Would like to hear from others on what have worked for you to help with tight calves? Mine seem to get tight/sore after almost every run, short, slow, long, or hard. it doesn’t matter.
I have tried the following but with some to little success:
Foam rolling
Ice after running
compression sucks and sleeves
A little background about my running, I have been running 6-days a week since the start of this year. Started with 25miles and slowly increased to 40mpw (BarryP plan). I have been around 40mpw for about 2months now and plan on staying there until my HIM race in June. I didn’t start doing any speedwork until I reached ~40mpw and settled there and slowly introduced tempo runs.
I don’t seem to see any correlation between increase in distance/speed to my tight calves. The tightness was there since I made an effort to land forefoot which is close to 2-years now. I try to keep my stride short and fast and let my heel touch the ground slightly, so I am not running on my toes which I did when I first started and injured my achilles last year.
Sometimes I start a tempo run with tight calves and suddenly they are ok until I do a recovery run the next day and suddenly they are tight again.
Is this something I just need to live with as a mid-foot forefoot runner? What have worked for you to strengthen them and solve this problem?
It happens to me often aswell, i find naproxen and ‘THE STICK’ to help alot. I roll the stick on them and it hurts so much it feels good.
When i look at my calves after they look absolutely swollen. I wonder if it could be some kind of compartment syndrome. Sometimes I can’t do stairs for a day or two after if it’s really bad yet if i start a light jog, the pain goes away…!
How far up the kinetic chain are you rolling out? Tight calves would indicate you should be rolling out all the way from your ankle to just above your glutes. Don’t stop at your knee! Hip flexors, soas, glutes, hamstrings, quads (effected and OPPOSITE leg). Get them all involved in the rolling fun.
Also, what is your warm up routine? Are you doing a 5-8 minutes dynamic range of motion exercise set prior to running or are you still doing static stretching from the 70’s? If you would like, I can send you a document I created of dynamic stretches that I use for the teams I coach. I saw a huge drop in running injuries when I started to use them last year. Shoot me an email at dreamcatcher@astound.net if you want it.
Try using a TP ball, or even better a golf ball, on your calves. Place the ball on the TP block/stack of books and sit on the floor with your leg on the ball. Start at the bottom of the calf and make 3 clockwise and 3 counter clockwise circles with your toes. Then bring your toes towards you and drop them back down away from you 3Xs. Work your way up doing this.
Hard to explain, but I’m sure there is a video out there. It has really helped me out.
I have similar issues, including the occasional “calf heart attack”. The only solution, after healing, that I found was to stretch, stretch, stretch and work on core/hip strength (various types of squats).
And the foam roller/stick routine.
I tried the compression sleeves, but it almost seemed they made it worse if I wore them while running. Maybe they helped a little when used for recovery only. That was my perception, anyway.
I usually stop right before my knee when rolling. I will give that a shot. I don’t really stretch before running. I just start slow for about a mile and then get into my pace.
Videotape a longer run at the beginning, about half way through, then towards the end. It could be a form thing. It could also be tight hips/flexors, causing you to use your calves more to make up for the lost range of motion, rather than using your glutes a little more. Video shows all. Post it here too and you’ll get feedback.
that’s my experience… tight calves and shin splints both get better if i stop running. i stretch and roll out everyday when i’m running and it only seems to help minimally.
How far up the kinetic chain are you rolling out? Tight calves would indicate you should be rolling out all the way from your ankle to just above your glutes. Don’t stop at your knee! Hip flexors, soas, glutes, hamstrings, quads (effected and OPPOSITE leg). Get them all involved in the rolling fun.
Also, what is your warm up routine? Are you doing a 5-8 minutes dynamic range of motion exercise set prior to running or are you still doing static stretching from the 70’s? If you would like, I can send you a document I created of dynamic stretches that I use for the teams I coach. I saw a huge drop in running injuries when I started to use them last year. PM me with your email address if you want it.
