The week of workouts after injuring my calf on my first brick was full of trepidation. My first sprint triathlon event was just two weeks away, and I really had no idea whether I’d be able to recover enough in order to do it.
I started the week with an open water swim at a local lake, my second time swimming there. I had a rough estimate of the distance I was covering from Google Maps, and corroborated that with the time I spent in the water. It was good practice for figuring out sight-lines and navigation in the water. My calf felt okay, but I didn’t expect that swimming would tax it particularly. The real test would be running.
Next up was a ride, which I did as a relatively low-key mountain bike ride for just under an hour. No serious effects there either, but I did feel a couple of tweaks. It was mainly feeling painful during my everyday routine, preventing me from walking normally and feeling really tight and stiff. I felt like stiff was something I could deal with and potentially stretch out, but if it connected with pain, that was a problem.
I took my first run of the week on the treadmill, keeping it flat and easy, for only about 20 minutes. It again didn’t seem to hurt it, but it wasn’t getting any better.
Another easy swim, and then I decided to try it out on the road. I did an extremely careful, extremely slow run, with a couple of hills in it, one of which I walked. I didn’t want to take any chances with making it worse, but I did feel like something needed to be worked out for it to get better.
That seemed to go okay, so the next day I did a decent ride, about 20 miles with about 1,300 ft of elevation, all in one go. It felt pretty good. I got my running shoes on immediately and went out for a short run, to complete my second brick. I didn’t feel normal, but I didn’t feel bad, and overall it was successful. I was optimistic for the coming week.
