Our summer family adventures came to a close yesterday as we headed home from the Adirondacks. After a week at the beach in Wells, ME and a week in the Adirondacks I'm ready to get back to the ebb and flow or "real life." I've talked about what running in the Adirondacks means to me in the past and each time I'm there I fall in love with running again. The temperatures this last week were unseasonably cool: highs in the low 60's and lows at night dipping down to the 40's. It felt like October and the majority of our days were rainy and windy. Not the best weather for two little ones looking forward to swimming in the lake, but perfect running weather.

While there I kind of wished I was training for a fall marathon and could take advantage of those cool temps and picturesque, quiet roads and trails to log a few long runs. But that wasn't the case: I'm in recovery mode with instructions not to run more than 4 miles (although I broke that rule this week!). I kept most of my runs short and tried to walk all the downhills and for the most part my calf was a happy-camper. Except for the one run where I didn't walk the downhills... Here's how the week broke down in terms of running: Monday: 4 miles on the treadmill with 10 minutes of tempo in the middle. Tempo pace 6:44. Followed by PT appointment. Tuesday: Off. Traveling to Adirondacks. Wednesday: 4 easy miles with my sister in law in the rain along the flat South Shore Rd. Followed by cross training and PT drills. Thursday: Easy four miles slightly up-tempo (7:43 pace) along the hilly South Shore Rd. The hills are little rollers, nothing crazy but I've been walking all downhills recently and running down the little rollers combined with the uptempo pace irritated my calf. I wasn't in pain, I just finished the run feeling more sensation in that area.

Friday: Run with my Dad around East Caroga Lake. It was fun to run with my Dad, he's new to running but has proved to be quite good at it in his triathlons. The course was mostly flat with a few downhills at the end. I was really feeling my calf after this one. Our pace was easy, but the run the day before had tweaked things a bit. Cross training and PT drill after.

Saturday: Was going to take the day off and let my calf rest but my sister had 12 planned and was feeling little down that she had to do it by herself. So I offered to meet her for a few miles in the middle. Then the kids wanted to come. So I loaded up Jack and Sophia and we ran just over three miles with my sister along the flat South Shore Rd. My calf was fine, no sensations, no pain. Felt totally normal. Followed by PT and cross training.

Sunday: I made the decision to do my favorite run even though it's a 6 mile out and back. I figured I'd walk all the downhills and just run the flats and it would be just a bit less than 6…which isn't that much more than 4. I ended up feeling great and stuck in a 10 min tempo session in the middle at 6:22 pace. I felt like I was working hard, but the beautiful scenery kept me going. My calf felt strong and solid the entire run until the last .75 miles home which are down hill. I walked most of it to get me down to a flat portion, but even then I was starting to feel a tightening sensation in the calf.

Of course the last day was absolutely gorgeous.

I finished off our time in the Adirondacks with a day off, although I did fit in a bit of PT and cross training and then an easy, flat 4 miles on Tuesday. My calf is a bit cranky. Not sore or in pain, I'm just aware that it's there. A week ago the awareness wasn't there: I felt completely normal. I'm going to back off this week with the mileage and distance and try to stick to the treadmill to keep the terrain flat. I'm also back to my creature comforts of home and have my Dr. Cool Wrap for icing post-run. How were your summer adventures? How is your training going? --Sarah I love connecting with readers! You can find me here: Email: RunFarGirl [at] gmail [dot] com Twitter:@RunFarGirlInstagram: instagram.com/runfargirlFacebook:Facebook.com/runfargirl262Pinterest: pinterest.com/runfargirlDaily Mile:dailymile.com/people/scanney

Training and Injury Update, Back to Real Life

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