Lately I feel my calves are always a little tight and sometimes even sore.
I used to have no calve issue at all and actually after my first marathon the massage therapist was surprised that they were not tight at all. She said, it might be because I’m a pretty bad heel striker. Not good I guess, but I didn’t really care until I ended up with hip bursitis after this marathon. I started to change my strike to a little more mid foot stride.
I shorten my stride and try to keep my cadence at 180, this helps. But also wearing my vibrams on shorter runs helps a lot. Wearing those makes me automatically change my running form!
Well, long story short, I think due to the fact my body changed the running form slightly, my calves are used more and therefore a little tight. Last night after my 4 mile run it was really bad and I was a little worried since I have a long run on Saturday.
So, I decided to stretch my calves (2 min.), foam roll (5 min), take a shower, apply biofreeze, put some compression socks and watch tv. And let me tell you, after 2 hours I was completely pain-free! I kept the socks on over night and feel amazing this morning!
Team Tough Chik Compressions Socks – Awesomeness!
I guess this will be my new way of treating my sore calves!
Do you have sore calves? How do you treat them?
Did your stride change over time?
Cute socks.
I just had my run analyzed by a coach, and she thinks my ongoing shin problem is from my tight calf muscle pulling on my shin muscle, so I’ve been really working on them as well. Do you have one of those “stick” massagers? I have a foam roller but I’m not very good with it.
I’ve never had problems with sore calves. I had no idea how I run but I’ve been told I’ve landed on my forefront all along, when I started wearing Newtons, I didn’t really have issues with sore calves either so I’m guessing they are already strong? Everything I’ve heard is that most people do have sore calf issues as they transition to more of a forefoot strike.
I probably should change my stride. I dont think I’m efficient.
I always recommend: If it isn’t broken, don’t change it. If you feel it isn’t good I would recommend you changing your cadence. Little things over time can make a difference. run for minute and count how many steps you make with your left foot. Multiply by too and you should be as close as possible to 180. Let me know how this test went!
everything you mentioned is how I am feeling after running, I have never done compression but I might just have too!
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My calves have been sore lately, I think mostly due to my cycling mileage. Maybe I should pull out the compression socks tonight