More Calf Recovery...

I wasn't going to run or post anything until after my birthday on Saturday as I felt it was better to give the calf more time to recover.  Time and the standard calf exercises are what it needs - not running.  But today I thought I would go to the gym for a Wattbike cycle.  Before the cycle I spotted the treadmills and was drawn to having a little go.  I was wearing my calf compression sock and figured that running very, very slowly would not be bad.  And I was absolutely going to stop at the first sign of encroaching pain.  On to the treadmill I went and set the pace to 6kmh.  That is barely above walking pace but it is probably worth doing.  There was no pain at all, I didn't track the run in any way, and all felt good.  After 12 minutes or so (give or take a minute or two) I accidentally stopped the mill, so I immediately restarted it.  I had been contemplating upping the pace a tiny bit but had decided to leave it at 6kmh.  But after the stop/start I restarted at 7kmh.  Still very slow, so safe!  After about 8 minutes (again, not tracking, so +/- a minute or so) I thought I could feel the calf starting to feel not quite 100%, so I immediately stopped.  It was not bad and I could have kept running but this was the best plan.  And running with no tracking is something Ceri wanted me to try, so I'm gonna count this as ticking off that goal too :-).  I think tomorrow I may do the same - let's see!  I was not going to run until after this weekend, and that is still essentially the plan, but I will do some very slow runs prior to restarting the training plan.  I may even build up to the training plan for a week or more just to be safe.  And also running slowly, with no tracking, listening to podcasts/music, is better fun than doing the tricky training plan!  Building back up to the plan makes a lot of sense!!  And after the 'run' I did 45 minutes (20km) on the gym Wattbike, so I think it was a valuable thing to do!  Probably more of the same tomorrow...