Twang

July 26, 2008

It was a pretty straightforward week in terms of exercise. I lifted weights Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The woman I have hired as a personal trainer for the last two years--I hired her every 3 or 4 months to work up a new routine and teach me how to use different weight machines, etc.--quit the gym. It's unlikely I'll hire any of the others and it's not clear to me that I would need to. I can easily mix-and-match old routines, look up new ones online or, as I've been doing this week, saying, "Okay, today I want to work on bis and tris, what exercises do you know for that? Oh yeah, curls, dips, let's use that machine and that machine, then that one, then do some free weights, then off to the cardio room to do some ball work for the abs because, well, you always gotta work your core."

I had a Tuesday night workout with Sanchin-Ryu, and I had a hard Sunday bike ride, low-key and short Tuesday bike ride, then a fast 10-mile ride on Thursday. I didn't go running Wednesday because I took my oldest son to see "The Dark Knight."

But Friday, when I wasn't really in the mood to run, I went out anyway. And I had a good run. Until... twang.

Yep, that gastrocnemius/soleus muscle at the back of my left calf came calling again. Very frustrating. At least this time I didn't mess around see if it would go away. I stopped running as soon as I felt it start to go. Walked the rest of the way home and put ice on it.

It felt so-so this morning. I needed to attend a Sensei Class for sanchin-ryu. In order to get promoted past purple belt (I'm a 1st degree brown; my next belt level is black) in this style, you need to be seen by the District Master at a Sensei Class. Same goes for my sons and my wife. So off we went. The stretching was a problem, but the workout was okay on my leg except for the point at which I stood on my left leg for a very long time with my right leg cocked so the District Master could double-check that our knees were high enough, that we'd strike with the balls of our feet, etc. That was a bitch.

Unhappy?

Yes. I've been stretching and taking it easy and I bought new shoes, hoping that part of the problem was instability (I do have wobbly feet), that causes the calf muscles to overcompensate. They probably do. But the big issue is really that my poor calf muscles have to work overtime to push my extra weight around. Catch-22--can't run until you lose weight, can't lose weight without running. At least in theory.

So, ice, take ibuprofin, let it rest for a while, baby it...

And try it again when I'm ready.

Cheers,

Mark Terry