Time off

Today will be the twelth day since my last run. The calf strain is still not better. It does seem to have improved a little bit, but it's going far too slowly for my liking. With a little over seven days until the Melbourne Half, I wouldn't gain any advantage in getting back into training now, but it upsets me not being able to run. Not just the exercise side of things either. Running for the train (an activity, which I am very prone to, leaving the house as I do two minutes after I should have on almost every occasion) is a grimace worthy experience. I've been watching middle aged, overweight women run for the lights and envied them their agility.

The dilemma I have now is whether I should run the race if I'm not fully healed by next Sunday. If my experience from my ill-thought-out 90km week two weeks ago is anything to go by, it will hurt, but will probably just postpone recovery rather than making the condition worse. I really want to do the race even though I know it's not a good idea. It's probably stupid, but I feel like I'd be letting my dad down if I didn't do it. He paid my entry fee after all. (When I weigh up the cost of piking versus a mounting heap of physio bills though, it starts to seem like a very false economy:P) 

On that matter, I still haven't visited a physio. I just can't do it. For some reason, I just don't believe in it. I know it's based on science, I know they have to do many years of training, but I just feel like any intervention they take would be no more effective than doing what I'm doing now and resting. That's almost certainly a false assumption, because I'm sure they have things like ultrasound therapy and deep-tissue-massages that would speed up the healing process, but I'm extremely loathe to pay what's probably quite a lot of money to allow me to partake in what is only one of a subset of my hobbies. As long as I can get my fix of endorphins in some form or the other, and as long as I'm confident that whatever's ailing me will repair itself, I'd prefer to let nature take its course. 

Part of the reason is probably also my newly discovered love of cycling. I've been doing quite a few long rides, including 210km last Sunday. It was my first time out on my upgraded bike (added slicks and SPD pedals) and it felt fantastic. I didn't get passed a single time going along Beach Rd and on quite a few occasions dropped anyone who tried to. The feeling of being clipped into the bike is quite unique. It as if the bike and I are one, unified machine whose purpose is pure and simple: to cover distance smoothly and efficiently. After 210km, I wasn't at all sore and felt like I could've easily kept on going for longer if daylight and food supplies had allowed it.

Really looking forward to Around the Bay in two weeks..

 

------------------------------------

I started the Hundred Pushups program again last week. After getting to week five, I decided that I wasn't doing them properly because my chest didn't go all the way down to the floor. Curious to see how much of a difference it would make, I did an exhaustion test and discovered to my distaste that after building up to 60 pseudo-pushups, I could only do 30 real ones! Decided to start from week one again, but to take no rest days in between workouts and see how far I could get. 

Week one and two were allright, but week three day one was too much for me and I had to admit defeat and take two rest days. I'm doing it again tonight (halfway through the set, trying to let my muscles recover enough to finish it:P) and will then stop all pushup related activity til after the Melb Half so that I don't have a repeat of the Sri Chimnoy half, where my tired abs let me down.