How did I get this calf injury?

Rob Beattie said:

Has anyone suffered from a calf injury while just jogging gently? This
happened to me on a run last week. I was only a mile and a half into a
five miler and was doing a very easy 8.5 minute miles when I suddenly
developed a pain in my right leg's calf muscle. I tried to run through
it but it got worse and I had to stop half a minute later. 5 days on
and the pain has subsided but not enough that I can run again.
It is located at the centre/right part of my lower leg if you are
looking at it from behind me. It hurts to tiptoe or push off with my
toes when sprinting and I have a slight limp when I walk.
It just seems strange that I developed this injury when I was going so
slowly and under no strain. Could the reason be that I did not do any
stretching? I did not bother as I was only going at a very slow speed.
Has anyone else experienced this kind of problem?

Yep, almost the same. In my case is was due to running the London marathon
2 days before my injury became apparent.

I think with many muscle injuries, it's not necessarily what you were doing
on the day that's important, but what you were doing on the preceding days
and weeks. Certainly my calf muscle went "twang" duing a very gentle post
marathon run.

If you feel it tightening up on you when you run, don't even think of
continuing. Learn to love your bike and your aquajogger for a month.
(That's how long it's taken me to get back to running properly, if slowly).

Tim

Rob Beattie rob@/remove/ghosh.co.uk said:

Has anyone suffered from a calf injury while just jogging gently? This

Not me. I know others who've had calf injuries though.

Quoted message said:

It just seems strange that I developed this injury when I was going so
slowly and under no strain.

You probably didn't "develop" it during that run. As we were discussing in a
recent thread, distance running injuries are seldom acute injuries. They are the
result of cumulative stress. The injury response to stress is not always
continuous, it can be somewhat step-like. So 99 units of stress could result in
no injury or aches or pains, and the 100 units could result in a sudden injury.

Quoted message said:

Could the reason be that I did not do any
stretching? I did not bother as I was only going at a very slow speed.

I don't think it had anything to do with that particular workout.

What sort of training were you doing prior to the injury ? E.g. what does the
typical training week look like ? Have you increased mileage or intensity
recently ? Have you run a major race recently ?

Once you've reflected on prior training, I'd suggest returning very slowly. You
really don't want it to turn into a recurring injury.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Donovan Rebbechi wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Rob Beattie rob@/remove/ghosh.co.uk said:

Has anyone suffered from a calf injury while just jogging gently? This

Not me. I know others who've had calf injuries though.

Quoted message said:

It just seems strange that I developed this injury when I was going so
slowly and under no strain.

You probably didn't "develop" it during that run. As we were discussing in

a

Quoted message said:

recent thread, distance running injuries are seldom acute injuries. They

are the

Quoted message said:

result of cumulative stress. The injury response to stress is not always
continuous, it can be somewhat step-like. So 99 units of stress could

result in

Quoted message said:

no injury or aches or pains, and the 100 units could result in a sudden

injury.

While I generally agree that running injuries are seldom acute, there are
times when a particularly hard run can reactivate old injuries or problem
areas. This is the case with the 5k run I did Sunday. I went hard but not
all-out during the race, but today found my old hip injury twinging with
pain in the afternoon. This is the first year that I've had absolutely no
pain or hint of this old injury until this 5k run. So going hard CAN mess
you up sometimes.

I've increased my overall training volume in the last 3 months and the hip
thing might have resurfaced again anyway, but there's no question that the
race did some damage of its own. It could be that the 15 min warmup I did
before the race was inadequate for me for a morning race. The statements
made in the other thread that going all-out won't cause injury is
misleading. While it might not be the sole cause of injury, it can provide
an acute stress that will break a weak area that might (or might not) have
broken withour that acute stress.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Could the reason be that I did not do any
stretching? I did not bother as I was only going at a very slow speed.

Quoted message said:

I don't think it had anything to do with that particular workout.

Here I disagree. It can be triggered by a particular workout, or lack of
preparation for that workout. While I don't advocate stretching *before*
running, I do think an adequete warmup can be the difference, especially for
older runners. For me personally, not warming up at all on some days can
increase the likelihood of problems. For example, if one of my achillies is
tight from a particularly-grueling hilly trail run, then careful warmups in
the next few days means it will heal properly. With no warmup it just gets
worse during the run.

