CTR Update

Oh boy.

It’s Wednesday, right? And the Cabot Trail Relay is, let’s see, 3 days away. When do you think would be the perfect time to get hurt? Right about now? Yes, indeed, right about now.

Training has been going great. Last Friday, Alex, Nick, and I did an 800m repeat session at the track, and they were all comfortably between 2:34 and 2:29. For me, that’s crazy fast – and it felt great. For the weekend, JA and I headed to Hubbards to enjoy the amazing Victoria Day weather and to open up the trailer for the season. I took Saturday off – then did a long run on the rail trail on Sunday – 21km, my own BlueNose Half Marathon. I ran comfortably – never pushing – although the pace was a bit quick. I covered the distance in 1:28, but felt good. I did notice my right ankle hurting a bit, but things hurt on long runs – no big deal. It was never a “stop right now, buddy!” pain. On Monday, JA and I went out to run together. My ankle hurt, but I figured it was just stiff from Sunday. So when JA turned back at her halfway point and I continued on my own, I opened it up a bit. That didn’t help – by the end of 10k, I was checking my stride, favouring my ankle.

What the hell?

Last night was supposed to be mile repeats at 10k pace. I did the warmup and no more – it felt like someone was stabbing one of my front ankle tendons with a knife. I have no idea what the issue is – and I don’t have any time (or benefits!) to find out. Maybe it’s tendinitis related to my shin – it seems to be a shin muscle tendon. But the sore spot is also suspiciously right at the level where the tongue of my somewhat new shoes sits. Could it simply be soreness caused by the tongue digging into my ankle? Could so much discomfort come from something so simple? Man, I sure hope so.

The plan is this – stay off my feet for the next few days, ice periodically, chomp on some ibuprofen, stretch, and get JA to take the rolling pin to shin and calf. Will it be enough? It better be – I’ve got 13 other guys counting on me. I may be the slowest guy on the team, but I still have a role to play – everyone does.

Oh boy.