Short question: left soleus strain. Just “ran” 2 miles at 10:00 pace, and stopped as soon as I felt it tighten. ANY increase in speed causes immediate pain.
Medium question: Tight posterior chain, particularly my hamstrings. Long time commuter, never stretching. Had regular issues with pain in my heels at the Achilles attachment point, and sometimes at the calf muscle where it connects to the Achilles’ tendon. Last week, I did some VO2 intervals on the bike (no stretching, of course). The next day, I did a basic, gentle 5 miler, at very basic 9:20 pace. It started tightening by mile 3, but since I didn’t stop, by mile 4 1/2 I was cooked. This week I didn’t run at all. I did 75 min on the trainer, and swam twice. I also did about 30 min of yoga every day this week. During the swims, I used the buoy the entire time. Today, as per above, I had to stop at 2 miles, even at a conservative pace. I had done a 10 min yoga warm up before going. Focusing on on Downward facing dog to lengthen the hammies?
I had planned to put a 20-30 min run on the schedule each day to gradually get back to my normal 90 min runs, but if I can’t even jog for 20 min yet, how can I proceed and not lose my fitness? Bike/swim focus for a while?
Last question: what kind of doctor/specialist should I look for? My general doctor isn’t very interesting in helping me solve this, long term.
Thanks,
Michael
Medium question: Tight posterior chain, particularly my hamstrings. Long time commuter, never stretching. Had regular issues with pain in my heels at the Achilles attachment point, and sometimes at the calf muscle where it connects to the Achilles’ tendon. Last week, I did some VO2 intervals on the bike (no stretching, of course). The next day, I did a basic, gentle 5 miler, at very basic 9:20 pace. It started tightening by mile 3, but since I didn’t stop, by mile 4 1/2 I was cooked. This week I didn’t run at all. I did 75 min on the trainer, and swam twice. I also did about 30 min of yoga every day this week. During the swims, I used the buoy the entire time. Today, as per above, I had to stop at 2 miles, even at a conservative pace. I had done a 10 min yoga warm up before going. Focusing on on Downward facing dog to lengthen the hammies?
I had planned to put a 20-30 min run on the schedule each day to gradually get back to my normal 90 min runs, but if I can’t even jog for 20 min yet, how can I proceed and not lose my fitness? Bike/swim focus for a while?
Last question: what kind of doctor/specialist should I look for? My general doctor isn’t very interesting in helping me solve this, long term.
Thanks,
Michael