equal the 20.4 average I had on the mountain bike on this course. 20 / 55:07 (21.6mph) / 158avg

Wednesday Run – 6.4 / :59 / 134avg Things are progressing. I had to stop 3 times in the first mile to let my calf settle down and loosen up, then got into a good groove and jogged the rest of the run without stopping. Mainly dealing with the leftover spasm at this point, I don’t feel much pain from the actual tear unless I keep pushing after it starts to tighten up on me.

Thursday Run – 10 / 1:15 (7:30) / 158avg Wow! Where did that come from?!? I’ve been rolling and ‘stick’-ing my calf every night, but last night started to feel some good progress. I finally got the knotted up area to relax a bit. I could tell a huge difference on the run today. The leg was super sore to touch, but didn’t bother me too much on the run. I was amazed at the improvement in my range of motion. It didn’t feel like my heel was being involuntarily suspended an inch above the ground because my calf was so tight. Felt great to cruise with a normal stride. Hard to believe that just 4 days ago all I could manage was a single mile on the treadmill in 16:30.

Friday Run – 5.7 / :47 / 137avg Easy short jog. Mainly to make sure that yesterday’s feelings weren’t a complete fluke. Still a bit sore, but was able to run pretty much normally.

Saturday Run – 15 / 2:29 / 138avg Really nice run with Andrew and Eric on a spring-like day. Felt good and was totally happy just to be able to get out and run again. Both heels were really flared up afterwards, though.

Sunday Day off. No point in pushing things anymore considering that I’m still recovering. Regroup and get ready for the upcoming week.

Total time – 7:54  Bike – 27.6 / 1:26 Run – 41.3 / 6:27

Pic of the Week

This water was flowing the day before, but a sudden drop in temps overnight caused it to freeze over.  I thought it was cool to see all of the leaves frozen in place.

Setback time.  Again.  Was feeling pretty good early in the week, then tore my calf muscle on a simple little jog at the park.  Running is out of the question for now, just taking it a day at a time and trying to get on the bike as much as I can.

Monday Run – 5 / :50 / 115avg Easy early morning treadmill.

Monday Run – 5.1 / 1:01 / 122avg Easy VFF jog in the snow.

Tuesday Bike – 27.4 / 1:28 / 151avg Excellent. Could tell first thing this morning that I was on a good day. Took the MTB out on the roads, which is not that exciting, but a helluva good workout. Have been trying to crack 20 miles in under an hour, got it this time with a 58:48 for a 20.4mph average (previous best on this course was 19.7 with 163 heart rate). Had to contend with some wind, but dosed my effort well to minimize the losses when it was working against me and really open it up when it was helping.Stats for loop: 20 / 58:48 (20.4) / 158avg

Wednesday Run – 6 / 1:00 / 118avg Easy early morning treadmill.

Wednesday Run – .75 / 10:00 Beautiful day out, so decided to run a few laps around a soccer field in the VFFs. Happily trotted along until I was blindsided by the worst calf cramp I’ve ever had. Hit me mid-stride and I couldn’t even put my left foot down. I hopped around until I found something to lean against. The muscle was like a tape measure snapping back. Ended the run and limped back after trying to stretch and rub it out for a while.

Thursday Nada. That wasn’t a cramp yesterday, I tore some calf muscle. Somewhere between a grade I and grade II strain. Very sharp pain the rest of the day yesterday, had a hard time walking. Feeling slightly better today, but it’s going to take several days to get past this one.

Friday Bike – 21.9 / 1:21 / 132avg Feeling pretty low today. Didn’t want to ride and was going to skip it. I’d have more time to feel sorry for myself that way… Ended up going and had a great time. Thankfully the leg didn’t bother me on the bike and I was able to ride without thinking about it for the most part. Joined in with a group of guys I hadn’t seen in a while. I think I might have cracked a rib from laughing so hard, we had a good time. Just what I needed.

Saturday Bike – 27.1 / 1:49 / 149avg Rode Deer Creek and High Grade Road. Big ring the whole way on the mountain bike. Very windy at times, but had a pretty good day. Tried to dial in my heart rate around 165 and just concentrated on turning circles. Went much better than I thought it would. It’s a lot of fun to ride a climb like this on a mountain bike. If you pass a roadie, your the man – and if one of them passes you, then you have a built-in excuse. Best of both worlds! Not that it means squat, but I passed about a dozen and didn’t get passed myself so that ended up being a lot of fun. Slightly off my 53 minute best on the road bike… but I’ll take it considering the circumstances. I was stoked to average over 10mph. I’m glad I’ve been putting in time on the bike over the last few months so I can transition to it in times like this, when I’m injured and can’t run, without feeling like I’m starting from scratch.The climb: 11.6 / 1:08:13 (10.2) / 167avg / 75cad / 2,838′ (4.7%)

Sunday Run – 1 / 16:30 Time to test the calf with a little walking and jogging. Alternated walking @ 3mph and jogging @ 4.5. Was very knotted up and tight. I would take it right to the edge of feeling that sharp pain and then back off to a walk. Was happy to get through this. Couldn’t have gone any farther or faster, though.

Totals Time – 7:54Bike – 76.3 / 4:39 Run – 17.9 / 3:15

Pic of the week:

While playing Mr.Mom this week, I let my daughter do her own hair.  She was very happy with her ponytail/pigtail creation.

Strong week.  First time topping 60 miles since the first week of August last year.  Can’t believe it has been that long.  Finding it tough to get fit-lose weight-recover from injury-transision to minimal shoes all at once, but I think I’m making steady progress in each area.