-Tony

Quoted message said:

What sort of training were you doing prior to the injury ? E.g. what does

the

Quoted message said:

typical training week look like ? Have you increased mileage or intensity
recently ? Have you run a major race recently ?

Once you've reflected on prior training, I'd suggest returning very slowly.

You

Quoted message said:

really don't want it to turn into a recurring injury.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Tony said:

While I generally agree that running injuries are seldom acute, there are
times when a particularly hard run can reactivate old injuries or problem
areas.

But it's usually chronic training load that makes it an "old injury" or
"problem area" in the first place.

Quoted message said:

I've increased my overall training volume in the last 3 months and the hip
thing might have resurfaced again anyway, but there's no question that the
race did some damage of its own.

Injuries are more likely to surface during intense training. But that doesn't
in itself imply that the isolated intense run is the cause of the injury.

Quoted message said:

It could be that the 15 min warmup I did
before the race was inadequate for me for a morning race. The statements
made in the other thread that going all-out won't cause injury is
misleading. While it might not be the sole cause of injury, it can provide
an acute stress that will break a weak area that might (or might not) have
broken withour that acute stress.

Take a look at this schematic:
..
----...-----------....---------..---
...... .........
.... ....

The point is that a local maxima in training stress is likely to be the same
point where the line is crossed.

Quoted message said:

Here I disagree. It can be triggered by a particular workout, or lack of
preparation for that workout.

But probably not in this case, because he was apparently just doing an easy
run. My comment was based not just on general principle, but on the relevant
information he posted.

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi
http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~elflord/

Donovan Rebbechi wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

Tony said:

While I generally agree that running injuries are seldom acute, there are
times when a particularly hard run can reactivate old injuries or problem
areas.

But it's usually chronic training load that makes it an "old injury" or
"problem area" in the first place.

Agreed.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've increased my overall training volume in the last 3 months and the

hip

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

thing might have resurfaced again anyway, but there's no question that

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

race did some damage of its own.

Injuries are more likely to surface during intense training. But that

doesn't

Quoted message said:

in itself imply that the isolated intense run is the cause of the injury.

Yes, of course not the sole cause, but an intense training run can trigger
the failure of a weaker area from a previous injury or an area that has been
accumulating stress from increased training load.

Last summer I had enough signals from my body to tell me to watch it even
mroe closely. This year I felt much better overall with fewer signals. The
stress of the 5k was enough to trigger a failure, though I don't believe it
will be a major setback.

Had I not done the 5k adaptation may have continued without any failure, so
I'm just saying that for older runners (and at 42 I agree I'm not that old)
with a history of problem areas, if not outright injuries, particularly
stressful workouts can cause problems.

-Tony

I'm surprised the trolls didnt reply
with the obligatory bestiallity jokes.

Jogging related leg injuries? No, you're the only one. Are you the guy
who posted the question in rec.sport.swimming about not being able to
figure out why he's wet every time he gets out of the pool?

Donovan Rebbechi said:

Rob Beattie rob@/remove/ghosh.co.uk said:

Has anyone suffered from a calf injury while just jogging gently? This

Not me. I know others who've had calf injuries though.

Quoted message said:

It just seems strange that I developed this injury when I was going so
slowly and under no strain.

You probably didn't "develop" it during that run. As we were discussing in a
recent thread, distance running injuries are seldom acute injuries. They are the
result of cumulative stress. The injury response to stress is not always
continuous, it can be somewhat step-like. So 99 units of stress could result in
no injury or aches or pains, and the 100 units could result in a sudden injury.

Quoted message said:

Could the reason be that I did not do any
stretching? I did not bother as I was only going at a very slow speed.

I don't think it had anything to do with that particular workout.

What sort of training were you doing prior to the injury ? E.g. what does the
typical training week look like ? Have you increased mileage or intensity
recently ? Have you run a major race recently ?

I am not a dedicated runner as I only run between 3 to 5 miles a
couple of times a week so my training is not too demanding.
A couple of replies seem to indicate that you could harbour a
worsening injury without realising it and this is a possibility
because my main love is football and I play indoors 3 times a week.
The surprise is that the injury did not show itself until my jogging
run. I don't know how to counter this and am hoping that it is just a
case of bad luck because I definitely do not wish to give up playing
football.

Quoted message said:

Once you've reflected on prior training, I'd suggest returning very slowly. You
really don't want it to turn into a recurring injury.

Cheers,