14 myles - 1.34:16

Lone Tree loop - 10:00 a.m.
thin layer of clouds, mid 30's, little bit of snow
body/mind - tight left calf/fresh
medium effort

How much is too much? I think that's the age old question. And the question is only answered after an injury. This "tight" left calf is proving to be more stubborn than I initially thought. I haven't run for 2 days because of it. Just walking around, particularly up stairs, I could feel my entire calf muscle tense up. It's more of a dull pain originating deep within the calf.

So today my initial plan was to do 20-24 depending upon the calf. Not knowing how long it was going to hold up I decided to do a loop course and cut if short if the calf started acting up - I ended up cutting it short, only 5 loops (2.7 myles) instead of 8. But having 2 days off, the rest of my body was fresh and wanted to GO! So GO I did with the following splits: 18:57, 18:30, 19:03, 19:04, 18:40, averaging out to 6:58/mile. Not bad navigating 1600+ ft of elevation.

Today was a good indication of how tired my body has been for the last 3 or 4 weeks. On this loop course in the past couple of weeks I've been hitting around 21 minutes - pushing it. Today with a rested body I was hitting mid 18's with the same perceived effort. I've been building, building, building very rarely taking 2 days off in a row and now I know how important rest days are. Today also gave me a good confidence booster that my training has been true to me. So now the only question is, will my calf be healed in 2 weeks to make it 34 myles?? I'm headed to Carlsbad, CA for 3 days next week so maybe 3 days off is what the doctor ordered.