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Training and muscle strain

workout_junkee
workout_junkee Posts: 473 Member
in Social Groups
I strained a calf muscle in Barre class. I took a week off from running to give it
time to heal. I ran 6.5 miles last night and it was much better but still not 100%. I am afraid to miss another long run. Last week I cycled instead. I am gonna try my long run Saturday but will have to cut short if it hurts. My first full is Oct 15th. I really do not want to miss it. How many long runs can I miss before getting concerned? I was up to 16 miles prior. Any suggestions on cross training to help keep up all my work so far?

Replies

  • runbabarun
    runbabarun Posts: 89 Member
    First of all, I hope you heal quickly-- I've been there due to a HM and it is not fun!

    FWIW (I'm not as experienced as many here) it sounds like you've been doing what you're supposed to do: stop running and focus on cross fitness until you heal fully. I can't dig it up right now but I read somewhere recently that up to two weeks of backing out while keeping up with cross training and other cardio should not derail you completely, especially given the mileage you have built up to. Even if you gave it another week, you'll have 7 weeks before taper. Better to be more cautious at this stage, given you have time. Dealing with this situation 2 weeks before the marathon would be a lot worse.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    Personally I would not do the long run this weekend. If it wasn't better after 6 miles then running even further won't help. You won't lose much conditioning in a fortnight.
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
    It appears the consensus in several books is that 10-14 days won't cause you much loss of conditioning. And it makes sense because a taper is just a variation of cutback in mileage to "recover" from training.

    Cross-training would be any cardio and resistance training that doesn't re-strain the calf muscle.

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