Calf cramps

My TAG teammate Graham and I are both suffering calf injuries this week. Coach Neil's first advice: "Don’t run!"

This is a good point. I tried to run today after feeling that sharp pain, like someone's stuck a fork deep inside my muscle, on Monday. The first 10 minutes felt great. And then.. the fork. And, you guessed it, I was done.

So I moved to the elliptical trainer and did 30 more minutes with only a few pangs here and there. When I got home, I got Coach Neil's response to Graham's e-mail asking if he could sub the elliptical for the running. How timely!

Coach Neil's second advice: "Not even on the elliptical for now."

Coach Neil says get a massage and sub an extra swim or two and maybe a strength training session to make up for the running.

"Its okay to back off a week to get things back to speed instead of pushing through and potentially aggravating the injury."

So thanks, Graham and Coach Neil. Helpful. Like three hours ago. Hope your calf feels better.