Should I run today? My calf hurts...

Pain is non-existent in my left, I thought I was just sore from hills but I'm not so sure now

My experience is that you need experience with this kind of thing to know.

Lots of people run lots of miles and workouts with painful calf tightness, or intermittent painful , or tight calf muscles, and while working out sore spots. It's an art.

I do, and it usually works out, I am getting better at working through things that seem like slight injury things or pre-injury conditions and have had plenty of them over the last several years without real down-time. This could be in the hip the knees, calf muscles, feet, wherever, you just have to learn not to break yourself.

Don't over do it, warm-up gently at first and thoroughly, test moderately if the warm-up goes well, and rest, see if you can find a PT routine that allows it to go away,

There is no need to take the day off with just one leg being sore. As your left calf is okay, just rest your right leg and hop on the left one. Remember to only go half as far to reflect not travelling the portion which your right leg would have been helping with.

Or just do an easy shakeout of a few miles. Play it safe and take the day easy or off.

If you can't run when you're a little bit sore, you should find another hobby.

Dufus wrote:

My experience is that you need experience with this kind of thing to know.

Lots of people run lots of miles and workouts with painful calf tightness, or intermittent painful , or tight calf muscles, and while working out sore spots. It's an art.

I do, and it usually works out, I am getting better at working through things that seem like slight injury things or pre-injury conditions and have had plenty of them over the last several years without real down-time. This could be in the hip the knees, calf muscles, feet, wherever, you just have to learn not to break yourself.

Don't over do it, warm-up gently at first and thoroughly, test moderately if the warm-up goes well, and rest, see if you can find a PT routine that allows it to go away,

⬆this

Rarely do I not have even some tight calves or something after hill repeats or a strong interval workout. I just figured out how to make it work over time. Make sure your post nutrition is up to par so the muscles get enough to recover faster. Be careful with excessive stretching if found that self massaging works better than stretching for me, less likely to over do it and you can focus in on tight spots more directly. If you feel that your form is off because of tight calves, you'd be wise to scratch that workout and run easy tomorrow is another day. I've been sidelined a few times being stupid and overdoing it. Like the others have said its BOTH and art and science specific to the individual.

Why don't you just run on the other calf?

No

Walking warmup, walk faster, walk even faster...keep going. Aim for HR 150 bpm, and 150+ steps/minute.