Yeah, where am I with my running today?

Well the truth be told is that I am beginning to run again after battling a strain in my left calf since early last November. My running was starting to really pickup again after a long summer of frustration when I hurt my left knee while running in shoes that… well that’s a story for a different post. Anyways, while running on the treadmill for an easy 3.0 miler, it suddenly knotted up and it hasn’t behaved all that well, despite my best efforts to patiently rehab it.

I’m no longer attempting to train for anything other than getting healthy enough to run without that balky calf creating hate and discontent during my attempts. That is the biggest thing I want to do this year is run relatively pain free. I know that being completely pain free is a dream, but I can deal with relatively.

But the important thing is I am running, be it slower than I ever have, but it is running. 🙂

I ran for 50:00 minutes yesterday on the treadmill. The leg let me run, but also let me know that if I messed around with that speed controller, that it would quickly tell me all about how I would not be running too far. When I finished, I smiled and while the leg wasn’t completely happy, it never told me that it was time to stop. So it was a very good run.

Today’s run was a real test of how the leg would behave.

I did my usual 5:00 minute warm-up walk at 3.6 mph on the treadmill. Then I ran comfortably at 5.1 mph for 30:00 minutes with the same level of… not discomfort, but awareness that the left calf still wasn’t ready for prime time. It never got grumpy and I was able to finish the run without any issues. The first 10:00 minutes were the most promising, there was no tightness in the calf. Both of which were more than I hoped for. Then I did my 5:00 minute cool-down and decreasing speed from 3.6 down to 2.8.

After the run I did a ten machine weights workout at lighter weights and 2 sets of 10, since I am basically starting over with weights. No, I am not a weights workout junkie and avoid them if I can. I know that I shouldn’t and this year I am working to do them at least a couple of times a week.

Then 20:00 in the sauna. Something I have made a 4-5 days a week routine at Champion’s Gym in Waterville.

It was a very good workout, and I’ll get around to talking more about my thoughts on where I want to take my running in 2026.