Mixed Results

Have just returned from a round Ireland trip. Spent 7 hours in the car yesterday travelling from Cork to Waterford for a meeting and then onto Sligo for a conference today. Spent another 5 hours in the car this evening getting home. I still managed to get a total of 19.5 miles running in as well (some good and some bad miles). Before I left yesterday morning I did a short easy run in the park covering 5.3 miles at 08:25 pace (127 HR). When I arrived in Sligo yesterday evening I covered another 5.4 miles at a steady pace (07:38 pace @ 145 HR). While the run wasn't intentionally faster I felt comfortable throughout. This morning (Thursday) I set out around Sligo town with the intention of being out for about an hour or so. At 7 in the morning Sligo is like a ghost town - one or two cars about and a few street cleaners. I had tried to check out running routes in Sligo on "mapmyrun" in the hotel the night before but the internet connection was down (checked it out this evening - not much on offer). After 4 miles I ended running along the river bank and found a river side gravel walk that took me off the road for about 3 miles (out and back towards Lough Gill - very scenic) The pace was about 08:30 or slower, however the effort felt harder than it should have. As I returned along the river bank a tightness in my right calf developed into a cramp which forced me to stop and stretch for a bit before carrying on at a reduced pace and an altered stride to ease the tension (felt as if I was limping). This was the last thing I expected as I have only once had a cramp during a run (17 months ago). I took the shortest route back to the hotel and called it a day. I had been out longer than I had intended and covered 8.8 miles in 01:16:29 (08:41 pace @ 130bpm) - certainly a poor performance for the effort. The tightness in my calf remained all day which is worrying especially as I intend racing on Sunday. I have some physio scheduled for tomorrow morning which should help. I had physio a few weeks ago which seems to have got rid of the niggling tightness in my left quad that I had since the beginning of July.