Dec. 19, 2022
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I'm in the 62-day countdown to the 55th Ohme 30 K Road Race. But I'm not doing very well. Sad to say, but it's true. Five days ago, I felt a pain in my left calf while jogging at night. To avoid worsening the situation, I canceled the training and walked back home. The main continued till the following day. But it had mostly subsided two days after I first felt the discomfort. Then this weekend, while spending time in Central Tokyo for pleasure, I walked quite a long distance to enjoy shopping and sightseeing. I walked a little less than 10 K in two days. During this course of time, there was little pain felt in the calf. So, hoping that I was ready, I hit the road tonight. But it turned out I wasn't ready.
Feeling disappointed, I walked home. But then a few steps toward home, I stopped and said to myself, "If you can walk home, you might as well continue to walk for an hour or so as a substitute for an hour-long run.
So I turned around and went for a walk. A sudden change of plan will give you a fresh outlook on things. I decided to head for a destination that I normally don't go to, a park about 4 kilometers from home. It has athletic equipment that allows me to do some upper-body exercises. I will be able to burn the calories by using the equipment that I was originally planning to burn by running.
While walking to the park, I tried running on and off to figure out what movement gives me the greatest pain. I discovered that a forefoot landing slightly before the center of gravity gives me the greatest pain. I tried a middle-foot strike exactly under the center of gravity and measured the impact on the muscle. This time, the pain eased.
From this test, I learned two things. One, the muscle strain has to do with my running form. If I keep up the middle-foot strike and make sure my feet fall exactly under the center of my gravity, the strain on the calves will be lessened.
This is a great learning experience. In fact, I had a similar problem several years ago when I first tried barefoot running. Back then, I was younger, still keeping some growth potential, I overcame the discomfort by becoming stronger. As I get older, though, becoming stronger is becoming less and less of a viable option. I must learn to cope with the weakening body. There is a bit of sadness associated with that realization. But it is something I must live with.
