It's pretty much not a training cycle for me if I don't end up with some sort of stupid injury.

This time around has been no exception to that rule, but at least what I'm dealing with now seems sort of minor compared to some other injuries I've dealt with.

Back in February, I was having some serious calf/shin issues every time I ran. It was a pretty clear signal I needed new shoes, and once I replaced the old ones, things seemed to be good.



But in the last week or so, I've noticed my calves have been ridiculously tight after all my workouts. No amount of stretching or compression-sock wearing has been able to get things back to normal.



Mainly annoying, and not overly problematic.

Until last week.

My right calf really started to annoy me at volleyball on Tuesday night, and it hurt to walk around my apartment on Wednesday. So I took Wednesday off from running to let things rest.

It felt a little better Thursday, until softball practice after work. I was jogging after fly balls during batting practice, and every step it sort of felt like my calf muscle was ripping in half. I don't really know a better way to explain it, but it hurt like a B.

By Friday morning, I could barely walk around my apartment. Trying to stretch it hurt, and the pain was moving up into my hamstring. I made a panicked phone call to my sports massage people and was able to squeeze in an appointment for this afternoon.



I also completely rested Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which meant skipping spin class, my long run and my pool session. I'm also bailing on today's intervals to see how things feel after this massage appointment.

I'm hoping that by Wednesday, I will be able to get out for a short easy run to see how things feel. If all goes well, then I'm crossing my fingers I'll be able to jump back into my training plan.

My calf feels a little bit better today after just some time off, so I'm hoping this isn't anything major and that that massage will work out any remaining kinks.

Happy Tuesday friends!

Last night I went over to College Park to watch the Lady Terps play in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The girls stomped Princeton and are moving on to the sweet 16!



I'm sure that made these Supreme Court Justices (and Princeton alums) sad.

https://twitter.com/Lesmitch529/status/580233253975560192

Anyway, on to training talk.

Week two is in the books and I'm happy with where things are going. I didn't have any MBA classes last week since most of the class was on an international trip, and professors decided it wasn't worth it to hold class. The extra time in my schedule let me fit in some solid training and some extra fun.

Monday: 6x400. Wore my compression socks because my calves were really tight from my run the day before.



Repeat 1: 1:50.77
Repeat 2: 1:42.64
Repeat 3: 1:58.10
Repeat 4: 1:39.30
Repeat 5: 1:42.31
Repeat 6: 1:48.92

Target pace was 1:55. Nailed it on all of them except repeat 3.

Tuesday: Volleyball. My rec league team is pretty terrible, but we actually played a couple of competitive games Tuesday night. I will be ready for this sport to wrap up though and softball season to start.

Wednesday: Rest day. Got to have lunch with Dear Abby for work. It was pretty awesome. She asked me for some advice on things.



Thursday: Was supposed to be a 6-mile tempo run, but it didn't happen because I set myself up for failure.

Wednesday night I met up with some friends for happy hour since I had some free time in my schedule. My plan was to grab a drink or two and call it an early night, but we were having a ton of fun, and I stayed way later than expected. Got home late, woke up early for work and fell asleep on my sofa at 5 p.m. I was pretty annoyed at myself for blowing it here.

Friday: Spin class. Had a blast, was a great workout and realized that I missed my spin buddies. I'm glad I'll be making this class a regular thing.



Saturday: 8 mile long run. I talked about it yesterday, so won't blabber on about it here.



Sunday: 1400 yards in the pool. Felt like I was going to sink to the bottom of the pool for the first 400 yards, but then things improved slightly, and I finished feeling pretty good.

Didn't mean to disappear for almost a whole week, but got caught up in training, work and of course, so much basketball.


Friday night Terps game watch

The Terps lost last night in heartbreaking fashion, and I'm not really going to re-hash things here this morning. Last night the emotions were kind of brutal. This morning it's a little bit easier to appreciate what a great season we had and how this team made watching Maryland basketball fun again.

But instead of being all sad face about Maryland (which let's not kid ourselves, I still totally am), let's talk about running!

This weekend was busy, so I had to squeeze my long run in super early in the morning Saturday. When my alarm blared at 6 a.m. and I looked out the window and saw it was still dark, I basically didn't want to move.

My goal was to be out the door by 7, so after doing the check email/Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat routine, I got my rear in gear.

Had to dig out the cold gear from the back of my closet since it was only 33 degrees when I started.



I thought I was done with cold gear runs for the season. Sigh.

I had 8 miles on the schedule, which was the same as last week. Unfortunately I felt a lot more sluggish this time around. Not sure if it was the early morning, the cold or just in general training catching up with me, but I couldn't get moving in the first couple of miles.

Average pace was 9:27, which was a bit slower than the 9:22 average I was hoping to maintain. Oh well, not every run will be perfect.

With my run done, I scrambled through the rest of my morning routine to make it over to my cousin's house for her son's fourth birthday party. It was pirate themed and there were 24 four-year-olds running all around the house.


Me and the birthday boy

Helping run activities and getting that many kids fed was seriously exhausting.

I collapsed on my sofa afterward to spend the afternoon watching basketball. After this weekend, my bracket is pretty shot to hell (thanks for that Villanova), but I'm still alive in my survivor pool.


This is my work bracket, it's not for money.