My brain doesn't know how old my body is

The problem with sprinting is that it's really fun.

And worse, the sense that I could run FASTER is even more compelling.

Since I began running in November, I haven't run all out, full speed. In part this is because Ric Rojas, my coach, has encouraged me not to, and in part it's because I can tell that I'm not quite ready, and in part it's because I'm afraid to, and, in part, it's because each time I think I'm ready... I get some minor injury (see previous post).

But the real problem is that my brain is attracted to the potential fun and it has no idea whether my body can follow its whims. My brain has no idea that I'm heading toward 46. And so my brain will say to my body, "Come on, let's go a bit faster..." or, "I know you ache a little bit, but why should that stop you from training," or, "So what if you're older than the parents of all those kids on the track... let's kick their butts!"

Sometimes my brain has an conversations with itself:

"Let's really take it easy tonight. 50% effort should be fine."
"Yeah, right. How 'bout 110% you wimp?"
"Oh, okay."

Rumor has it that I'll eventually learn how to take it easy, either by getting smarter or getting hurt enough to give me no other choice.

I'm hoping for the former.

"Pu-lease... you're leg feels 90%, why not go to that Masters meet and see what you can do?"

Damn brain.

I hope it's just growing pains

While I was an athlete in high school (All-America gymnast to be exact), and kept working out through college (Duke didn't have a men's gymnastics team), the end of my athletic career was in about 1984.

I stayed active after that. Living in NYC, I rode my bike for transportation, probably clocking about 20 miles a day once I enrolled in grad school, since I lived in Greenwich Village and Columbia was a good 8 miles away.

But the last 15 years or so have been relatively sedentary with spurts of time in the gym, or trying other sports (competitive rope jumping and circus arts, mostly).

I say all of this as a prelude to:

I can't seem to go a week without an injury.

Usually nothing major, but time and energy consuming nonetheless. Last night is a perfect example. We're doing some blocks drills and I'm taking it easy. A good explosion from the blocks, a fast 3 or 4 steps and then I slowly bring it to a stop. Not a big deal.

Then on the 4th start, on about the 5th step, I feel something in my left calf that feels like a tiny spring exploding. And that's the end of the day, and the beginning of a week (or more) worth of recovery.

Clearly, there are two ways to think about this:

1) These are just growing pains and as my body gets used to the additional stress I'm asking it to tolerate, I'll see fewer (hopefully no more) of these minor injuries. Sure, I know I could pull or twist or tweak something if I'm going all out, but I shouldn't get hurt, say, warming up!

2) It's a sign that my body isn't able to handle the demands of sprinting.

Needless to say, when #2 pops into my head, I counter it with thoughts like #1.

I hope I'm right, and not deluding myself. Only time will tell.

Oh! All of the above doesn't even count what seems to be some issue with my SI joint (probably an imbalance I've had for years) and hip bursitis (no idea from where). I'm off to the orthopedist this afternoon to see what he says about those issues (7 weeks of PT, chiropractic, massage and more hasn't done much for either).