Yesterday I decided to run hills for my mid-week semi-long run. I started from my house and ran to Chino Hills State Park. The first 3.5 miles were all uphill and most of the 1350 elevation gain was done during those first 3 miles. Upon starting out, my legs felt fine, but after about 3/4 of a mile my left calf felt very strange. It wasn't quite a cramp, but it wasn't loose either. I have no real way to describe it other than it felt like a lump of muscle just bouncing around. Fortunately, after about another half mile, things felt much better. As I continued my ascent, I started to feel pain in my left ankle. I slowed and tried to "work" things out and it seemed to help. When I reached the top of my ascent, everything felt fine.............then came the steep down hills and technical single track. It wasn't to long before my ankle was hurting again. In addition, my toes were slamming the front of my shoe. No matter how tight I tightened my shoe, I could not stop this. It made me think that either there is something wrong with my left shoe or my foot. Nonetheless, I took the remainder of the downhills easy. Once back on the main trail, things began to get back to normal. It is about a mile and a half steady climb out of the park and everything felt fine. Unfortunately, the last mile and a half home was downhill and on pavement. I chose to take it easy and finished the run feeling good. Before heading to bed last night, I made sure I iced up both shins just as a preventative measure.
Upon waking this morning, I definitely felt the muscle fatigue from the hills. While sore and a little stiff, it felt good and reminded me of the days when I was training for track, cross country, and duathalons. I even felt excited thinking about this coming Saturday's 3 hour run.
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