Tabata and week 4 of calf strain!

I am still not 100% yet. The pain is almost gone. I can play racquetball and bounce on the trampoline with my daughter with no pain. However, once I start jogging (not running) I feel some “twitches” in my calf and occasional pain. My jogging route includes some long downhill stretches and it feels great to jog on those. However, the uphill stretches put much more strain on my calf so I tend to walk on the uphill.

I went out Sunday to attempt a 3 mile jog in my Nikes. As mentioned above I jogged on the downhill and level stretches and walked on the uphill stretches. I did make it 3 miles with a slight amount of pain. I just don’t want to aggravate my calf again so I am being extra cautious.

I went out Tuesday to attempt a 4 mile jog in my Vibrams. The first two miles felt great. After mile one I stopped and stretched my calves. I then continued on. The first two miles of the run are mostly down hill. On the way back I could feel my calf pulling. By mile 2.75 I was started to feel pain. I stopped jogging and walked back the remainder. It felt like my calf was on the edge of tearing again.

I have continued doing seated and standing calf raises as well as stretches. I just hope this problem goes away soon! I am going to do another test jog again Thursday.

Tabata:
On another item, I am thinking of adding the Tabata training to my normal routine. I have been reading about it and it is very interesting and sounds fun. I cut and pasted this from the following site: www.trailrunnermag.com in the section named “The Fabulous 4 (Minutes)”.

“Tabata training is downright simple. As previously mentioned, you perform eight 20-second interval sets, with 10 seconds of rest in between each set.
What's an interval? It a short burst of intense activity, in our case, a sprint. Warm up for five to 10 minutes at an easy pace. Then, hold on tight, because the next four minutes will be brutal.
Take off in a full-blown sprint, like someone is chasing you, for 20 seconds. Then rest for 10 seconds, then sprint again for 20 seconds. Do eight sets. Perform the routine over relatively flat terrain, or even a treadmill, because the key is speed.”

There is more to the article. Go to the website and read up on it. I like the idea. I have heard from many sources that adding some intense training into your running regimen helps to improve your performance dramatically. Has anyone out there tried the Tabata? I believe they also have a similar idea named HIIT (high intensity interval training). You can apply the method to running, rowing, weight lifting, swimming, etc. You don’t just have to do running. So getting some high intensity cross training may help.

Please comments with ideas on the Tabata or HIIT training. I would like to hear what others are doing.

Have a great day,

Gary