I reckon I can declare my calf tear to be fully healed now, at least from the perspective of my normal running. Sprinting is out of the question for at least another few weeks, but running at my usual pace for long distances is fine.

It’s now a matter of bringing all the muscles back up to their proper strength. I spent two weeks doing very little – just a few kilometres each day hobbling about. It’s amazing how quickly one’s leg muscles can atrophy when doing so little. Now I’ll need to spend a similar length of time getting those same muscles back to where they were.

While the calf is now fine, I’ll have to be careful I don’t overdo things as I then risk other injuries. Things are looking good overall, though, as I ran close to 100 km run this week. I’m sure next week I’ll total at least 100 km or more.

Here’s another photo of me running on the pampas in Argentina. You can see Carmel’s shadow as she held the GoPro high to take the shot.

DCIM100GOPRO

On This Day

Jun 4, 2012

Distance today = 51.97 km; Total distance = 7269.47 km; Location = Clark, South Dakota  – 44 52.679′ N, 97 44.436′ W; Start time = 0821, Finish time = 1624

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/185682690

It was another hot one, and even now, at 5:15 pm, it’s over 30 C. Remember too, whatever the official temperature is in the shade, I’m experiencing it quite a bit hotter on the road in the direct sunshine.

I think it got to me, as my legs had nothing by the end of the day. The busy road with no shoulder (yes, I was back on one of these today) did nothing to improve the day. The forecast is for the next week to be above 30 C, and tomorrow will be on the same road as today, so I’d better steel myself for another tough day.