Pulled calf wk9d3 c25k!

Seesee

Can you believe it! Got this far delighted with myself as 3rd time to try and asthma forced me to stop twice but was doing so well. Pulled calf sore at bottom of calf. Probably going to fast. I do good warmup stretches and have new shoes.
Any idea how long these take to heal? I'm sitting here with leg up and ice but I'm a busy mother of 3 so can't stay here forever!

Krusty_Clown

Have you considered going to see a physio/getting a sports massage? They'll give you the best advice, and may even help to speed up the recovery process.
Don't lose hope. You have plenty time. Recover first, then go back to training.

HelenAnne

Also, with your calf muscle, wait until it doesn't hurt at all walking etc, and then wait another few days after that before you try running again. And start off easy - maybe go back a few weeks in Couch 2 5k. It's SO EASY to re-injure your calf by going back too soon / too hard. (I speak from bitter experience ).

Seesee

Thanks Krusty. Can afford physio at the mo but can do a bit of massage myself, it might help. I hear you HelenAnne on the re-injury front. I'll have to take it handy, maybe just run 1 or 2K slowly to start. Would it ok to stretch it every day even when it's sore do you think or should I just rest it completely?

thehamo

Make sure to ice for 15 min and then apply heat straight after for about the same length. Do that 3-4 times in the day. If you cant afford massage/physio, get a foam roller and work your calves on that. After you do it, stretch it out by putting your foot on the bottom step (assuming you have one). Stand up on your tippi toes for 10 seconds, relax, take a deep breath and then allow your heel to drop down (with your toes pointing up in the air). hold the stretch of 30 seconds. Do that about 3 times. if that doesnt work after a couple of weeks or so, you may need to go see someone just to try work it out.

JMSE

Did same thing last year a week or two into my post c25k stage seesee, drove me nuts not being able to train and I think I had to give it more or less a full 2 weeks before I was brave enough to do a run. And in the weeks after that I noticed a lump on the area where the strain happened so I think that was a 'trigger point' or something like that they call it. Anyway lots of rubbing and massage can shift that eventually.

Am convinced that it happened purely because I did warmup stretches. I got out of the truck from sitting there for an hour driving, did cold stretches - calfs quads hams and sidelegs - started running and within 1k had felt the calf hop. I dont do prestretching any more, just a bit of activity of any kind to increase the heartrate I think is the goal.

Seesee

HI JMSE,
yeah I've been hearing mixed reports about doing static stretches before running. I had been doing really good static stretches and then a five minute brisk walk as per C25K and for the past 6 weeks or so that has worked fine. But now I read that static stretches might not be a good idea and just to concentrate on dynamic stretching and warming up the muscles before running. So not sure now.

thanks thehambo Guess I am going to have to get massaging and icing etc in the next few days - had a crazy weekend and got very little time to myself to start treating it. 2 weeks would not be too bad but DH tells me could be 3-4! Agghhh!