Another season, another running injury. I have been trying to do tri’s since 2009 and EVERY year, I get injured running.
2009: Achilles (which led to a walking boot which led to a blood clot which led to a pulmonary embolism)
2010: No training because Achilles was still an issue
2011: ITBS
2012: ITBS (and later Achilles, but that was after my A race)
2013: Plantar Fasciitis & Stress Fx
Stupidly signed up for IMWI while still on crutches form the stress Fx. Did a bunch of crosstraining (Stairmaster, water running, ellipticals) from Jan - March to prepare myself to start running in mid-late March. Followed the BarryP (as I did the last 2 years)…first runs were ridiculously short (less than 1/2 a mile), but also crosstrained (see exercises above) on those days to meet my volume requirements.
Hit 30 miles / week last week…was out for a 10 mile run on Saturday and my calf cramped @ 2.5 miles. Bad. COuld not stretch it out and had to do the walk of shame home. Went for a massage the next day…better, but still sore. By Wednesday, I felt like I could do a test run. Did 30 min on the elliptical to warm-up / stretch and then ran 1 mile. Succeeded but calf was becoming tight. BY that afternoon, it was back to where it had been after the initial cramp.
Went to ortho yesterday and diagnosed with calf strain. Rx for 2-6 weeks of rehab. Race next weekend (Pleasant Prairie) is now out…PT is hoping I can still do Racine. (Side note - have been trying to do PP since 2009. Still haven’t succeeded. Will probably do my own private Aquabike and bail on the run.)
Given a bunch of exercises / stretches to do at home and will get at least one run / week on the ALter G treadmill at PT office (no idea how long yet). Also getting massage / ultrasound treatment there and I am going to a different PT today for Graston.
Yesterday was my “pity party” day…now I need to develop a plan. Initial thoughts are to replace my run blocks with a combo of Alter G, water running (both full float and touching) and elliptical. This is going to be a mental drain more than anything else…winter in Chicago was brutal and Spring wasn’t much better. Having to exercise indoors now is just gonna kill me…and having to do 1+ hours of water running or elliptical work in any given day? Shoot me now…
Suggestions / ideas /recommendations are much appreciated. I’m really pretty frustrated at this point…I’ll be on the start line in Madison come hell or highwater. The only question will be if I am gonna be able to run or if I am looking at a 26 mile hike.
What’s you run training plan look like? Have your searched Barry P on here? If you running 30 miles per week on his plan, you long run would be only 9 miles. But sounds like you need to build up slower, starting at 20 miles… so long run is just 6 miles then. Work to 25, then 30, then 35. No need IMO to do more than 40 if you slower and just trying to finish. Put your effort into biking and learning to ride hills at a low, steady and even pace using all your gears. A lot of folks should be climbing the bigger hills at about 4-5mph, not 7-8mph.
While doing that work on increasing your run cadence so you running, not jumping 1 leg at a time off your calf… which is what I suspect your doing. You might even work on midfoot strike. IT could be you like to run on your toes… but a forefoot strike is worse if you don’t have correct mechanics.
+1 on strength training. You could be driving off you calf to make up for weak glutes and hamstrings.
I have done a bunch of strength training, a lot focusing on my glutes, but also calves.
Run schedule was classic BarryP…1/2/3 with 1 blocks on M/W/S, 2 blocks on Tues / Thursday and Sat was long run. Surfaces range from asphalt to crushed pea gravel paths. No concrete. Mid-foot strike (was a notorious heel striker). Shoes are Mizuno Wave Rider 16’s for all runs except Saturday. Long runs are Hoka Conquests.
Cadence is 180 spm (but has been as high as 200). Most of my “runs” this year have been between 9:30 - 10:00 / mile. I think I have literally only done 1 mile around 8:00’. I have purposely been running very slow to avoid injury…
I came from a bike racing bAckground…but I am on blood thinners as a result of the clot from 2009. Bike racing and blood thinners don’t mix well!!!
Please be more descriptive of the PT work done…type of exercises, ART?, Graston?, etc.
PT work for previous stuff has been mostly “hands on” stuff…I.e. Things I can’t do at home. Have a great Graston guy (who worked me over yesterday…I felt like a mob informant in a dark alley).
Exercises have been a mix of functional strength stuff (one legged squats, eccentric calf drops w/ weighted back pack, etc) balance strengthening (balance pad / board, bosu ball) and elastic band work.
I hate to say it, but maybe running just doesn’t agree with your body/biomechanics? I say this as someone who tends to get injured with longer distances, no matter how easy and gradual the build up. Every marathon I have trained for, I have gotten injured doing so and have yet to conquer the distance. I am an otherwise healthy, very athletically inclined male. I’m doing IMC this year, and wont be running longer then 30k just so I can get to the start line healthy.
