It seems like every time I get back into trail running after a layoff, my calf muscles ache for a couple of days after each run. Luckily, sore calf muscles don’t need to be a permanent condition thanks to what I was taught by my running coaches decades ago.
Sore calf muscles result from them being stressed beyond their strength level. Therefore, you prevent sore calf muscles through strength training. This is done by gym training, running hills, and spending time barefoot between going for runs.
Let’s take a closer look at how you can recover from sore calf muscles quickly as well as how to prevent them from happening in the first place.
How To Prevent Sore Calves
When it comes to preventing sore calves, there are two distinct aspects that we need to look at. Firstly, what are the physical conditions that are causing your calf muscles to become sore, because once you know that you could have a clearer idea of what you can do to prevent the situation. Secondly, what are the specific types of exercises to incorporate into your training that will help to prevent your calves from getting sore in the first place.
However, before we get into any of that, one thing that we will need to discuss are the treatment options available if your calf muscles are already sore. The sooner we can reduce the soreness in your calves, the sooner you can get back to regular training.
In essence soreness in your calves boils down to your calf muscles not being adapted to the strain that you are putting them in during a specific kind of running that you are doing.
Not Adapted To Shoes Or Surface
My calf muscles get sore if they are not adapted or strong enough to handle the stresses and loads put on them. This could be either by the specific type of surface I’m running on or the type of shoes that I’m wearing for that run.
For instance, I can remember at the beginning of every summer in high school when we switched from the cross-country season to the summer outdoor track season. Our entire team of cross country runners would do middle-distance on the track. That meant a track season training would involve us wearing running spikes again after having just spent 6 months doing all of our training and racing in forgiving shoes that had a heel-to-toe lift that reduced strain on our Achilles tendons and calf muscles.
For the first couple of weeks back in running spikes on the track our calf muscles used to be absolutely excruciatingly painful. This was simply because we were not yet used to doing all of our training in running spikes. However, once we got over the first couple of weeks of training and our calf muscles adapted to the strain put on them by training in running spikes, the soreness gradually dissipated. We could then focus all our attention on the speed workouts that would get us running faster on the track for the rest of the summer season.
Older Runners Have Less Calf Flexibility
Something that I’ve learned to cope with as I’ve become older, is that now that I’m over the age of 50 my calf muscles are not as flexible and resilient as what they were when I was younger. It is something that I needed to become aware of so that I don’t do anything that will put undue strain on my calf muscles because they take just that much longer to recuperate now that I’m older.
When I was at high school or running middle-distance on the track during the summer and cross-country in the winter my calf muscles adapted more easily between the surfaces and the two shoe types than what I would be able to do these days.
Recovering From Soreness
Before we get to specific types of ways that you can train to improve your calf muscle strength and flexibility, let’s first take a look at the types of rehabilitation you can do right now if your calf muscles are sore. There is a distinct chance that you landed on this article because you went on the run yesterday and you’ve got up this morning with sore cough muscles. Let me share the different methods that I use to relieve calf muscle soreness. I’m sure that amongst them you will find something that will bring you relief from the pain that you have right now in your calves.
Avoid Barefoot And Zero Drop Everyday Shoes
Even though this might sound contradictory to what I’m going to be mentioning later on in the training section, if you have an injury to your calf muscles right now avoid wearing zero drop shoes for general walking around. The same goes for walking barefoot while you have a calf muscle injury.
Walking around in zero drop shoes or barefoot places additional strain on the entire Achilles area as well as your calf muscles. If you have calf muscle soreness or injury, you will be adding additional strain onto those slightly injured muscles, slowing down the rate at which they will be able to recover and heal.
Use Compression Socks Or Sleeves
Consider wearing either compression socks or compression sleeves like these ones (available on Amazon). Compassion socks or compression sleeves are not just there for when you are out running, but you can wear compression sleeves during the course of your day as a way of giving extra stability to calf muscles as they heal.
Avoid Running Hills During Rehab
A good idea when you are trying to recover from already sore calf muscles will be to avoid doing additional hill sprints or hilly runs during your rehab.
When we run uphill we tend to run much more up on our toes which places additional strain up through the Achilles tendon and into our calf muscles because of the lack of ground-support beneath our heels. This means that there will be additional tension through the calf area and increase the strain on an injured area with each stride.
