I went to the gym today intending on burning off some calories on the elliptical and preventing some muscle atrophy, since I haven't run in 10 days. My last two attempts resulted in nothing but aggravating some injury that I still can't figure out what it is. I took a look at the treadmills, and thought to myself, "well, I have my running shoes... it's better than nothing". So I laced up the running shoes and headed for the studio room where I did my stretching routine.
I hit the treadmill and did a warm up walk for a few minutes at 3 mph. Then I ramped up the speed to 5 mph (12 minute mile pace) and made it for 1.5 miles before slowing back down to 3 mph and walking for a tenth of a mile. My right calf was feeling quite well and warm, but my right ankle joint was hurting just a bit. After walking for a tenth, I ran for another mile (total 2.5 miles) and decided to call it quits. After cooling down at 2 mph I hit the weights.
Before getting too excited about running 2.5 miles, I must remind myself that treadmill running with a zero incline setting is a TON easier than running on pavement, since the "ground" is literally being pulled out from under you. But I was running, and that's a positive step.
I decided not to do any lower body exercises, except for leg raises, because running is enough, and my right leg is still not feeling great. So I did back extensions, crunches, leg lifts, and assisted chin-ups. I modified the leg lifts to only lift one leg at a time, leaving the other leg hanging. This will force my pelvis to stay vertical, in line with my upper body, so the leg lift action comes strictly from the hip flexors (psoas major, psoas minor, and illiacus). If the pelvis was allowed to rotate upwards, then the abs would be allowed to assist, which I did not want to happen. The goal was to isolate the hip flexors.
As of this writing, which is about five hours after the workout, my right calf feels quite strange - I get these little twitches every now and then, and it feels stiff after sitting for a while. I can't quite figure out if this is good soreness or bad soreness; one thought that ran through my mind was "pins and needles", which would indicate possible "compartment syndrome", which would be bad. But that is usually accompanied by extreme pain that won't be stopped with morphine. Which means I would not be walking.
Another thought is damage to the plantaris muscle, which is a small, and quite frankly, useless, muscle deep in the calf. It works with the soleus and the gastrocnemious to plantar flex the foot. 7% of people don't even have a plantaris. But as small and useless as it is, damaging this muscle can be somewhat debilitating, because the brain is expecting feedback from this muscle to help control the calf group. A complete rupture of this little guy can keep you hobbling for a couple of weeks until the brain figures out that it's not there anymore, and switches to something else for feedback.
So in the meantime, ice will (again) be my friend. And maybe I'll try some heat to relax the muscles.
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