I decided to make tonight a short night at the gym and go for cardio only, running a mile and change. A few minutes into my mile, I felt a twinge in my left ankle. I shook it off and felt myself shifting, only slightly, to compensate for it.
Within the next minute, my left calf started to ache and cramp. When my calves start to cramp, there's no saving them - or if there is, I sure haven't figured it out yet. I pushed through the rest of my mile, determined to improve on my last mile time.
It worked, but barely. I trimmed a modest five seconds off my mile, finishing in 14:51. The walking cooldown did nothing for my cramped calf, which by this time was resulting in a pronounced limp.
I was frustrated. Very frustrated. I had warmed up well and I knew I could do better on that mile tonight. Nothing felt tight. Nothing felt out of place. It wasn't until I threw my things into my car and sat outside the gym, annoyed with myself, that I remembered how I'd compensated for my ankle hurting.
Oh. That.
Tonight's "I can't believe I had to learn this one the hard way" lesson is that everything is connected. There are precious few parts of my body that operate independently, and how I use each part affects dozens of other parts. When I changed my stride to keep my ankle from hurting, I did something that I can only classify as "made my calf angry." It's still angry, nearly two hours later.
Lesson learned, body.
Tomorrow will a well-deserved day off from the gym, and I hope that by the time I come back, my calf will be ready to play nicely with others. After all, I have a new mile time to beat.
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