Update

If you are wondering what the lack of blog posts meant, well it meant a lack of running. I strained my soleus last Sunday. There is two muscles that make up your calf. The gastrocnemius being the more superficial and the soleus the deeper. The gastrocnemius crosses the knee joint but the soleus doesn't. To stretch the gastroc you dorsiflex or extend the foot with the knee stright, to stretch the soleus you dorsiflex or extend the foot with the knee bent. The soleus stretch is typically felt lower in the calf just above the achilles tendon. I have no pain when I stretch my gastroc, but I feel the same tightness and pain when I stretch my soleus. Here is the rundown of the last week.

Monday: Calf sore all day from cramping Sunday.

Tuesday: Calf feeling better. Tried to jog to my car...not happening.

Wednesday: Thought about running in the morning but the calf was very tight first thing in the morning.

Thursday: Stayed up too late Wednesday night and was too tired. No pain with walking. No pain jogging to my car.

Friday: Decided today was the day to get in a slow easy run. I just ran up and down M-12 so I wouldn't get too far away and have a problem. It was tight the whole time and after a mile started to get a sharp pain with every step. Now, I have been running long enough to know when a pain is saying, "stop now" and when pain is saying, "be careful." Today it was saying, "be careful" so I stopped at 3 miles. It was sore and painful with every step the rest of the day.

I did an ice bath tonight.

I looked back at the last time I got a cramp as bad as this one. It was April 19, 2009 and I complained about it for exactly 14 days. Although on the 14th day I ran the OC half marathon in 1:27:22. If it takes me that long to recover again I will be ready next weekend.

Tyson Gay beat Usain Bolt in the 100m in Stockholm, Sweden today clocking a 9.84. Watch Tyson turn it on at 60m. His turnover is amazing. He is 6 inches shorter than Usain!

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