Life is Good

All I know is that my daughter had a really tight calf muscle from ballet over the summer, and it ended up leading to a serious ankle injury. I can't explain this very well, but your ankle receives a lot of support from your calf muscles (it has to do with the way they attach and stabilize your ankle), and when that support is compromised, you are more susceptible to an ankle injury. So no trail running until your calf feels better!

That is very good to know. I was thinking of places to run this weekend (Friday and Saturday) and some trails were coming to mind. I'm glad that you gave me that warning. Hmm... should I be stretching it better? (my calf). I'm nervious now.

Maybe some real runners will chime in and give you more knowledgeable advice, but I wouldn't worry. Just stretch and do easy runs until it feels better. Or bike?

My hubby gets tight calves ALL the time to the point of not being able to run, and it is usually up to me to fix it. (He has stretched and stretched, and it has never done anything to make it better.) 2 Things that DO work: scraping and releasing.

First try releasing (you might want to have your hubby do this). You massage the calf until you locate the absolutely most tender spot--usually it feels like a lump. Sometimes the pain of it when you press on it feels like it radiates up your leg, or down to your foot. That's good. That means you are in the right spot. So the goal is to press straight down on the most tender spot and hold it for about 30 seconds. While you are going crazy and trying not to scream about it, flex your toes up (this will be difficult). This will stretch the calf and force the knot to release. Then let go and find the 2nd most tender spot and do the same thing to it. Etc. etc. It sounds brutal, I know--but it is very effective. If you only have 10 min. you can make a BIG difference with this stuff. I can show you on Sat. before we run. Scraping is...dah, it takes too long to type. I'll show you.

OH! AND James and I can NOT run that race on Nov. 8th. I knew there was something...my oldest's son's baptism! This is a big deal to us and family is coming from out of town and everything, so it's a no-go. So sorry!

The releasing thing is exactly what Amanda's physical therapist was doing. The best I could think to say was "massage it." Der.

Go Lybi!

Lybi - That sounds painful... but I'm sure it's worth it. :o(

You are hilarious. Yes, your son's baptism is a BIG deal. You have no reason to be sorry... there will be more races, but he only gets baptised once (hopefully). Have fun that day with your family and friends. I'm trying to think if I know any good cakes to make for a baptism. (sorry, cake decorating brain at work). Are you guys doing a family get together, dinner thing afterwards?

oh hey, Lybi... my friend Bethany (who is running the Ragnar with us) wants to go running with us Saturday morning. Is that okay with you?

Camille --

Sorry to hear about your calves. Hope that the walking, etc. helped.

I'm anxious to hear how the scraping and releasing works for you.

Hope you are having a wonderful night!

You may have muscle imbalance, so another thing you might try is getting the opposing muscle group to your calves stronger.

Try standing with your feet shoulder width apart, then place one foot about a half step forward. Lean forward and place your hands on your forward knee and tap your foot for 30 sec. Switch. This also prevents shin splints.