Injured with 3 weeks to go. Help

NiallG4

Everything was going great. Finished Athlone 3/4 marathon on Sunday in 2.07 however the calf tightened extremely bad at 4 miles and I chose to go on cos I felt real good. The upshot is it is now Thursday and I have not been able to train since. I completed 13 weeks of really good training and the plan was to complete a good solid week this week and then taper. Frank Duffy 10 miler (59.19) and Dublin Half (78.29) went reasonably well. Any suggestions what I do now. Physio on Monday went ok and I am back to physio tonight and hope to jog by Saturday on grass. Q1. Have I lost much or any fitness (6 days) Q2. Should I train up to Wednesday of next week to regain any lost fitness and hopefully get a confidence boost. Any help would be appreciated.

Krusty_Clown

You won't have lost any fitness by missing 6 days. At all... You don't need a confidence boost. You're fine.
Priority #1, get your calf fixed.
Priority #2: ease back into running
Priority #3: Run the marathon
Priority #6: profit.

robinph

I know step 4 is ????, but what is step 5?
Or did you miss-count?



What KC said, your fitness will not be effected at this stage. But do what the physio says to fix yourself, including if they say not to run.

Krusty_Clown

4. Collect underpants.
5. ???

Moycullen1

Strictly speaking we are not supposed to solicit or give injury advice on boards so I wont but I can say this from my own experience. Be careful with your calf. When it gets tight and looses its elastic properties it puts terrible pressure on the connective tissues above and below it with the result that you can get nasty injuries including Achilles trouble. Having said that however my calfs respond well to good quality deep tissue massage which I find essential once I get tightness in them. I also use a heel cup or 'wedge' to take a little pressure off the calf. But these are maintenance tips more than anything else. The important thing to ensure is that you haven't got a little tear or strain going on so for that reason I would be visiting a physio straight away. They are serious times by the way. On one hand you shouldn't loose a significant amount of form from a break but it might be worth considering the possibility that you have been a victim of bad luck and reassess your expectations. Whether you are happy to run it for fun or not, one way or the other you need to give your calf a chance cause you don't want to end up with a six month Achilles injury. Good luck with it.

NiallG4

Thanks for the advice lads. Update is I went to a physio Tues and Thursday and got no real progress. He advised me to go and get dry needle treatment done which I did to-day (the electric version where waves are transmitted through the needles). Plan now is to go for a 4-6 mile jog to-morrow and hopefully 8-10 mile on Sunday (both on grass). If I come through that I hope to get a 12 mile fartlek session done next Wed/Thur (for confidence) and then ease/taper off for week and a half. Thanks again.