“Your next sports injury is just one little mistake away!” FitOldDog
Hi folks, welcome to my brief thought of the day!
I love running trails, but they are dangerous, and not advisable for speed work.
A friend of mine asked me today whether he should ‘run through’ a recent running-induced calf injury. My response was an immediate:
“No Way!”
You have to learn to listen to your body, but when it comes to calf injuries, or anything to do with your lower limbs, you had better take care to (a) understand their mechanics, (b) build strong arches, (c) learn to activate your arches before you run, and (d) treat them wisely. Otherwise, your running days will be brief indeed.
Click this image for temporary access to our video on activating your arches, WITHIN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. If you’re too late you’ll have to pay a small fee via our video store.
For calf injuries, as for any injury, carry out a ‘post-mortem’ analysis. In fact, I would recommend the use of ‘The Lean Startup’ Five Whys! For instance:
- Why did I strain my calf? Because I put too much load on it.
- Why did I put too much load on it? Because of speed work on trails.
- Why did I do speed work on trails? I thought it was a good idea at the time.
- Why did I think it was a good idea at the time? Because I thought my calves could handle the load.
- Why did I think my calves could handle the load? Because I overestimated their strength.
My friend was lucky. A strained calf is one thing, but he could have done something much worse - imagine Lisfranc!
This leaves us with two issues to address, the recovery, and once that is complete the strengthening of our calves or entire arch support system.
For temporary (unpaid) access to our video on calf activation, click the yoga toe image above, or purchase our Body Awareness Series from the FitOldDog Video Store.
If you have repeated calf strain problems, consider trying Hoka One One shoes, they work for me.
Hopefully you learned something useful in the process, my friend. If not, you’ll do it again. I never recommend speed work on trails - much too dangerous!
-k @FitOldDog
Important Note: These posts do not provide medical advice. You should always consult your physician before undertaking or significantly modifying an exercise program.
Copyright © 2010 Kevin T. Morgan aka FitOldDog, Old Dogs in Training, LLC.
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