I firmly believe in the BarryP plan and have tried on a number of occasions implementing the strategy. Unfortunately, for me, it just does not work with my body. I recover better from (1) 6 mile run than (2) 3 mile runs. When I run more than 4 times a week I almost always get injured. I have come to terms with that and have adjusted my training to compensate.
My suggestion is after you fully recover you take a long hard look at your training and see how it needs to be adjusted because it is clear that your approach is not working on the injury front.
Side note…considering your injury history a calf strain really isn’t that bad. Hopefully it’s not a symptom of something worse but if it’s just an isolated strain it could be MUCH worse.
Yeah, I have pretty much reached that conclusion…for whatever reason, running just doesn’t work for my body. At least as far as long course is concerned. But I gotta get through IMWI…I’m not walking away from the entry fee!
@ h2o - PowerCranks were part of my cross training earlier in the year. If my run schedule called for 90 minutes, I’d do. Ride w/ PC’s first and then come hem and run whatever distance I was at in the BarryP plan. So if I was only running 5 miles for my “long” run, I’d ride for 45 minutes and then come back and run 5 to get to 90 minutes total. They will definitely be used again to offset my time lost to the calf strain.
Yeah, I have pretty much reached that conclusion…for whatever reason, running just doesn’t work for my body. At least as far as long course is concerned. But I gotta get through IMWI…I’m not walking away from the entry fee!
@ h2o - PowerCranks were part of my cross training earlier in the year. If my run schedule called for 90 minutes, I’d do. Ride w/ PC’s first and then come hem and run whatever distance I was at in the BarryP plan. So if I was only running 5 miles for my “long” run, I’d ride for 45 minutes and then come back and run 5 to get to 90 minutes total. They will definitely be used again to offset my time lost to the calf strain.
I have ridden PC’s on my trainer for like 10 years. Best tool I have ever found to help my run without the real pounding of running. Just road them for an hour on the martis section on my trainer, then ran cross country for 90 minutes with 1000 feet of climbing.
The only input I would give is you might be trying to get back too fast with run distance.
My other input is a lot of folks bodies cannot handle IM training, especially the running part. This is why I hope to never do another IM, just beats up the body too much and I believe it is better to be in this sport for a long time,
than just a few years and be done.
i remember when I was younger I injured myself training on an indoor banked track. I spent 4 weeks in the pool doing deep water running. I was doing mostly intervals while water running and PR’d by a minute in a 10k a week after returning to the road.
if you do this you have to make sure that you use a full range of motion with your legs. best if you can do it without a belt. use your hands to scull during the arm swing to keep you floating and keep your back vertical!!!
Yeah, I have pretty much reached that conclusion…for whatever reason, running just doesn’t work for my body. At least as far as long course is concerned. But I gotta get through IMWI…I’m not walking away from the entry fee!
@ h2o - PowerCranks were part of my cross training earlier in the year. If my run schedule called for 90 minutes, I’d do. Ride w/ PC’s first and then come hem and run whatever distance I was at in the BarryP plan. So if I was only running 5 miles for my “long” run, I’d ride for 45 minutes and then come back and run 5 to get to 90 minutes total. They will definitely be used again to offset my time lost to the calf strain.
I hear you on eating the entry fee. I did that last year when I got a stress fx two weeks before IMC. That sucked. In my on going recovery from that injury, I’ve been dealing with a very good sports medicine doctor, who is a 10x IM finisher and does a lot of work with endurance athletes. He said most of the running injuries he sees are from people who just aren’t right for running, who push themselves too hard too fast. He said most running training plans are great if you are 5’7", 140 lbs and have a great natural stride. But if you’re a normal sized dude, with even a slight imbalance somewhere, or weird tweak in your stride or whatever, you are just going to hurt yourself when the stress from that imbalance gets gradually compounded over weeks and months of training, which is pretty much the reality I’ve come to terms with. I don’t think that means you can never be a good runner, I just think it means you can’t ever be a really good runner, especially at the longer distances.
Without knowing anything about you, biomech issues, intensity you train at etc…I had similar issues getting inured yoy. I started running really slow most of the time, changed my form (using vff shoes) and increased my cadence. Most of the time I’m done with a run I could go do the exact same distance / intensity again.
A full winter of that and I made it healthy through my first summer. I’m also way faster than ever before…
So I had a (I hope) decent idea today…had planned to go to the pool in the afternoon, swim and then do some water running. But err ally wanted to do an OWS…was a gorgeous day her and being inside would have been tough.
It occurred to me to do an OWS and then do some water running in the lake. Would have prevented some of the monotony by providing some visual stimulation and my legs would not be touching at all. Plus I have an iPod Shuffle from WaterFi.
After my swim, I dumped my wetsuit and then threw on the belt and went back in. “Ran” for an hour…almost to the other side of the lake and back. Put IMTalk on the Shuffle and just kept at it. Will definitely try and do more of this, I think.