Seat height and calf/soleus strains

Triathlon Forum
1

Been dealing with a persistent calf/soleus issue for a while now. Nothing major, I’ve managed to get it to the point where it’s just a nagging annoyance, but it doesn’t seem to be completely clearing up despite periods of rest and trying different things running-wise.

Last night I was playing around with my seat height on the trainer. Dropped the seat about 1cm and after I got off, my legs felt a lot better (less bad?) than they usually have. Today they also feel pretty good.

Could this have been the culprit?

2

yes.
Get the heal down, you’re no ballerina.

3

Absolutely. A seat too high (especially on a tri bike when aero) definitely puts more stress on the soleus.

4

Ok, but won’t a saddle that is lowered to much put extra stress on the achilles?

5

no - usually too low puts stress on the patellar and/or quadriceps tendon. The soleus is always active in cycling since the knee is almost always bent (as are the hip flexors).

If a person pedals via “ankyling” though, it won’t matter.