Mad Calf Disease

I think blogging is easier when you do it often. Then you can just write about what's going on right now instead of feeling like you have so much to stay you don't even know where to start? Like, can I just write about my fun little chickens and how the best part of each day is now when I come home in the late afternoons and pour myself a glass of wine and lock the cats up in the garage so I can watch my little chickens free range in the backyard?

Watching chickens hop and flit and attempt to fly around my backyard is one of the best (and unexpected!) stress relievers I've found. Like my own version of meditation.

Anyway, of course I'd like to just write about how awesome everything is... and for the most part, it really is all good. Just one little thing that's not good. And it's not really a little thing. Well, in the big scheme of life it's a little thing but in my world it feels like a big thing and I suspect if you're reading this blog you're a Type A triathlete like me so it would be a big thing in your world too...

So ya, I've been obsessing over this damn calf thing for weeks now trying to figure it out and FIX IT. In the past I've been magically cured by ART and/or acupuncture... But 2x ART appts and 4x acupuncture appts and I'm now broke not just physically but financially as well. Can't afford any more of those appts for a while so in between water runs I'm Dr Googling myself. A recent history of my searching would include phrases like:

~peroneal tendonitis running
~stress fracture running
~fibular head pain running
~peroneal nerve flossing
~anterior tibialis pain running
~posterior tibialis pain running
~Zappos Hoka one one

I've come to a couple of conclusions. I don't think I actually have a stress fracture. But the root cause of all the bad right now stems from that fibular head below my knee. Lots of stuff connects into that so really could be an old hamstring thing or peroneal nerve thing... and when it gets all irritated in there the rest of everything in and around my calf gets pissed (pick a point, any point, that's where it hurts). I've gone back and forth about icing or no icing. More and more comes out that icing is actually harmful and delays tissue healing, and yet... it makes my lower leg feel better?! So I've iced a few times and heated some too- both make it feel better. I'm afraid to run because I don't want to further piss it off but damn it's been a long time since I've run and seems like it should be better by now. I'm past the patient stage and now just sort of feel sad about the whole thing. I feel like I've done my time... paid my penance for my greedy mistake of running too much in January/Feb... I've done the rehab and taken time off and can I just be better already?? Apparently, not yet.

So in the meantime I swim and I bike and I water run and I do all those fun functional strength type exercises. Started a little group session at my house on Tuesdays with a few of my local athletes who can make it and that is a highlight of my week!

I should probably write a whole post about what I've learned from Marilyn's coaching in the last 3 weeks... It's good stuff. I feel like I'm doing next to nothing because my total volume is lower than it's ever been (~16 hours/week which after last year seriously seems like nothing) and a lot of it is very easy/aerobic effort. But then every once in a while I get to rip it and when I do, it's amazing! Maybe because I am carrying so little fatigue? I don't know, but I absolutely shocked the hell out of myself this morning in the pool swimming the fastest 800 I've ever recorded in that longcourse pool... came through the 400 and checked my watch... the split totally threw me for a loop b/c the number was one I'd never seen before in a 400... It took me like the whole next 100 to do the math and figure out my pace... then I figured I was screwed b/c clearly that was WAY too fast but I just kept chasing Mark and trying to stay close to him... Shook my head at the end when my watch said I neg split that swim WHAT!? Shocking. So I guess therein lies the benefit to keeping your easy days truly easy... because if you're not carrying a bunch of fatigue into your hard days, you can really reach new heights when you start to throw the hammer. Good stuff.

Now if I could just figure out the cure for this Mad Calf Disease...