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Monday I did a warmup of 400m jog and some dynamic stretching and leg swings before doing a time trial of 200 and 100. The 200 went okay but after about 10 min rest I tried the 100 and pulled something in my calf on the stand up leaning start in the first 2 steps. Still in pain and having trouble walking. Going to the Dr on thursday to see if any structural damage. Any similar injuries to the calf or words of wisdom would be helpful.

Thanks,

Tony

[quote="tonyb"]Monday I did a warmup of 400m jog and some dynamic stretching and leg swings before doing a time trial of 200 and 100. The 200 went okay but after about 10 min rest I tried the 100 and pulled something in my calf on the stand up leaning start in the first 2 steps. Still in pain and having trouble walking. Going to the Dr on thursday to see if any structural damage. Any similar injuries to the calf or words of wisdom would be helpful.

Thanks,

Tony[/quote]

First, make sure you heal completely first, and return to training gradually and cautiously. Be patient. You'll need to regain strength progressively to avoid re-injury.

I had chronic calf strains, pulls throughout the last two seasons Oct08 - July09. Ultimately, I discovered I wasn't allowing sufficient recovery between sprint training and weight training. (And I was doing too much sprint intensity too frequently). As a result my ankles and feet lacked flexibility, and my calves and achilles were taking too much of the load. The main lesson I learned - with running injuries - start from the ground up. Everything improved with my calves when I addressed my feet and ankles.

Kakuryu,

Thanks for the feedback. Today I went to the dr and found out I have a tear in my gastrocnemius and my soleus muscles of the calf. I am now walking in a boot. Good to hear no serius structural damage and should be good after about 3 weeks of rest and rehab.

I am sure I was overtraining. I was doing plyo one day, wts the next and then sprint work and starts the next. I know now that was probably too much.

What did you do to strengthen your calves?

Thanks,

Tony

[quote="tonyb"]Kakuryu,

...I am sure I was overtraining. I was doing plyo one day, wts the next and then sprint work and starts the next. I know now that was probably too much.

What did you do to strengthen your calves?

Thanks,

Tony[/quote]

Good to hear there's no permanent damage. Sounds like your situation might be similar to mine. All my injuries occurred in the first couple steps out of the blocks. (inflexible ankle, foot). And, it didn't help that I was doing all my sprint repeats at 95 - 100% intensity.

Here's how I got better: After initial pain, swelling, soreness subsided light stretching for 10 days. Then walking/marching drills (no running or jumping) for 10 days until I could proceed to a light jog. Progressed to easy jog of 100 meter repeats on grass. High rep, light weighted calf raises every other day. Brought running intensity and volume around slowly and progressively over 4 - 6 weeks. I stopped doing training runs above 95% beyond 60meters - and I limit them to 5 with full recovery. 250m/150m repeats I stay at 85 - 95%. (I'll sacrifice some speed and intensity if it means I can consistently train 2 x week rather than stop/start over due to injury).

I see an "Active Release Techniques" (ART) practitioner every 2-3 weeks for my lower legs & feet. I recommend combining plyos with weights (cautiously)...make sure you're only running at high intensity when you are fully recovered.

Kakuryu,

Thanks again for the great info. I went to PT today for my first visit. Picked up marbles with my toes, seated toe raises w/out any weight and range of motion with ankle. I felt like such a wimp but I guess that is what I have to do for now. I can't wait to get back.

Thanks again,

Tony

I am now starting to do a little work with therabands to strengthening the ankles and the tibialis anterior on the front of the calf. I also got on the recumbent bike today for 10 minutes. It felt great to be able to move.

The hardest part of it all is not training. When you get used to training and training pretty hard for a while it is really hard to just stop. However,
it is probably due to all that training that I am in this predicament in the first place.

Lesson learned, I hope.

[quote="tonyb"]...

The hardest part of it all is not training. When you get used to training and training pretty hard for a while it is really hard to just stop. However,
it is probably due to all that training that I am in this predicament in the first place.

Lesson learned, I hope.[/quote]

I agree, it takes a lot of discipline to train sprints as a masters. It's hard to know when to shut it down...

I recommend Bill Collins recent book on training. His "long term" perspective on training and competing was helpful in my approach this year.

Two and a half weeks post injury. I had an ultrasound yesterday and the muscle fiber is 3/4 healed. I have been strengthening the hips with bands and working on balance with light stretching and band work on the calf. I have also worked up to 30 minutes on the recumbent bike. I hope that next week I will be able to start training on the eliptical. I can't wait to get back to running.

Four weeks post injury. I am now walking without the boot. I have started working out on the elliptical this week. Also, more hip flexor and glute work with the bands. Leg is starting to feel good but no running yet. The calf looks smaller and needs to be built back up. Running soon I hope.

Tony

[quote="tonyb"]Four weeks post injury. I am now walking without the boot. I have started working out on the elliptical this week. Also, more hip flexor and glute work with the bands. Leg is starting to feel good but no running yet. The calf looks smaller and needs to be built back up. Running soon I hope.

Tony[/quote]

Glad to hear your rehab is progressing. Being conservative is the right approach with this - you don't want a relapse. You have plenty of time to prepare for Summer events.

I dealt with a soleus - gastroc tear last summer. It was definitely difficult to be patient and let it heal.

One thing that really helped me a lot was deep tissue massage. The entire area ended up being very congested and inflammed and the massage seemed help clear that up and get me moving again.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. How long before you were back running? How long before you were back to full intensity? What have you done to insure it does not happen again?

I am still working out on the elliptical machine and using the therabands. I should be able to start jogging next week. I can't wait.

Ya know, at this point, it feels like a lot of luck.... but here's some of what I did:

- Quit sprinting on the treadmill. I was doing intense interval training at high speed, moderate incline for 15 seconds, etc. and now I do comfortable striders for 30sec to 1min and try to avoid the treadmill all together.

- Quit running stairs to exhaustion. I still occasionally do some, but keep it comfortable.

- Stay hydrated and get deep tissue massage every couple of weeks.

- Include the hours I spend playing volleyball as training time - I was way over doing it. And very little sand volleyball, the slipping seems to be a problem.

- Stretch and moderate strengthening.

- No more high heels except very special occasions. Bummer.

- Most of all, pay attention. I think I have very inflexible, constricted compartments in my calves and if I feel the need to stop and stretch or massage or "shake it out" to get the muscles comfortable in there, I do it. If you don't have this problem, that will sound weird, but early in my warm up and work out I will have times of intensely tight calf muscles, you can see it, and I just know I can't "work thru it" anymore.

Hope some of that helps. Good luck. I had the luxury of taking 6 weeks off to heal and then came back slowly. So far so good.

Just a few thoughts for anyone with calf injuries. Although the injury occurs in the calf/soleus it doesn't mean the origin of the problem is isolated to the spot of pain or injury.

Address calf injuries from the ground up. How well are your feet and toes functioning? How much mobility/flexibility do you have in your ankles? You also have to consider the condition of your tibialis. These areas affect the function of your calf and achilles. (Problems at the feet and ankles can set off a domino effect through the knee, hip and shoulders neck.)

Also, the stronger you are in the hip/mid-torso, the less wear and tear on your lower legs.

Kakuryu's reply did remind me of one more thing... I warm up my hips, quads and hams way more than I used to as well. My PT felt like I had a distinct weakness in my hips and gave me a series of exercises to get them firing before I do any kind of intense exercise. It really seems to help.