Always A First
There is always a first time for everything and today it was mine for a leg cramp.
Now I have had leg cramps before but never while running. They have always been after the run or race, until today.
This morning I ran the 10k at the Franklin Classic. It was a great morning to run. I was hoping for a sub-50 and was on pace until just before mile 4 marker.
It started as just a tightness in my right calf. But all of a sudden I couldn’t put any weight on my right leg and had to stop.
I walked best I could and it slowly loosened up, at least enough to finely start running again.
I was able to finish. But I lost about 5 minutes, rats!
Now I am home with ice on my calf. I can hardly walk because my calf is so sore. This not how I planned to spend Labor Day.
Here are the splits…
| Mile | Pace (min/mile) | Speed (mph) | Heart Rate |
Elev Gain |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| actual | +/- avg | actual | +/- avg | ||||
| 1 | 7′ 49 | -0′ 59 | 7.7 | +0.9 | 145 | +13 ft | |
| 2 | 7′ 42 | -1′ 06 | 7.8 | +1.0 | 157 | -20 ft | |
| 3 | 8′ 03 | -0′ 45 | 7.4 | +0.6 | 160 | +56 ft | |
| 4 | 7′ 56 | -0′ 52 | 7.5 | +0.7 | 161 | +6 ft | |
| 5 | 12′ 50 | +4′ 02 | 4.7 | -2.1 | 131 | -26 ft | |
| 6 | 8′ 30 | -0′ 18 | 7.0 | +0.2 | 155 | -33 ft | |
| end | 8′ 00 | -0′ 48 | 7.5 | +0.7 | 160 | +3 ft | |
| Average of 8′ 48 min/mile | |||||||
September 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
OUCH! I remember watching a guy in the US Marathon Olympic Trials stopping to stretch out a cramp in his calf. I can’t imagine.. hope I never experience it! Great job powering through.. many would not have a time 5 minutes slower.. they would have a DNF for results.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
You did TERRIFIC!!! I know a cramp is a horrible thing…but you did did TERRIFIC!!! WOW!!
September 10th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Yeow…sorry it happened in a race!! Who knows why…the fact that it is new says it is probably an “outlier”; just some random thing that happened that day, that way.
Ice is good…
September 12th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Oh man, sorry about the cramp. Hope it has resolved itself over the last week.
October 30th, 2009 at 7:17 pm
Where are you, David? No post in about 6 weeks.