A Bump in the Road

I haven't talked about my running in a while.  And that's because I haven't been doing much running.  I strained my right calf about five weeks ago.  I can't recall a specific injury, but ultimately every time I would try to run, it would ache.  So, I had to stop running for a couple weeks, and as a result I'm not running the Napa Marathon.

What happened?  I'm not entirely sure.  Much of it has to do with my left leg being stronger than the right.  I'm not sure how that came to be, possibly a lingering effect of having fractured my right foot a year ago and relying so much on my left leg, enough such that even a year later my left leg was stronger than my right, leading to an imbalance?  That's my current theory.  Nonetheless, I'm working with a physical therapist, who has given me exercises to help strengthen my right leg.

I am back to running, but it's limited so far.  I am being very conservative.  Today was my longest run since the injury, two miles, pain-free.  I have strict instructions that the second I feel any pain that I am to stop running and rest for another several days.  Luckily, in the past few days of running, there has been no pain.

That said, unable to run, I have started picking up my cycling, and have done a couple of good challenging rides, gearing up for the Mulholland Challenge 120 in April.  I have also started swimming more, and have taken on the challenge of swimming 24 times during the month of February.

Here's a video that Fortius Racing Team coach Ray Barrios took of me swimming:

Lots of swim technique things to work on.

So, with good healing, I should be ready for the Chesebro Half Marathon on March 28.  This should give me plenty of time to recover.