Any Runners/Cyclers/Fitness People Here? Need Advice!

[Latekin]

Hey guys! So, I'm normally a lazy ass couch potato slacker type of girl, but lately, after realising just how unfit I was becoming, I've taken a program on my phone (Baby Steps to 5k), and I'm three weeks in! I love it so far, it's going great!

However, and this is a huge however, I'm also getting really, really sore calves when I do my "run" (quotation marks because I'm still in the brisk walking ~ 2.5 to 3.0 kilometer part of the program). It's not a major pain, it's basic muscle aching which I can and do push through, but it's getting a bit disheartening, as I feel like when the program begins to step up harder, I'm not gonna cope. At this point I can't even imagine being able to run 5k's one day - I feel like I'd probably drop dead after the first kilometer!

While I'm determined to keep going and I'm not gonna stop (short of falling dead), it'd be great if someone could let me know if the pain ever gets easier to deal with, as it's making me really embarrassed. Hell, I do my "run" at night so people don't see me. I'm not hugely overweight, but I'm really self conscious and this is making me feel bad.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thanks in advance guys,

[TawnyMyst]

My suggestion is get a good pair of properly fitted running shoes, preferably for the terrain you're using them on, ie a pair of cross country shoes, if running/walking on dirt trails, pavement shoes for paved trails, etc. Get them fitted for your stride by a professional, I'm a pronator, so I use a different type than my running partner, who is a supernator. They were slightly expensive, so I only use them for running to save them a bit, but since I got them they've saved my feet, I used to get blisters and shin and calf pain when I ran with just the generic runners you get at any shoe store, so much less now.

Also, make sure to stretch before starting and come up to pace slowly and slow down carefully after, don't just stop moving suddenly. Stretch when you're done and stay hydrated! Muscle pain can be a sign of dehydration. Running/walking at night is good, the coolness is actually a help and let's you know if you're body is warming up from the exercise, rather than the heat. Also, less risk of heat stroke and heat exhaustion at night, note less risk, not no risk, so still keep an eye on your core temp and again, stay hydrated.

Good luck and hope you get what you want out of the exercise!

[Latekin]

I'm drinking around 2/3 litres of water a day usually, so I'm probably thinking it's not dehydration.

The shoes idea is good...at the moment I'm going in steel cap sneakers I've had for 3+ years, and I'm flat footed. Kind of a bad idea, but I was thinking of visiting a specialty foot store this Tuesday anyway.

Always make sure to warm up, and go for a cooldown period at the end. It's just during the actual run that my muscles feel like they're screaming at me.

[csquared]

One of the shortcomings of apps like these is that they don't take into consideration you current physical shape. Flat feet are a serious problem. You should really discuss this with a medical expert.

[Jester]

As you said, you were normally a lazy ass couch potato. So this whole exercise thing is new, not just to you as a whole, but to all the parts of your body, including your calves.

The good news is that this initial soreness will probably abate to some degree as your get into better condition and your body gets more used to what you are doing. The bad news is that as you do that, you will start doing harder workouts, and so work your body, and your calves, that much harder. But the good news is that, while you will still have some pain and soreness, it is unlikely to get worse than it is right now, even as you increase your workout, because your body will be building muscles. However, if you still have problems with your legs, you might want to consider switching to bicycling. It is usually less stressful on the lower body than running or jogging.

[Kheldarson]

How much stretching are you doing? Soreness does go away, but it helps if you do some light stretching afterwards to work the tendons. Also, bath soaks. Ran 15 miles yesterday (yes, miles, not km) and that was the first thing I did when I got home. Get some nice bath salts and it's wonderful

[Luna Baby]

As a runner, I can tell you that yes, eventually the pains do go away...somewhat. I worked up from 1/4 mile at most up to eventually running 2 marathons. When I first started training, I was upping my pace and distance fairly frequently so I didn't get a good period of time without pain for about 2 years. However, once I had worked up to my long training runs of 12 and 18+ miles, the shorter, normal runs of 6 miles felt good. I probably did overdo it in the beginning, but I wasn't about to let the husband outdo me.

Now, as others have said, the right shoe is a big factor. When I first tried running, I dealt with shin splints horribly, so bad that I cried. It was worse than my natural childbirth when I had my 10 lb baby boy. Once I got the right shoe, all of that went away. Then I had to really only deal with muscle aches. Occasionally, I still deal with a little bit of hip pain, but I think it is just my body physique and sometimes it's a pain and sometimes, it's not.

Now, the other thing is to not increase your pace or distance too quickly. Take your time and work up to more. But do expect some discomfort when you increase either. But that is all you should expect, discomfort, not pain.

[ComputerNecromancer]

The most important thing with *any* exercise program, especially if you are at all overweight is to talk to your doctor *first*.

