Torn medial head of gastrocnemius - running again (Read 1312 times)

Hi everyone, As warned by everyone previously, i was training too hard and i tore the medial head of my (right) gastrocnemius (calf muscle). It has taken about 3 months to heal and finally i can start running again!! Pre-starting my running schedule last wednesday, I also spent 2.5 weeks hiking around Eastern Europe, so i've been able to do lots of physiotherapy on my leg. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do to prevent the injury from reappearing?

I sure can sympathize. I overdid it last July and ended up with a torn soleus muscle. I kept re-injuring it by running too soon and once it finally healed I was petrified of having it return. I started back very slowly in October (which wasn't hard cause I'd lost a lot of my cardio fitness) with a run/walk program and then frankly life got in the way until this past March. I'm currently running approx. 20 mpw at a very slow pace and have yet to return to speedwork. But I'm pleased to report I'm injury-free! The key for me is slowing way down, more attention to warm-up and cool-down and some stretching, either before or after. I wasn't warming up properly before and never stretched. Take care. With all of that hiking (quite a trip, I'll bet) I'm sure you're ready to ease back in. Enjoy your comeback - it's like a rebirth. I teared up on my first "real run" afterwards.