21 days ago, my running dreams came to a crashing halt at 9:25pm. A simple jump in a volleyball game and my calf felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat. I could barely walk and it hurt like hell. I did absolutely no running or unnecessary walking for 5 days. I proceeded with R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation). During this whole time I have fallen in love with compression socks and sleeves.
On day 6, I went for a brisk 2 mile walk to test out the calf. I jogged three segments of about 100 feet each. I didn’t want to reinjure it so I took it very easy on the jogging segments. No pain but I felt a “tugging” sensation.
On day 8, I repeated what I did on Day 6 except I went 2.6 miles and run 4 segments. There was some soreness but I did a quick soak in Epsom salt and felt better.
On day 12, I added more running on my 3.9 mile walk. I would run every couple of minutes for like 30 seconds and walk for like 3-4 minutes. I’m slowly making improvements but I’m still very scared to run hardcore again. I took about 4 days off after that to make sure I don’t do anymore harm.
On day 17, I went for a legitimate run/walk interval run. It was 4 miles and I walked more than I ran but I tried to do 30 seconds of running to 2-3 minutes of walking. Still walking more than running. I started to feel some tugging, but I really didn’t hurt.
Last night, on day 20, I went for a “harder” 3 mile run. Basically, I ran between 30 seconds to a minute and walked an equal amount. I was able to keep my pace just under 15 minutes per mile which isn’t fast at all but considering I’m still nursing an injury I’m happy with it. Today I have some soreness and it freaks me out a little bit.
My biggest concern is this, “Is what I’m feeling normal or not?” I never paid attention to my calves. But now, it is all I think about. Is my slight tugging sensation I’m feeling today a bad thing or a normal thing? It doesn’t really hurt but feels weak.
Will I be able to finish Vegas Half Marathon in 5 days and 4 hours?? I really don’t know (I say with some tears in my eyes).
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