Yesterday I ran a double-digit mileage (10.5 miles) for the first time since my calf injury, and on the Thursday before that I had run another 8 miles. The 10-miler was up to the downs, which is also the first time I've taken on the hills all the way to the downs since my injury. Overall I'm incredibly happy!
Having said that, I've got a few niggles in the legs. Now, niggles are weird things - I think I pretty much always get something or other going on in the legs, and most of the time it's fine and goes away again, but having injured the calf I am currently somewhat paranoid about niggles turning into injuries! Presently, I still feel the right calf ache much more than the left so I'm cautious about that; I have a sharp pain which appears occasionally in the right knee then disappears completely; and I have dull soreness deep in my arse on both sides. I'm pretty sure the arse soreness is the piriformis muscle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_muscle), which helps to stabalise the hip, and happens to run near the sciatic nerve so can cause pain issues. I found a few methods on youtube to stretch out and strengthen the piriformis and have been following these since, with some easing in the soreness so far, so long may that continue.
So I'm edging towards a pattern of 8-mile runs mid-week, with a longer run at the weekend, and exercise bike on the non-running days to keep my legs and heart working a bit, except Mondays when I play badminton. Today I cycled a half-marathon on the bike in about 40 minutes. I'll just have to keep edging the long run upwards from here on and hope the body holds together!
Having said that, I've got a few niggles in the legs. Now, niggles are weird things - I think I pretty much always get something or other going on in the legs, and most of the time it's fine and goes away again, but having injured the calf I am currently somewhat paranoid about niggles turning into injuries! Presently, I still feel the right calf ache much more than the left so I'm cautious about that; I have a sharp pain which appears occasionally in the right knee then disappears completely; and I have dull soreness deep in my arse on both sides. I'm pretty sure the arse soreness is the piriformis muscle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piriformis_muscle), which helps to stabalise the hip, and happens to run near the sciatic nerve so can cause pain issues. I found a few methods on youtube to stretch out and strengthen the piriformis and have been following these since, with some easing in the soreness so far, so long may that continue.
So I'm edging towards a pattern of 8-mile runs mid-week, with a longer run at the weekend, and exercise bike on the non-running days to keep my legs and heart working a bit, except Mondays when I play badminton. Today I cycled a half-marathon on the bike in about 40 minutes. I'll just have to keep edging the long run upwards from here on and hope the body holds together!
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