Calf Heart Attack: The Sequel

The right calf has been feeling fine.  Ran all this week with no problems.

Tonight, went out on a 6-mile pace run in the cool evening air.  I did my standard 4S Ranch 3-mile loop, planning to run it clockwise and then counter-clockwise.  Even though I wasn't running hard, I just didn't feel comfortable.  I almost quit at the halfway point.

But I didn't.  Heart, right?  Well, during mile 5 I started to feel my LEFT calf tightening up.  Felt like a strand of muscle fiber running right up the middle from the back of the knee to the top of the calf was straining.  It came on gradually, just like the time my right calf knotted up on the Lake Miramar run so many weeks ago.  Back then, I finished the run and the calf only became fully injured later.  This time, though, it only took about 8 minutes before it popped.

I was on the last mile, on Camino San Bernardo, almost a half mile from home, when I felt it go.  I pulled up immediately and tried to massage it out.  No dice.  I limped home, keeping weight off the toe and put the calf up on ice as I'm supposed to do.  I've been kneading it and icing it, but I don't know.  I think it's going to require the same sort of recovery time at the right leg did...which sucks.

I wonder if compression socks can help?

We'll see how it feels tomorrow, but even if it feels okay, as much as I want to run it, I'm canceling the 10-miler I had planned.  I'd rather give up the next few days or week of running and get back to it quicker rather than to risk having to lay off more several weeks.  I think it's the right decision, but so hard to know for sure.  I sure thought continuing beyond 3 miles tonight was the right decision too.