November 8, 2010

More of the Same

Week of Nov. 1 ~ 7

"The same" being, basically, nothing.
Following the advice of my expert commenters, I did not try to run or even jog the club 10k race, instead helping out with the timekeeping.
I had tried to run a bit on Thursday. Got to 23 minutes, 300m from home, when the calf started to get a bit sore. That was enough to tell me to rest for another week.
I did manage to do some walking and stationary biking on four days.

I also decided to throw in the towel on the Tsukuba Marathon on Nov. 28th. I won't be able to race it, and 42km is too far for a training run, so there is no reason to do it. Plus, even if the calf is better, I would risk re-injuring it.

I'll put all my eggs in the LA Marathon basket, next March 20th. If I can start training on Nov. 28th, that would give me 14 weeks.

By the way, I said last week that web articles on muscle tears say to expect 2 to 4 weeks of recovery. I found more that say 5 to 8 weeks. Since it's been 4 weeks, I guess 5 to 8 is not so unreasonable. Don't tear a muscle!
Three years ago I came back too soon from a half marathon and strained a hamstring. We never learn! At least, I don't, it seems.

Hope all of you fellow bloggers stay healthy....

4 comments:

  1. Hi Bob,
    This is bad news...hopefully you can get back into some sort of training before long.

    I had a very similar tear in my calf a few years ago. Complete healing took quite a while, I think it was a couple of months. It all depends on the severity of the tear. Now that you have rested for a while you should have scar tissue where you had the tear. The trick is to "vascularize" the area without inducing pain. Any aerobic activity done with the muscle will help speed recovery. Gentle cycling, pool running, etc.

    On my side, I am up to 10k every couple of days... I will be able to show up for speedwork or a race one of these days I hope!

    Guillermo

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  2. I think its a wise move to move your Marathon attempt back to LA in March.
    I forget how long it took me to recover from a calf muscle tear...it certainly was not as short as 4 weeks.
    Good luck.
    Back in Jpan for us tomorrow.
    Jon

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  3. Yes, Bob LA again, sounds like the go! Looked like fun last year and once you're back into it you'll definitely have a higher level of motivation.

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  4. It's a shame to miss Tsukuba, but LA will give you plenty of time. I'd like to know who wrote the law that says runners must get injured when they're in peak condition?!

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