Saturday, August 21, 2010

Almost up and running

Distance 4km [total: minimalist 124km: Barefoot 467km]

Just over two weeks from when I had the initial calf injury on the right leg, the run last Saturday showed that the right leg was fine but then the left leg then tightened up.

This time I ran only just over 1.5km before I registered tightness in the left calf. I did manage to keep going and run the full 4km today after some stretching and a little massage.

I'm beginning to suspect that the calf strains were caused by the rehabilitation and by the exercise I was doing before the runs.
Before the initial injury on the 12km run I had done calf raises the previous day.
After the injury I rested a few days before doing more calf exercises in the attempt to strengthen them. It may be that the very exercises that I was doing to stop calf injuries was in fact causing the injuries.

What I shall try now is no weight bearing exercises but keep up the calf stretching to see if that is the key to staying injury free.

Neil

2 comments:

  1. Neil, glad to see you are trying out barefoot/minimalist running. Btw, have you heard of the Barefoot Runners Society? It is a community of barefoot/minimalist runners that you would find you have a lot in common with. :) Visit our website at www.barefootrunners.org and see what you think. If you would like to join (currently by invitation only) drop me an email to miker(at)barefootrunners(dot)org and I’ll send you one out. Good Running!

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  2. G'day Mike,
    I'm almost around to my 1st year anniversary.
    I've been through the transition pains, one of the reason I was documenting it in my blog.
    It's always good to look back several months to see if I have progressed over time.
    I hope there is also information on what not to do as I want to teach others how to run without shoes.
    I'll check out the website. Thanks for that.

    Neil

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