Cheers,
Dave
This and I use a globus e-stim on recovery mode after hard hill runs in addition to the foam roller and stick.
I went through a stretch where I used to have tight calves…they felt pretty unstable a lot of the time…
Backed off running a little…started doing Calf Raises 3x per week initially 2x20 2 feet with full range of motion and then progessed to single leg…and then eventually just went back to 2 days per week…If you can get to where you can do 2x20 twice per week maybe 1 set with 2 feet and then 1 set do single leg, you will more than likely see you calf problems go away…
This pretty much bullet proofed my calves…Muscle tightness a lot of times is about fatigue and muscular imbalances…Pulling and stretching on them a lot of times doesn’t help the problem…although a light stretch After running is good…
I should add I also finish 2 of my easy runs with dynamic running drills and 4 to 6 100m strides barefoot in the grass…This has pretty much cured any lower extremity issues…
If you can’t do single leg calf raises through a full range of motion…then that is the “root of your problem”…
I would try backing your running off to 25 or 30 miles for 2 or 3 weeks…Build your lower extremities back up…Finish some workouts with some drills and strides (all focusing on form and rhythm…don’t go and blow yourself up)
You will let your body asborb all the run fitness you have been building…then build your mileage back up…You will probably feel faster/stronger the second time around when you get back to 40mpw…
If you do too much and don’t give yourself time to asborb the work you are putting in…no amount of stretching, rolling, icing etc…etc… is going to help…
Lower extremity strength and range of motion is a limiter for runners…so you must address it…
At the beginning of a run my calves will tighten up. If I stop to do a quick stretch and work out the tightness, they usually stay loose the rest of the workout.
My calves have always had a tendency to feel tight after a long swim. I know that’s a reflection of my poor form.
With running, I used to only get tight calves when I was lengthening out (16+ mile runs or so). But the last year or so, I’ve really tried to concentrate on changing my gait (I was a pretty bad heel striker). That caused a noticeable uptick in calf tightness. In the last month I bought a pair of Newton’s and they have REALLY exacerbated it. However, it’s not painful…just tight and I almost always feel normal after warming up.
I don’t know if it’s a placebo or not, but I tend to feel better when I’m really well hydrated. When I make a conscious effort to have water with me at all times for a few days in a row, I don’t seem to get as tight.
If you can’t do single leg calf raises through a full range of motion…then that is the “root of your problem”…
I am going to give this a shot on top of what others have suggested too. I don’t have pain in other areas other than the soreness in my calves after running but will also work on the gluteus and hope this will take care of this.
How did you do the calf raises? Was it using one of these big calf raises machines with weights at the gym? Also, what do you mean if I can’t do single leg calf raises? do you mean by actually going through the full motion or not being able to balance while doing single leg calf raises?
I do foam roll and stretch daily. I try to sleep in something like this each night I find that a boot like that is more comfortable than the thing that pulls on the toes or even a splint that goes on top of the foot. Sleeping in those and my calves are not as tight the next day for sure.
Having lived through something similar in the past what worked best for me was 10-15 minutes of speed rope work twice a week. Basically amounts to dynamic stretching and also helps strengthen the calf muscle. I would mix up the interval (not just back and forth from foot to foot) going from back and forth to two/three/four hops on one foot at a time.
If you do it fast enough you can also get your heart rate pretty high as well.
I use compression stuff for my tight calves, and it really helps.
Often sleep w the calf sleeves on, if they are sore from that days workout.
ART is great if they are really acting up. I had a calf “heart attack” a few years ago, and that was the only thing that got me past it, and able to train and race again.
Rest and stretching didn’t done enough, and it kept coming back.
ART beat it down for good, for the most part.
Stretching and rolling w foam roller and/or the stick helps a bit too.
But all that said, it’s the compression stuff that I feel has been most beneficial, most often, on an ongoing basis.
both get better if i stop running. i stretch and roll out everyday when i’m running and it only seems to help minimally.