burning calves - trouble getting loose (Read 1423 times)

A freind of mine is recently having discomfort while running and I wanted to see if there was any advice here. He has increased his mileage from about 50-60 miles/week to 80 in th epast few months. Everything is going along great with his training, until recently. He says that he does not feel "warmed up" for 5-6 mile and his calves burn. Anyone else experience this when running this type of mileage and have any advice? I was guessing maybe a longer warm-up or cool down, icing after running, tor taking a recovery week with less mileage.

Thanks. I read Phil Maffetone's books and he is against a lot of stretching. That makes some sense, and maybe very tired muscles may micro-tear a little easier if one is in a deep stretch.

As a person that has had constant problems with tight hamstrings, problem calves (at times) and a problem hip, I've found that regular massage has improved my flexibility and reduced muscle tightness and pain to an incredible degree. If you're running a lot of km's (sorry....miles) I really think a regular massage would really help. The other thing I found with pain in the bottom part of my left calf, was that my masseuse suggested this pain could be related to the inner soles a running shoe store sold me when I bought a pair of runners recently. And sure enough, I took the inserts out and replaced them with the original ones and the calf problem sorted itself out.

I started out with a rolling pin but now I use The Stick. My hamstrings and calf muscles have never been happier.