Day 46 - Cramp. Horrible Cramp.

As I move through my slow increase in mileage I found myself at the 2.75 mile mark. I've done quite a bit on grass recently, and I'd had an extra day's rest, so I opted for road. I was keen to run it all in one go and see how it felt, to build a bit of confidence that I can nearly run 3 miles.

Here's the good news: it felt great, right to the end of the run. I was at least 1.5 miles in before I felt my calves at all. And, as has been the case recently, they felt like they were working, rather than complaining. I had to do a few inclines (it's impossible to run around here and avoid them) and I finished the run on a donkey track at the top of a steep road just next to our house. I felt good and looked forward to getting back home, drinking my protein shake, stretching out, and ticking off another run.

Here's the bad news: Having finished the run I started walking down the steep road. After about 10 yards I felt that tell-tale sensation that says calf-cramp is on its way. That feeling where you know that if you don't straighten your leg out and stretch that calf immediately it is going to seize up in cramping agony. So I quickly found a wall, pushed against it and stretched out my leg. As I released the stretch, I could feel it going again. So stretched again. This repeated a few times, with my calf never really releasing. Never going into full cramp, but never relaxing. My walk down the rest of the road must have made it look like I had a wooden leg as dared not bend it. And it remained in nearly-cramp for a good 30 minutes.

For the rest of the day it has been aching and smarting and complaining. So why did it cramp? Overuse? I guess so. But I wonder whether it had something to do with walking steeply downhill. It's very difficult to engage the calf walking steeply downhill. Maybe I moved from heavy use to no use at all and it flooded with lactic acid that had nowhere to go. I'll have to see how it feels tomorrow before I know if there is any damage, but I suspect it will be fine, just sore from the cramping.