Forums >Health and Nutrition>TIGHT TIGHT Calves
queen of headlamps
My calf muscles get tight, but it usually shows up as pain in my heel with no calf pain at all; I mention this because sometimes what's causing the pain isn't directly at the location of the pain, so make sure you roll out your calves, shins, feet (lacrosse balls are good for this.) Upstream and downstream from the problem.
I use a softball on my calves on some of the tougher knots. Eccentric calf raises and heel drops are really great for strengthening (and for me, they eliminate heel pain almost instantly.)
Hey, another running blog.
OP, I'm not sure how long you take warming up to training pace. You might consider starting out slowly and taking about 15-20 minutes gradually working up to your training pace or HR. Then after, take 10 minutes walking to cool down. And if you've been stretching your calves, try not doing it. For some, including myself, stretching those particular muscles produces opposite results and increase the probability of injury. It's takes experimenting to figure out your body+running. Good luck.
another vote here for the foam roller. but be careful. like anything else it is easy to do to much to soon. start out easy & build up, don't expect or try to roll out the knots in the first session. advise not to do this just before a run when you first start. yes there are lots of videos on how to use rollers & when you buy one there s/b information about technique & how to roll different body parts. be careful NOT to roll over any joints.
I am also a believer in walking for a few minutes before the start of a run.