Saying it differently

So I was reading Tuscaloosa and a quote from Frank Shorter that I couldn't find via Google it, so I'll just paraphrase - that the sooner you accept the reality of a situation, the sooner you can make gains.

I was reflecting on that and my left calf this weekend which I have over the past few weeks called "tweaked", "sore", "troublesome", etc. My background in undergrad and grad school is in philosophy, and a big focus of modern philosphy is in the interscetion between language and thought. It should be more than apparent to me then that how I react to a situation has a lot to do with how I name it.

So I am going with a new one "injured". As soon as I accepted this (and I still do think this is a minor injury) planning has become much easier. So I will amend what I wrote last week.

What is hurt: My left calf. Maybe it started as a soleus strain, but now when I run I get sorenes that moves around while I run from the left, to the back into the shin. Lately I have also developed a shinsplint pain in this leg.

When: The first note in my log of it hurting was 8/6 (2 months ago)

How did it happen: Overtraining. What specifically is always hard to say. Maybe too fast of a buildup after 5k season in mileage. Maybe adding a hard Wednesday run in August and keeping a tempo run on Tuesday. Clearly by mid-August this was more than just nagging soreness and I was icing. But still did a tuneup race on 8/18. On 8/20 I knew i was hurt but wanted to make it through the PDR.

Running fast makes it sore the next day. Running slow does not seem to. A week after the PDR with only easy running I had no pain. So I picked back up with my fast Wed night runs, ran a 5k and a weekend with back to back workouts and it got worse.

So what's next:

No racing - no racing for at least a month
Cut the fast running - no track work, no Wed night group run, no LT runs (at least a month)
New shoes - done
Start massage therapy - first session was Monday 10/8
Better stretching - got some new stretches from the massage therapist. Need to work on these.
Keep with the EZ running. But with reduced volume.

Right now, I think the shinsplint pain is the bigger worry. I think the muscle strain will respond to rest fairly quickly.

Last night was an easy 3.5 on a soft cinder track with lightning flasing in the clouds. Very little pain.