Stretching III
Calves: really really important - for the Romans amongst you, the gastrocnemius (the big fat one) and soleus (much less popular muscle) are the ones you’re dealing with here. Everyone does the lean against a tree stretch, mostly because trees don’t complain as much as people. If you lean against the tree with your knee bent, you’re stretching your soleus. Congratulations. I hold these stretches for 20 - 30 seconds each leg.
I also found that not just stretching, but strengthening the calves works a treat. The principle behind this is that the achilles tendon can get sore and overstressed, but that the calves can take a great deal of the burden off them if they’re strong. Running, however, doesn’t seem to strengthen very much, I mean there aren’t that many burly muscle bound marathon runners. So, if like me you have an aversion to gyms, you’ll be glad to know you can strengthen your calves at home.
Calf dips: Stand on a step (or on the fireplace if you don’t have steps, like me). Turn the fire off first. Then standing on both legs, raise yourself up on tip toes. Remove one leg. That sounds a bit odd, okay, take one leg away from the step so you’re standing on one leg, blimey writing is hard work. Bend your knee so the heel of your foot is well below the top of the step. Then standing on both legs again, raise yourself back up. The point of this is that it is ‘eccentric‘ activity. It certainly is, so do it alone if you can.
Anyway, there’s a much better description at the Peak Performance web site. The same site then goes on to describe Walt’s SAS exercises, which I mentioned before. Really advanced people strap heavy rucksacks on their backs and then do the dips. I used a rucksack full of someone else’s books before it was confiscated.