Avoiding injury

Last week, I had a softball double-header in very cold weather. It didn't help that we played at 8:15 and 9:15. I stretched, I tried to warm up, but somehow I still managed to tweak my left calf. I took the next day off, then felt good about running again. Wouldn't you know it, but dang it, I tweaked the calf again, playing softball last night. I think it's the sprinting and rapid direct changes when I run the bases, because my normal running routine (slow and steady) doesn't bother it.

I did end up going for a shorter run today (two miles) to make sure I don't make it worse. I felt it, but it was all right. I ordered some calf compression sleeves from Running Warehouse which should be here in a couple of days. Hopefully they'll do the trick; even though softball season is almost over, I still worry that one wrong step will really mess it up.

Twinges

Last night was my beer softball league, and for the first time in a while, I decided to tie one on. It left me feeling not 100% today, but I still managed to take a few turns in the park behind our house and get in three miles. I then had a double-header with my other softball team tonight. The combination of being tired from last night, already having a few miles under my belt, the super cold temperatures at night, and a few quick sprints around the bases gave me a twinge in my left calf tonight. I'm hoping it's nothing, just a tweak, a little overuse... we'll see how it goes in the next couple of days. It's funny... when I first started feeling it, my first thought was, "wonder how this will affect my running schedule... will I still be able to go for my run tomorrow?"