Saturday, January 31, 2009

Saturday Evening's Random Thoughts

Well, my calf is still tweaked but it is getting better each day. I've been treating it with ice, self'-massage, Traumeel ointment, epsom salts baths, and as much time off of it as my mind can take.

I tried running yesterday morning but after only 2 miles it was clear that it's just not ready yet. The good thing is that I can bike with little to no pain and I can also cross country ski with little to no pain. The bad thing is that the weather this week hasn't been very good for either one.

Despite the fact that my girlfriend rides her bike in every imaginable type of horrible weather I just don't have that same willingness for suffering.

The skiing was pretty good today but the temperatures have just been hovering in the low to mid 30's and it's been raining and or snowing all week. What snow we have is just so dang sloppy that the skiing is fairly marginal.

Today would have been quite nice classic skiing except that I put on too soft of a kick wax so I was getting some pretty annoying icing up going on. I really need to get some waxless skis for conditions like these but that's one purchase I probably won't be making until next winter. The skate skiing was pretty good today too. Kind of slow and punchy but still pretty fun. The only problem is that I just haven't been that interested in skate skiing this year. For some reason I just feel like I always want to classic ski, even if the conditions are better for skating.

So until I can run again (I'm hoping Monday or Tuesday) it'll have to be a combination of skiing and biking on the stationary bike at the gym (I really don't see myself actually going out for a bike ride in the next several days since the forecast calls for more wind, rain, snow, and temperatures in the 30's).

I'm not yet too concerned about this little setback, but the ITI does start 4 weeks from tomorrow and is BY FAR the most difficult foot race I have ever attempted, and I have run less than 30 miles in the last 14 days. I've still got a little more time in which to deal with this calf problem, but if I'm not running pain free in another few days, or by next weekend at the latest then it definitely becomes much more of a concern. I'm very optimistic that this will heel up and be of no concern going forward, I just want it to do so ASAP. A little extra rest here probably hasn't been a bad thing, but at this point I am 100% recovered from the HURT 100, and pretty much was 3 or 4 days ago. Now that I've fully kicked the stomach bug I had earlier in the week I'm feeling very healthy, energetic, and raring to go... if only my right calf felt the same as my left one.

Oh, and tomorrow's the big day. No, not the Super Bowl. The lottery drawing for the Hardrock 100! It'd be sweet to get drawn in but more than anything I'm looking forward simply to knowing whether I'm in or not because the entire middle of my summer racing schedule will be affected by whether I'm doing Hardrock or not.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Hope the calf gets better Geoff. Congrats on the HURT win as well. Good luck in the HR lottery as well. PS: your girlfriend is definitely dedicated to that bike, but it looks pretty cool. -cr

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

The lottery drawing for the Hardrock 100
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hope u get in Geoff, what an amazing course and from one extreme to another with ITI to HR100 surely would be a year to remember.

Hope that calf gets better quick!!

Ur GF is a machine, love the frozen eyelid pics :-)

brownie said...

Hey, you're high enough on the HR wait list that you'll get in!

Olga said...

You are practically IN! I wonder if you're still going after Miwok qualifier for WS and if yes, which race would be your focus this year. Please, do say:)

Anonymous said...

Geoff - go to Foggy Mountain Shop and talk to Scott about some waxless performance skis. He may be able to work something out for you. I am traveling but I will call him and give him a heads up that you might stop in. Also - the kick wax for Saturday was Swix VR50 or VR55 (blue extra or purple special). I classic skied for almost 3 hours Saturday morning on the lower loop using a thin layer of VR55 over several thin layers of VR50 and it worked very well. I always ask all the other skiers what they are using for wax when I go up - especially when I see some of the advanced classic skiers such as Guy Thibodeau, Odin Brudie, Ken Leghorn or Greg Patz. I'm on my way to Minnesota to do some long distance classic skiing with a friend that lives there. Good luck with your calf! Betsy Fischer - Foggy Mountain Shop

Geoff said...

betsy, yeah, i had on 60 and i could tell that 55 would have been perfect. i tried covering it with a thin layer of 55 but going in that direction (from soft to harder) never works so well. today it was just a bit warmer and wetter and the VR60 was perfect.

at any rate i'll probably stop into foggy this week and peruse the waxless skis. thanks.

Geoff said...

olga, yeah, i'm definitely still going to try to get into western states. as far as which one would be my focus, I can't say... not because i care to be secretive but because i haven't really decided yet.

Anonymous said...

tell me about it. I am on my way to Minnesota right now and didn't have time to clean my classic skis before I left. It is 7 degrees in Minneapolis and I have a feeling that my VR50 is going to have to be stripped with a laser gun for me to have any glide tomorrow-

Still - don't be shy about checking with Scott at some point on some performance waxless skis.

Anonymous said...

I had a calf injury that sounds similar to yours...soleus part of calf. I had to take 2 weeks off leading up to a trail marathon but it was well worth it. As someone else mentioned previously, you don't lose much overall fitness by taking 2 or 3 weeks completely off. I ran a pretty strong race and the calf held up fine. The first 8 miles of the race climbed over 3000 feet so I knew if I made it through that first 1/3 I would be good to go.

Don't rush it no matter how antsy you get. Patience wins in the long-term.

CJ Hitz

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