The combination of these 5 events is what I believe has led to a recent calf strain. Yes, 5 days before the start of marathon training, an injury occurs.
- Constant hill running
- Increasing weekly mileage or pace
- Calf strengthening exercises/overloading
- Dehydration
- Missing warning signs
The injury is not severe, but a calf strain is a calf strain, right? It has to heal. Running on a weak and injured muscle could potentially make it worse.
Over the last few months, I have been extremely cautious about returning to running. Building even a small running base has been excruciatingly slow, starting with a run/walk program and advancing to only running and then, gradually increasing mileage. My longest run in 5 months has only been 5.5 miles. The most mileage in one week has only been 14.5 miles. My point is that building mileage too quickly doesn’t appear to be the problem.
But, most of those runs are occurring on hills. Not that I love running hills, it’s just that I don’t want to drive somewhere to run so hills it is. I realize that running hills too frequently can overload the calves and lead to injury. Being that I wasn’t running a lot of miles, I didn’t think I was at that much of a risk.
Even though I have been increasing my mileage very gradually, maybe it is possible that I could still have been increasing too quickly given my lack of fitness and age?? I felt like I was taking it pretty easy. Now, I will admit that recently, I may have done some of those miles a little faster than my calves were ready to handle. (ha! the truth comes out) While running on the flatter surfaces in Anchorage on a couple of occasions, I did up the pace quite a bit.
Another change that could have contributed to the problem is increasing calf strengthening exercises too soon. After going to PT for ITB issues, I was noted to have fairly weak calves which is surprising being that I had been running hills for the last several months. After about a week of these exercises, I added more reps because they seemed pretty easy. Combine that with everything else that I have just mentioned and yeah, there may have been some risk of a muscle pull.
And being dehydrated doesn’t help the situation at all. I know I need to drink more water, but I just get busy and don’t think about it. Or I am drinking other non-hydrating fluids instead of water. At any rate, dehydration can cause muscle cramping and spasms.
So, the story is… I started out on a run on Global Running Day of all days and 0.5 miles into my run, I had a cramp in my left calf muscle that quickly turned into a sharp pain. I stopped running immediately and walked home. I gave it a day of rest and then was able to get an appointment the following day with my PT for evaluation and shockwave therapy.
Shockwave therapy is a non-invasive type of treatment that promotes healing and decreases pain. I apparently had quite a bit of swelling and bogginess in the area of the Gastrocnemius (calf muscle) but my pain was not that severe. I was more worried about walking on it and making it worse so I was being a little protective. On the first day though, I couldn’t walk without mild pain, but after this treatment and PT-assisted exercises, I felt much better and was able to walk without a limp. I was impressed! I was given exercises to help strengthen other muscles of the legs and hips which should help to take the load off of the calves.
This was not what I had planned on day 1 of marathon training – rehab. When can I run? Isn’t that the most important question? The answer is: If I can walk 30 minutes pain-free, including no tightness or any abnormal feeling in that calf muscle at all then I am released to return to running. But, hill running is not allowed for now. PT expects this to take 1-2 weeks. Wednesday will be a full week since the strain. A few days late to marathon training is not a big deal. A couple of weeks for me will be pretty significant given that I really don’t have a huge running base as it is. I have said from the beginning that the Chicago Marathon 2022 would be a long shot. So, time will tell. The most important thing is that I can continue to run.
For now, I am in Idaho for my niece’s graduation. Even though I left a very sunny and warm Alaska for rainy and cooler weather it is definitely worth it. Stay tuned for updates on this trip. I am getting out for some walks that have gone well and are pain-free. But I am experiencing a little tightness in that muscle still. Again, one day at a time.
Enjoying these views on my walks.
Until next time…
Happy Running
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