Can I have your best guess on this.

cgres123

Finished up my IM late Nov. I took a solid week OFF.

 

 I started running a week in a half latter. No goals no pick ups just wanted to run nice and easy 3 days a week . About two weeks ago my calf strained a bit so I just stopped running period.

 I took two weeks off and have been in the pool swimming and working on my cadence on the bike on my trainer.

 I registered for the Tough Mudder in PA on April 28 so I have incorporated upper body conditioning. Long story short is I'm making the best of my non running situation

.

So yesterday I go to the park to do a 1 mile warm up run, first day since taking 2 weeks off from running, and .5 into it my calf, hamstrings and knee just ached .

So I walked until I felt ok then picked my pace up again. The same thing happened again same leg same ache. Not only that but I felt , cardio wise , that I haven't run in a year. My pace was sooo slow a jog no less and I was breathing hard with my left leg aching.

 

I did stay at the park and completed my military obstacle training burpees, 8 count body builders push ups and chin ups and a few other exercises thrown in the mix.

But this leg thing has got me rattled , so anybody got a best guess as what is going on ?

jhbinsc

I have a similar situation when I take time off after the season. When I take more than a week off completely from running it is pure torture to start back up. I basically had 2 weeks of no running after IMC and did an ez 3 mi jog on trails and thought I was going to die. Totally unpleasant! Worked on frequency and short Z1 runs and 3.5 weeks later I ran 2.5 hours, ez and on trails, but w/ no other problems. Might just need to ease back into it, fitness is fleeting! That being said, you can't ignore your calf strain and when you say your calf ached, was that from time off or is it still injured? Need to be cautious after an injury and layoff.

cgres123

@ Jeff, " Ease back into it " man if I went any slower it would be called power walking. I just could not believe how doing that short run was such a torture nice to know that it just wasn't me and my imagination that I'm the only one this happens to.

Matter of fact while I just posted this I started reading this forum, Medical Help Forum , and man we all have issues with calf , hamstring, and ton of other issues. My issue is addressed with ART, the Stick some pool running and many other Great Ideas !!!

As far as your question about was it from my time off or is it still injured ? Well .... yes I guess I was not fully healed from my time off , evidence being I'm back to square one again, and I'm still injured. Guess I'll just have to run 2 steps walk 2 steps and build from there. That is once I can run two steps because I'm not ripping or tearing nor pushing anything at my age I'm just happy to be playing. I just find it amazing how you can beat the shit out of yourself for 20 weeks do an IM then be in this , my circumstance , so quick . I just can't wrap my head around it.

jhbinsc

I hear ya brother but trust me, it'll come back very quickly once you are healed up and can train the run again! Hang in there! Just don't dig a deeper hole w/ the calf.

Kevin Walter

I have way more experience with this than I would like. I have torn both gastrocs within the past 3-years and twice on the right side. Basically, if the calf hurts, don't run on it. It is still healing and you are just reinjuring it. Run in the pool, bike, etc. The muscle fibers need to heal first before you can work them. When you restart it might be a little sore from disuse, but it shouldn't hurt. If the pain is bad enough to stop you, then you are trying to come back too quickly. Each time I tore my calf, it took a month before I could run again. The most recent time was this last summer. I tore it in June and was unable to run until late July. Tore it again first week of August. Unable to run until September.

cgres123

@ jeff, 10 4 on that.

@ Kevin thanks