Pain, a good teacher...If you can figure out the subject!

I wrote a while back about Dr. Lieberman's research on running styles.  That knowledge brought me to researching barefoot running and VFFs, which in turn lead me to major calf pain.  It seems I am just like every other runner in the world - sure that I would be able to go further than they suggested and not have crippling pain, and being wrong about it.

Of course, I learned my lesson right off and didn't repeat my mistake.  Alright, I admit it, I MAY have tried the same thing a few times thinking the results would be different.  But in my defense, I had to figure out WHY it was causing me pain, so that I could fix that aspect of my running.   I also didn't stop to think that I was coming back from surgery, which may have changed my gait.  Nor that I was coming back to running from several months of forced inactivity.  Nor that I was trying to learn a new way of running, in a completely different type of shoe.

One of the problems with combining so many things, is to figure out WHAT is causing a particular pain, is there a qucik (but effective fix), and is it a pain that I actually need to pay much attention to.  If I do a hill work out, I know I am going to be in pain, but it is going to be a muscle ache from the workout, not a pain I need to worry about.

Then there is the pain that happens while running - can it be run through, where it will loosen up, or is it one that is going to get worse and may become a major injury?

I may have chosen incorrectly on what sort of pain I had been experiencing.  I did a 5 mile run today (my calf was feeling much better today) and unfortunately I overestimated my abilities and condition.  It will be interesting to see what my calf feels like tomorrow.  I received the KT Tape and RockTape samples that they companies sent me - I will get to try them and see if they help.

I suspect I may have figured out what exactly has caused my calf pain - but I will need to see for sure.  I ran earlier this week - and did 4.2 miles with no major pain, yet today I was sore around 3.5 miles.  What I did differently was to try and run using the same style as I was using in the Vibrams.  It seems that the pain wasn't just the extension of the calf muscle from the shoes - but from teh style itself.  So, while I may have found more pain - perhaps, I have learned what this one was trying to teach me.  We will see.