I know several people who did permanent damage to their knees because they didn't do this. If they had done it, their doctor would have told that that jogging/running was a really bad idea at their weight.

I have no idea if you are in that category or not. But for many, you have to start out with "low impact" exercise first. Biking, swimming, etc.

Me, I used to be at the point where *walking* as exercise was a bad idea for my knees. Thankfully I already owned a bike.

But if it's calf pain and not any knee pain, you are probably ok. Still, talk to your doctor. He may have suggestions that'll help. And suggestions on what *not* to do.

[Latekin]

Ok, first issue first, I'm not overweight. Slightly chubby, but well within the normal range for my age and height. I've also been losing a lot of the spare weight anyway. I cut coke and most soda out of my diet a while back and that's helped.

As for cycling and swimming...I have access to neither a bike nor a pool at the moment. The sort of bike I'd need is extremely expensive, and would likely be stolen around here. Besides which, I actually like running.

My flat feet. So, I went to a shoe fitting place that does gait measurement and whatnot. My right foot was taking most of my weight due to the way it rolls outwards when I walk...or something along those lines, anyway. Lady said I wasn't walking so much as limping at a fast pace. So she fitted me with a pair of shoes that stops that from happening and holy hell! I nearly took off sideways! It's gonna take my left foot some time to get used to having to do work, now I have a tendancy to amble towards my left. My calves don't hurt when I run anymore, but my left foot's gonna be complaining for a while.

[TheTigress]

Having proper running shoes is most important. Back in 2013 when I started in impliment some outside jogging in addition to my basketball and Insanity workouts I made the mistake of wearing some really old sneakers not designed specifically for running. Eventually it started to give me plantar fasciitis in both feet that hurt like hell in the mornings.

Once I switched to proper shoes my plantar fasciitis gradually disappeared.

Another suggestion for your calves would be some calf compression sleeves. The compression helps keep everything more secure and also provides heat to the muscles to keep them warmed up.

Another option is KT tape. I can attest that it works wonders. I use KT tape for my Achilles bursitis on the back of my left foot (basketball every single day will do that) and that along with wearing an Achilles compression brace every night to sleep I hardly ever have any pain these days. The swelling has also reduced dramatically. That was the injury that I thought was going to eventually end my basketball career within a year until I started to do something about it.

What the KT tape does is it acts like another layer of skin that lifts your real skin away from the body so things can move more fluidly with less friction. It also improves lymphatic draining which reduces swelling. Youtube has tons of application tutorials based on your area of pain.

[Seshat]

There's two levels of exercise: 'building' exercise, and 'maintenance' exercise. You're in building exercise at the moment, but once you reach your goals and a level of fitness that suits you, you'll switch to maintenance.

During building exercise, you will always have a sensation in your muscles for the day or two after an exercise session. This sensation is the feeling of new muscle building. If you don't know what it is, your brain is likely to interpret it as pain: but because of 'neuroplasticity', you can teach your brain to interpret it as a harmless thing.
To do that, whenever this sensation comes to your awareness, consciously and deliberately think 'oh, that's good, that's new muscle being built'. Intentionally be proud of yourself (hey, you're making muscle, that's something to be proud of!), and pleased to have that sensation.


In maintenance exercise, you probably won't feel that sensation. You'll just go through the exercise and it'll feel easy, maybe even trivial. This is when it's very easy to develop a laziness, a kind of 'nah, I don't need to go walking today, I'm already fit'.
Problem is, muscles really are 'use it or lose it'. Skip out on maintenance exercise and your body will go 'hmm. We don't need that much leg muscle, let's recycle some of the cells and use them to repair this bit of bowel that's getting old'.


Anyway: building exercise should not actually HURT, it should just have the muscle-being-created sensation.
Maintenance exercise shouldn't hurt at all, and there might be just a little bit of muscle-building-sensation sometimes, but not all the time.


The most common causes of pain during exercise (as far as I know) include:
- Starting at too hard a level. (IE: doing more than the body is capable of.)
- Not stretching enough.
- Not warming up and/or cooling down the muscles enough.
- Insufficient water/dehydration.
- Doing a form of exercise the body is not suited to (most often due to injury or illness)
- Bad posture/form while doing the exercise (this can often injure you!)
- Improper equipment. (In this case, you needed the shoes that forced your left foot to work!)

[Latekin]

I suppose it's not actually pain so much as a "gah, this is getting difficult!" feeling, pain's just the closest descriptor I can find right now, and I suspect that as you said, it's just muscle building up. It's already taking longer to get the sensation; yesterday I made it halfway through before I noticed anything even remotely uncomfortable. It goes away pretty much instantly too.

Up to nearly three kilometers as of yesterday! Left foot's still a bother, but it's the same muscle building sensation as my calves. Guess the tendons are getting used to being used!