Did a half marathon last Saturday. Not an all out effort, but a hard effort none the less. It was a PR, but I’d never done a race 1/2 mary before. Only 1/2 iron races.
Had no problems during the race or even that day. The next day I was sore, but not bad…except for my left calf. I did not run the next two days to be safe, rather just biked a couple hours each day. It got noticably better, but not completely. Ran on Tuesday - easy 20 min. Calf was sore, but not bad. Ran 45 min on Wednesday and the calf got more sore. I’ve been doing a lot of rolling with trigger point. A little heat, and recently added ice as well. Obviously stretching. I do not take ibuprofen. It isn’t going away. Which tells me it isn’t just sore, its possibly strained or something similar.
The soreness/tightness is in the lower calf kinda near the achillies. Kinda towards the outside of the leg.
Anyway, I am assuming I strained it or something similar as it appears to be getting better daily. But I have my final race, Halfmax coming in 3 weeks. I wanted to get in some good running and am a bit scared to do so. Walking doesnt hurt at all. Biking doesn’t hurt at all.
My thought is to not run for a few more days and see how it gets. I’d do some really good rides in that time as riding doesn’t hurt. But I’m a little concerned I could be causing more damage by doing so? Does ST have any thoughts on riding with a calf strain or something similar?
I had a similar strain earlier this year. I took a week and a half off I think. I biked during this time, but with no real hard efforts. I swam a lot. I think my recovery was maybe slower than it would have been because I kept biking, because I could feel the strain, but it didn’t quite hurt.
I’d say take a week and swim, and then see where you are. That’s your best odds of being able to do the race at full strength.
Eric, you’ll likely recover from this “injury” but I would think it of greater value to determine the source of same. Did you run on a road with a higher than expected crown to it? Did you trip? Was your varied pacing contributory? How old are your shoes? Are they starting to fail? Were you fit by someone who has a great deal of experience?
First run through this has the feel of a self-induced problem that with a little home work you can figure out. Good luck!
Eric, you’ll likely recover from this “injury” but I would think it of greater value to determine the source of same. Did you run on a road with a higher than expected crown to it? Did you trip? Was your varied pacing contributory? How old are your shoes? Are they starting to fail? Were you fit by someone who has a great deal of experience?
First run through this has the feel of a self-induced problem that with a little home work you can figure out. Good luck!
Wish I had a good answer.
I have new shoes on order, but mine are not that bad.
My running has felt great all year, this is the first real problem. But that half mary was a hard effort for the distance. I’d gone harder for shorter efforts like 10k.but my previous best half mary was in training - 1:42. Did a 1:36 at the race.
I didn’t feel any problems the day of the race. Didn’t realize I had a problem until day 2 when my calf still hurt and felt knotted.
Probably a combination of things.
Fortunately a few days off have really helped and I am going to try a light run tomorrow.
But now I’m going into my final real week of training without any real fatigue…and need to change things up for my taper.
Could be your Soleus, be careful with it…I did this to mine a few years back and made the stupid decision to try to do IMAZ (08)…I finished, but had to walk most of the run, It has taken me the better part of tha last 2 years to really be able to run much. I feel pretty healed now, did a 50k trail race this AM and did pretty well, but it took me a long toime to heal. get some ART.
Did the same thing but to my right calf. Been going for some ART and tried to run on it a week later during an Olympic distance race. Started hurting 2 miles into the run. Not a smart move. Ran the following week easy with no problems. Went out the next day with my Son for a hard run and it really hurt. Had to bag SOS due to this injury. I just couldn’t see my self doing 18+ miles of running. Ice & ART and no running for a while. Doing lots of swimming and very little biking. Good luck with your injury and recovery.
I haven’t heard too much here about how to fix the knot in your calf so I’ll let you in on a little secret of mine. A secret I’ve tried to tell my training mates when they have blown their calf and would they listen…nup. They are still having issues.
I’ve had to stop my hard speed work sessions these day’s as I have a dodgy calf which tends to blow/tear when I push too hard. Last 2 years I’ve blown it leading up to my yearly marathon by speed work. My physo let me in on a little trick, but you have to be committed.
First the no brainer is ice, ice and more ice when you blow the thing.
Then…
You’ll need antiflam (or voltaren) gladwrap and a compression sock.
Each night rub the hell out of the tear/knot with antiflam, getting it really warm then wrap your whole calf in gladwrap (roll of clear plastic like film used to wrap food before putting it in the fridge) 2 or 3 times around the leg then pull on your compression sock and sleep.
All these things I’m told increases blood flow to the damaged area which helps speed up the recovery.
I would do this every night for up to a month. Last year I was right in the middle of a 16 week marathon program and had to take 4 weeks off the road. I increased my riding during this time and simulated 2 off my 3hr long runs in the pool by aqua jogging…boring as bat shit, but it really depends on how committed you are I suppose.
I only managed 2 weeks back on the road training before my 2 week tapper started. On race day I took 2 min’s of my PB and the calf held up.
Every time I train long or higher pace runs I rub out my calves with antiflam to warm them up and often wear compression socks…helps prevent another blow out
Goodluck!
Ran into the same issue last week with a hard hilly race I did. It’s still nagging me a week later. Did you continue to use your trigger point during your rest/recovery? I have a foam roller(I haven’t been using), and I’m trying to decide if it might help the recovery along.