At week 8 but still need to stretch mid-run. Any ideas?

[sofaspud]

Hello all,

I'm into week 8 but still find my legs (calves and hamstrings) and back in agony about halfway through the run. There is a playground with exercise equipment at my halfway mark so I usually stop and stretch for about 1 minute (I pause the podcast). Then, I continue running again - feeling much better after that.

My question is: how can I avoid my muscles cramping up? I do the warm up and usually stretch after the run but stopping to stretch mid-run feels like cheating to me and I can't honestly say "I've run 28 minutes non stop". Any ideas?

[Flyingred Graduate]

Difficult to say without more information. My first question would be: are you drinking enough water on your rest days and before your run?

My other thought would be to suggest you work on your flexibility by doing exercises with a foam roller on your rest days and to use the foam roller for your stretching after running.

It could also be worthwhile doing the NHS leg strengthening exercises for runners – they worked a treat for me when I experienced 'runner's knee'.

nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/k...

[sofaspud in reply to Flyingred]

Thanks so much for your answer and your useful suggestions. I think I haven't been drinking enough water and have been trying to increase my intake. Perhaps that will help. I'll also take a look at the exercises. I should mention that when I first started running I had to stop after every minute or so to stretch my calf muscles. A podiatrist suggested inserts for my shoes and now I'm able to go about 15 minutes before the muscles start screaming for a stretch.

Thanks again for your reply.

[misswobble Graduate in reply to sofaspud]

Just go very slowly. Tight calves can be improved by specific exercises. Warm up plenty before you start running. I have a much longer warm up as I am slow to get going. I have a longer cool down walk too I walk qquite a way to get home but I feel it helps

Calf strength is what it’s about! Your calves have to get stronger!

on your non run days you could cycle and walk more ! We can all walk more 🙂. Do the calf strengthening exercises. Yoga is excellent too, to help with everything., You could do,the strength and flex programme too. Thats with Laura of the C25k podcasts

[sofaspud in reply to misswobble]

Thanks so much! I didn't know about these other podcasts - where can I find them? I will look up calf strengthening exercises on the internet but if there are specific ones recommended by NHS, please let me know.

I will try a longer warm up (I usually stretch at the end of the 5 minute walk before I start running) and see if that helps. Thanks again for your help and congratulations on graduating!

[misswobble Graduate in reply to sofaspud]

Drinking plenty of water throughout the day is a given

I did calf exercises with an nhs Physio. You do them at home on the stairs, where you can hold on to a wall and a bannister, either side if possible Slow calf raise going slowly down into a heel drop. Wear trainers to do them. A footlift is another one to be done. Lunges! They are very good and also help with strengthening the arch of your foot I did them about six times a day for six weeks. My legs were the most toned ever 😃 you only do 30 seconds each side to start with and no more than a minute or so thereafter. Slow up and downs to,make sure you get the stretch

Strength and flex podcasts are either on here as a pinned post or on the nhs livewell website. Laura made a little clip of it 🙂.

I do yoga at home with Tamal Dodge dvd. Yoga helps every bIt of your body 💪. Five quid for the beginner one 😃

Be sure to do the C25k sessions only very slowly. There’s no need to hurry or push anything. You build up strength as you go through the sessions. Slow running builds legs! 🙂

[Ang33333 Graduate]

Make sure you are well hydrated and slow down! It will help a lot! 😃

[sofaspud in reply to Ang33333]

Sometimes I feel like I'm running so slowly that it's just a fraction over a walk!! If I slow down any further, I may just be walking with my arms moving rapidly!!

I'm going to drink more water. Have a good weekend!

[Flyingred Graduate in reply to sofaspud]

I thought that too until I did weeks 8 and 9 on a cruise ship. Jogging round the promenade deck, I was way faster than the people who were walking! Just do it!

[sofaspud]

Hello everyone,

I just did run 1 of week 9...with NO STOPPING! Thank you so much for the encouragement. I've been increasing my water intake, using the foam roller and this morning I went very, very slowly (thought about Flyingred saying 'just do it'!) So, thank you. I'm going to rest tomorrow (maybe do some yoga in the time I would normally have gone outside) and then try the same technique on Thursday. Thank you again for all the ideas and encouragement