City2Surf- DNS

City2Surf 2016 - DNS

Typical. On the Tuesday I proclaimed proudly that I hadn't had a significant injury in several years of running, on the Thursday my calf went.

In all honesty I'd been nursing a "tweak" for a few weeks following a run, ironically enough, along the City2Surf course and then Coastal Path. It was the Coastal Path that got me. The beach just south of Bondi was closed after the recent storms which meant I made a sudden right turn up a very steep hill. Ever since I'd notice a niggle in my right calf on most runs, variable in intensity. I didn't ease up in training and felt like it was improving over the course of July, hardly even noticing it at the Blacktown Half Marathon and then ping, ten minutes into a tempo (around 4:05/km) in Farm Cove. Tried to run it off, but no luck. Tried again a few days later on Saturday, but just made it to Mrs Macquarie's Chair before significant pain.

So the gym in the basement of our building it was. A dark hole with 1980's equipment. No natural light and air conditioning that turns off after less than thirty minutes. Luckily they'd just had two bikes installed and, even luckier, they seemed to have no effect on my calf injury.

I'd do "quality" on the upright bike, consisting of similar efforts/times to what I'd do running and easy run equivalents reading a magazine or book on the recumbent.

Kept off the feet for a week before trying a real slow jog home from work the night before C2S, but only managed 3km before the calf flared up and that was me out of the race.

Gutted, but not worth the risk. C2S is a goal race, probably in the year's top three, but two more important ones in September and November meant the pin was pulled. In truth, there wasn't even a decision to make. I couldn't have ran the race at all.

Returned to the gym for a further week of just bike before slowly re-introducing some treadmill work. The calf seemed to be set off by pace and/or hills, and both are easily removed on the treadmill.

Couple of embarrassing moments in the gym. Unbeknownst to me, 90 minutes on the recumbent generated a huge pool of sweat running out into the gym. Almost crossed from my bike to the far wall. The middle-aged woman doing floor exercises managed the situation very well, barely batting an eyelid, but I made a sharp exit when I realised.

Second time I was on the bike in black shorts, black hat, and my Strider's singlet around 6pm. A girl came in to use the treadmill and not long after I also got on the treadmill. She got off, did a few weights and left whilst I finished up on the treadmill. Just so happened that that night was wash night so next day I went back in the exact same clothes at lunch time. As I was nearing the end of my bike workout, in she came again and went on the treadmill just before I did. She must have had a real sense of deja vu. Perhaps she thinks I hadn't left? Or reuses dirty gym kit? She didn't stay long the second time.

Back running again now. Five straight days and feeling good. No dedicated speedwork, but have been pushing a few kilometres at sub-4:30 pace and will consider some faster intervals next week. This week is just rebuilding some base.

Blackmores is up next, two weeks on Sunday, and it is definitely a key race. Ran my half PB on the course last year, and it's looking a lot faster this year. I'd hoped to be nearer to 85 minutes this time around, but that's definitely off the cards, but a sub-90/PB/88 minutes I reckon could be on. A greater achievement? I just might rort Timmy Lindop on this one, who still thinks I'm confined to the bike.