Your personal running journal

any activity that aggravates the area.
Calf muscle pain
    The calf is the most important muscle for running. It is often irritated by speedwork, and can be pushed into injury by stretching, running too fast when tired, speed sessions, inadequate rest between hard workouts, and sprinting at the end of races or workouts. Bouncing too high and running a lot of hills can also trigger this injury.
    Deep tissue massage has been the best treatment for most calf muscle problems. Try to find a very experienced massage therapist who has helped lots of runners with calf problems. This treatment can be painful but is about the only way to remove somebio-damage in the muscle. The “stick” can move some of the damage out of the calf muscle (see our website for more information on this product).
    Don’t stretch! Stretching will tear the muscle fibers that are trying to heal. Avoid running hills or speed workouts, and take very frequent walk breaks as you return to running.
Re-starting your running before the injury has healed
    Most of the runners I’ve worked with who have been injured, have been able to continue training while the injury is healing. But first, you must have some time off to get the healing started. If you do this at the beginning of an injury you may only need 2-5 days off. The longer you try to push through the problem, the greater the damage and the longer it will take to heal. Stay in touch with the doctor at any stage of this healing/running process, follow his/her advice, and use your best judgement.
    To promote healing, once you have returned to running, stay below the threshold of further irritation. In other words, if the injury feels a little irritated when running at 2.5 miles, and starts hurting a little at 3 miles, you should run no more than 2 miles. And if your run-walk ratio is 4 min run/1 min walk, you should drop back to 2-1 or 1-1, or 30 seconds/30 seconds.
    Take a day of rest between running days. With most injuries you can cross train to maintain conditioning, but make sure that your injury will allow this. Again, your doctor can advise.
Best cross training modes to maintain your running conditioning
    Before doing any of these ask your doctor. Most are fine for most injuries. But some run a risk of irritating the injured area and delaying the healing process. For more information on this, see the chapter on cross training, in my GALLOWAY’S BOOK ON RUNNING SECOND EDITION. Gradually increase the amount of cross training, because you have to condition those muscles gradually also. Walking is a great way to maintain conditioning if the injury and the doctor will allow it.
Running in the water – can improve your running form
Nordic Track machines
Walking
Rowing machines
Eliptical machines

5K – To Finish
    Runners who are already running more than indicated can continue with their ratio of run-walk-run or continuous running.

    * run the long run 4 min/mi slower than your magic mile predicts in the 5K, adjust for temperature (MM = “magic mile” time trial, detailed see here )

10K – To Finish
    Runners who are already running more than indicated can continue with their ratio of run-walk-run or continuous running.

    * run the long run 3.5 min/mi slower than your magic mile predicts in the 10K, adjust for temperature (MM = “magic mile” time trial, detailed see here )

    Note: This training advice is given as one runner to another. For medical questions, ask your doctor.
    For more training information, including time goal programs see my book 5K/10K which is available, autographed, at www.jeffgalloway.com
Half Marathon to finish
This program is designed for those who have already been running regularly, but have never run a half marathon before, or for veterans who don’t have a time goal. To begin this program, you should have run a long run of at least 4 miles within the past two weeks. If your long run is not this long, then gradually increase the weekend run to this distance before beginning this program. If you have been running more than that listed on the schedule, it is usually OK to continue at that level.
What pace to run on the long runs? Read the section in this journal on pacing the long runs ( see here ).
Run-walk-run ratio should correspond to the pace used ( see here )
Pace for the half marathon itself: Run the first 10 miles (16K) at the training pace, noted above. If you want to speed up a little during the last 5K, go as you