Running

Sounds like you getting good mileage in, are you following a plan?

Hello! Okay thanks yeah, I'm coming around. Felt alright enough to give my long run a go yesterday and did 18.5km. I'm thinking since I missed the race pace run last week I'll swap out my Wednesday session for it this coming week.

Confidence took a bit of a blow yesterday too - went looking back at data from around my last pb, turns out I was doing lots of running but also loads of riding, was easily in the best form and shape of my life and carrying about 8kg less than I am now. Sooo while I'd still like a pb in 2 weeks, I'm not going to best myself up if I don't run it in 1:35

How are you feeling post illness?

Sounds good & sensible too. Glad you've not been laid low by it.

I'm slowly on the mend, had a rough morning yesterday and partner has come down with it/something again whjch is frustrating for her.

I dns'd gmxc in Bolton but that was good call on reflection. I made it over to the velo today to have a short gentle pedal, 30mins steady and my hr was 170 for most of it, but at least I was moving & kept warm.

Back to commute slog tomorrow, my Swytch option becomes available this week and I'm going to invest to take the edge off the start stop of my journeys.

All being well I'll be able to jog the xc league at Tatton park next weekend, but with a 100% dns record there since it was established I wait to see what life throws at me between now and then.

Hope race pace session goes well on Weds.

two Snickers and a can of Coke

..livin' the life 🙂

I did a few marathons based on Pfitzinger and Higdon plans, now sort of half-ass a simple version. I like to have days on the bike and there isn't much room for that in serious marathon plans. Have made peace with that costing 45 minutes in the finish time if it is more enjoyable training overall.

Can't be good, but am tempted to stick with it 😀

Understood. With the bike miles as cross training dropping one of your 9 milers to a shorter punchier session might be an option to consider?

Update on putting your phone in a ziplock bag to stop it being destroyed by sweat... this is pretty niche advice but don't do it when there are monkeys nearby, they are conditioned to hear a plastic bag and think "FOOD". I feared for my life yesterday when I was surrounded, then chased, by monkeys.

New PB?

This happened to me this summer, but with a flock of alpine goats who had become a little too accustomed to tourist handouts.

Yeah I probably do a lot of waste miles even though my miles per week is fairly low. Could never really get on with the official plans though. Some days they would ask for 3 miles and I'd want to do more, other days I'd need 11 miles and it would be a struggle. Just didn't fit and took up too much mental space. Would help to vary it a bit agreed. The 5k Park Run the other week was great because it was high paced, all out. I'm focussed on getting the long run to about 22 miles by March. The stuff in the week I might mix up a bit.

lol.

Anyone have any tips on increasing calf strength? I run predominantly fore/midfoot and so it normally takes a day for pain/fatigue to reduce before running again. I WFH so get a fair bit of time to do stretching and S&C and so the rest of me feels pretty good. This is the only thing holding me back on distance/time as I can see this causing achilles issues if I don't try to sort it.

I suffered from calf problems for ages, and similarly I’m very mid to fore foot so calves take much more strain than knees say.

For me single leg, bent knee (slightly) calf raises - I worked up to 3 x 30 on each side, and now stick at that. Also lower back flexiblity - if my back is stiff I can strain my calves (don’t understand the link, but there you go)

For some typically contradictory internet advice, I do single leg calf raises with a locked out knee. This is bc having a bend can allow other muscles to help as you get tired whereas if you focus on locking the leg you can guarantee consistency and really notice when you can no longer maintain form. You should aim for a full range of motion and an even pace of 2up, 2down
I would also recommend doing barefoot and on a slightly unstable surface (exercise mat).

Single leg dead lifts
Bulgarian Split squats

Under firing glutes can also cause calf pain because your calf is doing some of the work of the glute - so worth thinking about that.

I think bent knee is soleus, straight is gastro-something (the bulgy muscle at the top of the calf). So depends on what you’re targeting

I also think I’ve been told to do both, which sounds right - it just ends up taking too long!

Suffering calf problems here as well.

Started running again last summer after seven years off. Other than a hamstring niggle in Sept I managed to average a surprisingly trouble-free 50km/month since June.

Calfs suddenly started giving me grief in Dec. Was hoping ten days rest over xmas would help but unfortunately not. Have a persistent tightness on the back of each leg, feels like top of the achilles. Most of the time I've backed off the pace a bit and stubbornly run through it, but on a couple of occasions (most recently Sat) it's forced me to stop.

Been doing calf raises (on the edge of a step, both with and without weights) and using a roller. Clearly not having the desired effect so far, dunno whether I need to be a bit more patient.

Anyone who works on their calves should consider both the soleus (bent leg) and gastroc, IMO the former is neglected quite a bit but still plays an important role in lower leg/foot stability. It's called the calf complex for a reason!

Get similar when I start back from a long break or up the miles rapidly.

i know it's not that fast or anything but i set a new 10k PB (52.34) on Sunday which i'm happy about given it's only the 4th or 5th 10km I've ever ran. The garmin thing where it reads out your pace every km into my earphones was really helpful with measuring my effort!

Theragun helped a lot with my calf/achilles problems. Also having a slightly higher heel to toe drop on the running shoes.

Orthotic inserts, the readily available x-line type are also useful. Partially because they increase the heel->toe height.

Second vote for massage gun..

My entire posterior chain is tight which seems to manifest in my calves.

I gave up on anything other than the most squishy stacked shoes with relatively big drop.

nice one :)

Another thumbs up for massage guns and big drop shoes.

My calf issues all come from hill reps, low heel drop, spikes and doddery old age