A new kind of hurt...

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
How quickly I tend to forget that it can be some small change in the routine that leads to the newest injury.

I was doing a run in the Metropark and almost from the first step, had been noticing a tightness and pain in my left calf.  I hadn’t been running recently and knew it wasn’t an overuse issue, so I continued on.  By the halfway mark in the run...about15 minutes out, both calves were hurting with each step.  I’ve had this kind of pain before, but it usually comes the day after some really long and difficult workout...like the morning after a marathon or an all day hike up a couple of peaks in the Adirondacks.  I hadn’t done any of those things...but then it hit me.  I’d hiked in my heavy, winter boots the day before while on my picture taking excursion.  It hadn’t been particularly strenuous, though there was some hill climbing and very sloppy conditions.  The difference was, I believe, the footwear.  The boots are not really made for hiking and I don’t have them on unless there is a lot of snow and I’m moving slowly.  This hike was of an entirely different nature.  I was walking quickly on solid surfaces (part of the hike took me out on River Road) and I started thinking that this was the pain I was feeling.

I finished the run, but the soreness remained intense throughout the rest of the evening.  Holly and I went to a screening of the new Johnny Depp movie ‘The Rum Diary’.  I had no information prior to the movie...had no idea it was based on Hunter S. Thompson’s life in Puerto Rico...and was confused about the story line throughout.  I didn’t find it particularly entertaining, actually was lost as to what the story or the point was...and don’t think I would have liked it even if I had known who it was based on.  I guess for me, it was poorly directed.  In any event, after sitting uncomfortably for two hours, my legs were really screaming when I stood to leave.  I’m planning to meet a co-worker at the park tomorrow and take him on a run showing off some of the greatest running trails in the world.  I’m hoping to feel a little better by then...

Run workout:  33 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  500.