Monday, November 19, 2012

Baby Steps?

The cycling portion of the Ironman concerns me the least, as I've already done some distance cycling. Swimming will take a very long time to work up to so my intermediate goal is to work on the marathon. I started running in late August and quickly progressed towards my first "waypoint" race at the end of September. That race was the Playmaker's Autumn Classic, and 8K (4.9) mile run around Lake Lansing.
The week before the race I was at the Michigan Association of School Administrator's conference. Running at the conference was challenging due to the hilly terrain. I learned quickly that running downhill is especially challenging. During my two runs during the week I strained both of my calves.
Despite the strains, I ran the race on Sunday. Although I had only been running regularly for about 5 weeks I managed to turn in a time that paced me at 8:30 per mile. The next day, emboldened by my success, I attempted to do a four mile training run with a sub-8:30 pace. In the middle of the run, something happened.
A sudden pain in one of my calves brought me to an abrupt halt halfway through my run. The ensuing pain and training interruption would cause me to question my ability to run a half-marathon in mid-November.

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