Even landing on a flat foot won’t help because our ankle will be flexed to a degree that would still place additional stretching/strain on what is already a sore muscle.
Do Self Massage And Foam Roller Treatments
A good way to help recover from sore calf muscles is to incorporate some sort of self massage as well as using a foam roller. This increases blood flow to the area and helps to realign muscle fibers within the calf muscles so that there’s less cross-fiber loading within our calf muscles.
I find that by foam rolling my calf muscles I’m able to get substantial pain relief and I’m able to get back to running sooner.
When I had a soleus injury I foam rolled my calf area daily. Even now, after the injury has healed, I still foam roll my calf muscles at least once each week – especially if I have done a hilly run.
Stay Hydrated
Dehydrated muscles are less elastic than hydrated muscles. If your calf muscles are already sore and you’re busy rehabilitating them back to full strength it’s important to stay hydrated. Staying well hydrated will help your muscles heal faster as it helps your body flush any toxins or waste materials from your muscles.
Avoid Static Stretching Of Injured Calf Muscles
When you have sore calf muscles, resist the temptation to do lots of static stretching. The reason for this is simple: your calf muscles are sore because they have micro tears.
If you’re then doing a whole lot of static stretching, you’re stretching a muscle that has micro tears and what you’re most likely going to do is aggravate those micro tears and make the injury worse, or at best slow down your recovery. Both of these will make it even longer before you start getting back to your normal running again.
Spend Time Barefoot To Strengthen Calf Area
If your calf muscles are healthy then what you can certainly look at doing is spending lots of time barefoot as it’ll help to strengthen the entire calf muscle area as well as your Achilles.
Bear in mind that this is something that you do as a way to strengthen your calf area while the muscle is healthy as opposed to trying to do it when you already have sore muscles.
Walk In Zero Drop Shoes To Strengthen Calf Area
Another way that you can incorporate strength training into your normal day today activities is by wearing zero drop shoes as your general casual footwear to strengthen your calf area.
Again this isn’t something that you do if you already have sore muscles. This is only something that you do when your calves are healthy and you’re looking at strengthening them so you don’t land up with a problem of sore calf muscles next time you head out on a hilly trail run.
Include Running Fast Twice Per Week
This is something that I’ve learned to do over the past few years. These days I incorporate running faster into my various aerobic run workouts about twice each week.
One of the ways that I do this is by doing strides a few times around mid-way through my run. In case you were wondering, the kind of strides that I do is gradually increasing my pace from my normal slow running pace up to about 95% of my maximum effort. I hold that speed for about 2 or 3 seconds and then gradually slow back down again.
If you try this, don’t make the mistake that I did one time and try to do strides on a rough technical trail. All I ended up doing was tripping over some rocks and had to limp home with blood running down from my knee.
Include Running Drills During Warmup And Warm Down
If you’ve been involved in running for as long as I have with formalized coaching in track and field as well as cross-country, you’ve no doubt learned all about different types of running drills that you can do to improve your running form.
Well, most of these running drills involve some degree of jumping or skipping. Each of these jumping and skipping movements places additional strain through the calf area. So by incorporating running drills into both your warm up before trail running and your warm down when you get back from the trails, you’ll be able to improve the strength of your calf area and that will in turn help prevent future injuries.
I have also found that when I do running drills before a trail run, it activates my Achilles area and I can cope with both hilly and technical terrain a lot better.
Include Jump Rope Once Per Week
A great way of improving the strength of the entire calf area is to incorporate a jump rope into your workout routine. You only have to do jump rope about once or maybe twice each week and it doesn’t have to be more than between 30 seconds and a minute of jump rope at a time. This is an easy prehabilitation exercise that won’t take much out of your day at all.
Strength Training For Trail Running
Finally, when it comes to training our calf muscles in a way to be able to cope with the stresses and strains of running up and down hills on the trails, it’s important to incorporate specific strength training into your weekly routine.
When it comes to strength training I’m not talking about doing millions and millions of calf raises. There are many other leg exercises you can do in the gym which involve weights and these will strengthen your calf muscles even if they are not calf-specific.
Strength training allows you to adapt your calf muscles to additional stresses more quickly than you would by just relying on trail running.
If you are unsure of what kinds of gym exercises you can do, I’ve got you covered. I’ve compiled a list of the 28 Best Gym Exercises For Trail Running You Have Never Done. Go and check that out next.