achy calves

week in review (4/20 - 4/26):
total miles: 33.17 (3 easy runs, 1 interval/speed day, 1 race)
time spent running: ~4 hours 34 minutes
avg hr: 168.80
off days: 2 (1 scheduled, 1 unplanned soreness)

it started out as an ok week with some added motivation from the boston marathon, but then the legs filled with sludge for the rest of the week. i took thursday off because i was just plain worn out and my legs were achy. friday was a quick, short, early morning run before work and a long drive home. saturday was the race with a few extra miles for warmup/cooldown, but not as many as i had planned. i'm not too good at enforcing the post-race cooldown/easy jog that i always say i will do.

no, i am not one of those girls who has to coordinate a running outfit.
this is the only tech t-shirt i have that i actually like (/fits)
(from the baltimore marathon '06),
and those are the only running shorts i had at my house (the rest are in kentucky).

sunday i had hoped to get in a nice run along my 'old' running routes back home, but i woke up with an incredibly sore back and tight calves. both gave me trouble immediately after the race (muscle soreness/tightness) but felt better after i jogged a bit and stretched. i had yardwork/house maintenance things to do all saturday afternoon and i'm sure that contributed to the continued soreness in my back. i kind of didn't want to be rushed to cram the 100 things i had to do before hitting the road for kentucky (again) so i let the soreness win.

my back is feeling better now but my calves are still way tight/sore. they are very tender to the touch, almost like they are big bruises (minus the black 'n blue). i've been gingerly easing into a normal stride on my runs this week and constantly stretch them throughout the day. i even gave them an ice bath yesterday. i used aron's method of getting in the water first and then had the ice dumped over my legs. much less painful than forcing yourself to jump into an icy bathtub. it does seem weird that they are so sore from a 5k though - could it really have been the hills and hard effort?

as i mentioned yesterday, i don't run with music (just a personal preference/too lazy to have yet another thing to remember to take with me on a run) but i know many runners do. jill over at jill will run has a coupon code for a download from hellasound. they just released a new running mix/track thing titled "how to turn around a bad day". it's not quite the same as paris hilton, but hopefully you can get by.