At wits end...calf strains!

Running
10

You’ve made a bunch of rookie errors. As someone who is 56 (same age as me), who has NEVER run seriously, you need to take a much more conservative approach to your run training…and dealing with your injury.

  1. Running with an injury. NEVER RUN WITH AN INJURY, and NEVER RUN WITH PAIN. EVER. PERIOD… SERRIOUSLY.
  2. Trying to make a conscious change to running form, and cadence. Other than standing up straight, and relaxing…never TRY to change your form. If there is something wrong with your form, its due to a muscle weakness/imbalance. Fix the underlying cause (weakness/imbalance), and your form will naturally adjust.
  3. Switching to a “minimalist” technique and footwear. IF this is of value (very questionable), its an action for a healthy runner—NOT someone who is already having issues.
  4. Trying to complete races without enough run training for the race. 6-10 miles per week is not enough volume for a single 10KM run-race (OLY).

I’m also guessing that you try to run pretty quick in training. Do you do “speed work”? DON’T—You don’t have the run fitness for it. Come back when you’ve done all the actions below, and are over 35 mpw. Until then…just run, SLOWLY.

Actions:

  1. Stop running until…
  2. See a doctor about your injury. The symptoms you have described are severe enough that you may have a partial tear, or severe strain.
  3. Get some physical therapy, and have someone look at your running. Fix any tightness/imbalances/weaknesses to correct major flaws. PT should guide stretches and exercises.
  4. Switch back to a normal running shoe, and a natural running technique. You can revisit this when you are healthy and able to run in a normal shoe for normal distances. Minimalist style forces MORE load into the calves.

When you are cleared back to running, start VERY slowly.

  1. Run slowly----NO SPEED WORK.
  2. Run VERY short durations. PT should guide returning to running. But, it should start with 10 minutes or less, and run/walk. Build rate should be 1-2 minutes per day (week over week). Something like that is what you should expect.
  3. Run more often. 4-6 days per week.
  4. Build to 30+ miles per week. Over a period of months.
  5. DO NOT DO ANY SPEED WORK, until you can reliably train at 30+ mpw, for several months. Think…a year from now.

You’re likely going to need 2-3 (could be up to 6) months of rehab. Then you will need months of very slow build up to 20 mpw before you can consider yourself “cleared” to a normal run-program. Only then, can you start to think about the 10% build rule.

For some light reading, I highly recommend reviewing these posts below from BarryP, as an excellent treatise on triathlon run training. Note these are from the old forum and all the internal links are broken. I’ve linked the top level main threads. But, there are other links that will have to be searched and linked.