Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!

I Ran! (Then Biked Hard, Then Ran Again!)

>> Thursday, April 16, 2026

I took a week off from running after feeling some pain on April 1st and 3rd, and I tested it on Monday the 13th after 9 days off (wearing the "night splint" to bed every night too). I just looped around home because I didn't expect it to feel OK for long. So I never got more than a mile from home:

Numbers are half-mile splits.

My calf didn't hurt, but it started feeling a little tight around 1.5 - 2 miles into the run. I thought I'd be calling it quits around mile 2.5. But it got better and never hurt at all. I stopped after 4.75 miles just because I didn't want to overdo it. It felt OK the rest of the day and things felt promising!

Also, I ran into a turkey in our neighborhood just before mile 4:

I feel the big test for my leg came over the next 2 days...

The day after my first run, I was on my feet a lot for my classes. And went for a few random walks. And then I headed out for a short bike ride down the Greenway being it was over 60 degrees (on my "actual" bike and not just on my old cruddy mountain bike). Shortly after I started, I thought I'd maybe go hard for the first 15 miles or so (I didn't start thinking I'd do much effort, but OH WELL). So that's what I did: a 15 mile tempo ride with a long cool down at the end to get in 24+ miles. I averaged 21.2 mph for those first hard 15 miles, and you can see my speed and heart rate drop just after 42 minutes:

My left knee was a little sore, and my left calf felt a little tight, but nothing bad.

Finally, 2 days after my first run and a day after that bike ride, I went for another easy run. My calf felt the same: normal at first, a bit tight around mile 1.5, but then fine for the rest of it. And it was fine the rest of the day! So I'm not out of the woods just yet, but it's clearly on the upswing. I keep massaging it to loosen it up, and I'm still wearing that nasty "night splint" to bed to help keep my foot in a position that doesn't allow my calf to fully relax.

Feeling good about back-to-back-to-back days with a run, bike, and a run!

Injured Week of Non-Training

>> Tuesday, April 14, 2026

I mean, in the grand scheme of things, this ins't bad for an "injured" week:

That's all weight lifting (in black, totalling 14.5 hours which is NICE) and some easy to easy/moderate trainer rides (in green).

After 8 consecutive weeks of 1500+ "intensity minutes" (under the red line) I only had 1082 minutes last week (the red arrow):

And that number was only as high as it was because I got in some good, hard lifts.

I think it's actually a PR for weekly strength time! I just barely broke 14 hours just over a year ago, and I had 14 hrs 24 mins this past week! Nice!

And look at how my HRV numbers TANKED when I wasn't doing any hard training:

Nightly numbers are the dotted line, and it pulled me into "unbalanced"
last Wednesday (after skipping 2 runs and 2 hard bike workouts).

My "endurance score" had been on the upswing since early February (after taking a hit in Jan because of a week-long trip), but now it leveled out:

I've been having weekly step counts around 150,000 since last summer (I think I only was below 125,000 for 2 weeks last year), but last week was 110,000. Even if I had my 3 normal runs, that only would have put it around 138,000, so it would have still been on the smaller side (showing that I didn't get up / out and move as much because my calf was sore). This shows in one of the apps I use to earn rewards for walking... Here's what March looked like:

All the GREEN is for days I hit the goal they had set for me.

And here's what the injured week in April looked like:

The only goal met was the run that injured me on the first.

I've been wearing the "night splint" boot for the last 12 nights, and I think I'm on the upswing. I'll test my leg a little more and report back on Thursday, before some "Friday Funnies" on Friday.

p.s. If you want to start earning rewards for walking (and it logs a lot of "steps" if you have your phone in your pocket while biking too), download WeWard and use code JUSTFISH6195 so we both earn a bonus. That's where the 2 calendars came from above.