Painful calves

[kaz56]

Hi new here have done c25k a couple of times, but injury and lack of motivation i gave up, did get to week 5 in January

now started again on a running track, just started week 2 but my concern is that my calves are killing me any advice welcome please

[misswobble Graduate]

You have to go very slowly. What shoes have you got on?

If you are new to exercise, eg fresh off the couch, then you will feel any new exertions. You have to slow it right down

[neuropsycsci Graduate]

As you're starting the program again you'll really feel your body adapting to the increase in movement - but that's a good thing as long as you're not in pain! Here are my tips to reduce discomfort (having had a lot of it myself when I started):

1) make sure you warm up. Stretching before running does not actually reduce your risk of injury (new research) - it's much better to do a warm up fast walk for at least 5 mins before you start. Anything to get your blood flowing and muscles warm.

2) wear good shoes. Can't stress this enough. Go to a running shop and get a (free) gait analysis, and get some trainers suited for you. This will really help you avoid aches!

3) if you're getting aches anyway, you can try icing the area immediately after exercise (up to 3 times during the day for 10 mins at a time) followed by heat treatment on days you haven't run. This has helped my aches a lot! (baths are good too)

4) add strength and flexibility training into your routine to keep yourself limber and strong.

5) try to vary the surfaces you run on. Always running on very hard surfaces will increase your risk of injury. Try to mix it up (track, grass, gravel, mud...)

All the best!

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

I graduated and was going well when I had calf issues. It was a tightness and pain when I ran and the only thing that eased it was to walk! Other than that, no obvious cause and not painful except when running. Does that sound like your issue? It is completely gone after a couple of months. I didn't see that I needed to stop running, so I started interval training - walk-run and re-introduced strength and flex exercises on rest days. I am now back from struggling to run 1k to doing 2 x 5k, 1 x 6k run with a 5k run- walk. All I did was to continue three times a week but reduce run segments and increase as I felt able to. When I do intervals, I run for double paces x 100 (using my fingers to count each 10) and walk the same. If I feel good I can increase runs or decrease walks

[JoolieB1 Graduate]

Great tip, running more slowly makes it much more achievable and enjoyable

[kaz56 Graduate]

Thanks all i have changed my shoes , cant go much slower or else i will stop lol just started week 3 calves much calmer