The recent review of my exercise plans also led me to cut back my long run to just 10k instead of increasing it each week. My reasoning was that all my races through June are going to have a run no longer than 10k so I should focus more on getting faster at that distance rather than going long. This insight coincided with the realization that I was trashing my calves.
That strainy/crampy thing I wrote about in January had come back and I could tell it was not going away soon. I did some poking around on the net and the cause might be weak and/or tight calves. I like the reasoning behind the weak calves scenario. Basically, the rest of your body is stronger than your calves so your strong legs are dragging your weak calves along for the ride, which causes the calves to complain. Either way, I have started stretching my calves several times a day. I'll save the strengthening for after this weekend. This shouldn't be a problem on the run this weekend, though I am sure I'm going to feel it afterwards.
This also leads me to believe that I need to learn how to run. Don't laugh. I knew how to ride a bike but I still did a lot of reading about cycling and it has helped me a lot. Why not for the run? There are a lot of running books out there, though, so finding one that's just right is taking a while. I want to have my reading done by my June triathlon so I can have a plan in place to train for my half-marathon this November that won't trash my calves for my two remaining triathlons.
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