That Last Person challenge I mentioned dragged out quite a bit longer than I thought it would. I had resolved to stay in only for as long as I could do so reasonably easily but didn't entirely stick to that. We were down to the last three - in fact we were down to the last three for about two weeks, with everyone too stubborn (read: stupid) to drop out.
The one thing I wanted to get out if it was the motivation to run more than the usual 7 or so miles a day, and I sure got that. I never thought I'd ever run another 100 mile week ever again but turns out, I did. By that point I had a few niggles to deal with. The balls of my right foot were hurting at the end of each run, and it was fucking agony in one particular pair of shoes. The heel of my left foot was hurting for the first 2 miles of each run, and I think it got just a tiny little worse with each day, so I was definitely pushing my luck. Then again, pushing my luck in training is what got me to international championships, until my luck ran out that is.
I did a couple of runs on the treadmill when it was a bit too wild outside for my taste and in the end that's what cost me. On Wednesday morning I went on the treadmill yet again for a planned 25k. First of all, I was dead tired because running for 2 hours or more every morning had seriously cut into my sleep time the last couple of weeks. Secondly, for some reason I had miscalculated and stepped onto it 10 minutes late and I kept thinking how I would have to rush after the run to shower, breakfast and get ready for work. And then my right calf started to hurt, and the time was just crawling along.
After an hour I could not face it any longer and stepped off. Challenge over. Congratulations to Denise and Conor!
As it happens, for the rest of the day I was happy that I would not have to get up at 5 am on Thursday to run 30 k rather than disappointed about dropping out, so I was definitely at peace with it.
The calf still hurts, right where the Achilles attaches to the calf muscles, so it may be a tendon, muscle or maybe even ligament issue. I'm not too worried about it, I've run through way too many niggles in the last 15 years to worry about yet another one.
I have kept the miles shorter since dropping out. I need the rest after the hefty recent mileage. And I'm still planning on doing the virtual Dublin marathon next week, so I guess it's some sort of taper time now. Running 26 miles on my own isn't all that appealing to be honest but I'm sure I'll get through. I've done worse.
"I've run through way too many niggles in the last 15 years to worry about yet another one." The thing is, the older you get, the more serious they get. And the more likely not to go away quickly. In fact, they can be damn persistent. I like to believe I'm still 45 but the "niggles" keep telling me different. So it might be good to worry a bit.
ReplyDeletewell I guess no one forced to do it...;-) It's probably better than challenge is over...sounds severe and counterproductive...by the way i see you have stopped osting your daily totals on your blog..you should put them back up...hope all is well with you and the family
ReplyDeletePosting daily totals was becoming too much work and they are visible on Strava, so it's not as if I'm hiding anything all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteGood point about niggles and getting older, Bob. I will keep that in mind but I'm still not overly concerned yet.