Thread: Calf pains

I started to jog a few weeks back, and I've been dealing with some highly painful calf "strains". I'm not sure as to what is causing it, whether it be over/underpronation, or even if it's my shoes. But I've never experienced such a thing before in my life, and it's incredibly frustrating.

The first few times I went out for a jog, I'd return just out of breath. Now when I stop my calves feel like I just did 100 raises with them, and that cramped sensation stays for at least a half an hour. It confuses me that I didn't experience this at first, but in the past week I've really been crippled by it.
The first pains came this past Thursday, and I thought I might have pulled something. So I took a 3 day weekend from running, and I was feeling great going into Sunday and Monday. Monday I went out, and upon completion the same pains came back. It is incredibly frustrating, because I literally can't run on them, and I need to get myself back into cardiovascular shape.

The pain is essentially my entire calf - when I walk around for some distance, the upper calf cramps up. Sitting here, my lower calf, almost down to my ankle, is now cramped. I also can tell that I have shin splints, as depressing on the lower shin hurts.

My buddy who I run with says he had the same thing on his first days of running, but I know the feeling of being sore - this is pain. Any ideas on how to go about on this? I'm two steps away from popping some advil and sucking it up, because I don't think I can injure myself, but I'm not sure. But I can't sit around waiting for days on end to heal and then go though the same process again..

If it madders I began taking Cissus RX, a joint strength supplement a few weeks ago. I began taking it to help with recovery due to an increase of activity. I'm heading out to buy new running shoes right now, but I'm not sure if thats truely what all this was about.

Anything sound familiar? Anyone have this experience before?

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

Did you just ramp up the distance? What surface are you running on? Has this changed? What kind of shoes do you run in? What distances are you running?

At any rate, go to a runner's store and get fitted for the proper shoe. Don't go to athlete's foot or footlocker. Once you know which type of shoe is good for you and have tried them out, you can just order them online. Pay the money up front at a good store so you know what you need.

Foam rolling could help, but I wouldn;t advise you to do it unless:

A)You knew what you were doing.
B)I knew what the problem was.

I somewhat increased the distance, but it varies depending on my day. I actually did change the surface from the road to a track, so I could run basically until I couldn't any more. When I think about it Thursday was the first day I really hit the track, and thats when the pains began. But it feels like a spongy, soft surface, which would appear to be easy on the legs, right?

But yeah I'm definetly heading out now to pick up a new pair of running shoes. I've been using an old pair or New Balance shoes, which I HOPE was the reason for these pains. That way it would be an easy fix!