Crap. Last week, I did 1.5 miles on the road, and had my calf start aching and seizing up -- on the advice of a fellow runner, I got off it, iced it, ibuprofen'd it, and have been waiting for healing.
No dice.
I went to the physiotherapist yesterday, and he told me that I've strained the Soleus muscle in my calf, and that, point-blank, he doesn't recommend I run the 10K next week. Colour me seriously discouraged.
My plan at this point is to continue to evaluate my recovery until next Friday, and, if I'm pain-free at that point, run the 5K race -- I've been too long off my pace to try and make up the difference in current distance (4.5 miles) and target distance (6.2 miles), while still trying to recover from the strain.
Any advice to heal *really* quickly is greatly appreciated.