The Running Thread

Very impressive. On track or road?

After a 2 week break from running, I did HIIT this morning and it was my worst run ever. My calves were tight from the start so it was a very uncomfortable run and I've spent the whole day trying to stretch them.

I'm not entirely sure why this is happening because I've never done any running before but when I first started I had pain in the arch of my foot which stopped after I did proper warm ups and now this.

Does anyone have any advice?

I know it's definitely not my shoes, because I got them from a proper running shop and they are very comfortable and do the job well.

Intense workouts are probably not the way to go on the first run after two weeks.

Just to give you an idea of what I do:
We go out on the road for a 16-20 minute run (depending on your pace of course), about 2.5 miles at 7.5-8 minute mile pace. Then we come back and do dynamic stretches, such as:
Loose arm skipping (forward, left, right)
Crossovers (left, right)
High knees for about 20m, slowly increasing the speed and then jogging for about 20m
Same as above but with kickbacks
Slow high knees
Sideways with a clap (left, right) - work the shoulders as much as possible, all about the height
Forward and backward lunges
3-4 30m strides, but remember to slow down gradually
Some people do static stretching but I don't think it should be done really, only after the warm down.

Then we do the session, today it was 3 x 600m/200m with 1 min rest between reps and 8 mins rest between sets (so a bit faster than the winter stuff). Then a 1-2 mile warm down, nice and gently, so you don't get cramp, preferably with your warm clothing on. Then a bit of static stretching.

As for your tight calves, have you tried ice baths?

Did a 10k race (Great Ireland Run) at the weekend... didn't hit my target, but got a new PB anyway. 53.03

Ugh! Feel so unhealthy I've agreed to go to the cinema with friends than do my usual 13 miles of interval training (pushing hard every other mile). Please can someone reassure me that I'm not going to lose fitness lol - I think I've got a running OCD.

woah that sounds hard! you will be fine, one session won't mean you will lose you fitness. It will give your body and its muscles a rest

Thats what I told myself, but when I went to the cinema the manager there is raising money for sponsered ultramarathons and multi marathons, which kind of made me feel worse haha.

Oops we all lied- the 2010 ballot will open on the 4th of May. Interesting

I've been in Egypt for the last month and haven't been able to go out running and now feel really unfit, can't wait to get back into it!

I'm planning a real fitness drive, cycling, running, working on my core etc I really need to step it up for the half marathon!

How far do you run?
How long do you run for?
Where do you run?
What do you listen to?
Why do you do it?
Do you have any aims?

etc.

I'm taking yet another break from running with a lot of RICE involved because today's run was awful. It started off well and then I had this awful tightness/pain in my calves even while walking and I had to stop so I'm hopping all of this changes in a couple of weeks.

I think you should be ok. Its the tendons you need to be careful about rather than whole actual muscels.