It's been four months since the original injury, and (fingers crossed) things are still going reasonably well. I've got into a rough training regime to help the legs and the running that I will lay out below:
Daily, I try to do 3 sets of leg strengthening exercises, once in the morning, once when I get back from work, and once later in the evening. These comprise calf raises (Fig. 1), calf raises with knees bent (to strengthen the soleus muscles; Fig. 2); the same again but on one leg at a time; one-legged squats on an inflatable balance cushion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvpcxcOFWbg); sideways leg raises and clam leg raises (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV9lrplkdG4).
Once per day I foam roll all the leg muscles (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki6roIdrD9Q), and sometimes with a tennis ball I'll roll my glutes and the calf muscles a little deeper.
I started having a protein supplement drink once per day after the injury - I am vegetarian, and whilst for half marathons I've never had a problem, I felt that for a marathon you should actually be having more than the daily recommended amount of protein (55g for men) to rebuild the torn muscle fibres. I get this mostly from seeded wholemeal bread (around 5g per slice), pulses (e.g., a can of baked beans is around 20g), eggs (around 5g per egg), and dairy (particularly cheese).
I do 5 minutes of warm up and down on the exercise bike for each run (minimum 1.5 miles each), and stretch out the legs and hips carefully after a run (see Figs. 3-5).
Figure 1. Calf Raises
Figure 2. Calf raises with knees bent
Figure 3. Stetching out the calf
Figure 4. Stretching out the soleus
Stretching out the hip flexors
Daily, I try to do 3 sets of leg strengthening exercises, once in the morning, once when I get back from work, and once later in the evening. These comprise calf raises (Fig. 1), calf raises with knees bent (to strengthen the soleus muscles; Fig. 2); the same again but on one leg at a time; one-legged squats on an inflatable balance cushion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvpcxcOFWbg); sideways leg raises and clam leg raises (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV9lrplkdG4).
Once per day I foam roll all the leg muscles (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki6roIdrD9Q), and sometimes with a tennis ball I'll roll my glutes and the calf muscles a little deeper.
I started having a protein supplement drink once per day after the injury - I am vegetarian, and whilst for half marathons I've never had a problem, I felt that for a marathon you should actually be having more than the daily recommended amount of protein (55g for men) to rebuild the torn muscle fibres. I get this mostly from seeded wholemeal bread (around 5g per slice), pulses (e.g., a can of baked beans is around 20g), eggs (around 5g per egg), and dairy (particularly cheese).
I do 5 minutes of warm up and down on the exercise bike for each run (minimum 1.5 miles each), and stretch out the legs and hips carefully after a run (see Figs. 3-5).
Figure 1. Calf Raises
Figure 2. Calf raises with knees bent
Figure 3. Stetching out the calf
Figure 4. Stretching out the soleus
Stretching out the hip flexors
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