Suddenly tight calves to the point that I can barely run?

Describe the tightness as detailed as possible. Is it present when you're not running? Does it come and go in sort of "waves" or is it constant the whole time? Go into detail.

Possible Blood clots.

Get checked immediately.

I'm being serious. You don't want to mess around. Yes, the come on that quickly.

It feels as if it's "pulling" with every stride. My quads feel a bit fatigued, but I've had dead legs MUCH worse before. I can feel my calves when I'm walking (especially when I'm walking uphill) or just sitting around but they don't hurt per se. When I flex my toes towards me, I can feel a stretch just by doing that. I had a bi-lateral fasciotomy to correct compartment syndrome back in 2012. I don't believe this is a recurrence of that because when I had CECS, it hurt ONLY when I was running.

I had something some what similar. Turned out to be compartment syndrome.

xcmets wrote:

It feels as if it's "pulling" with every stride. My quads feel a bit fatigued, but I've had dead legs MUCH worse before. I can feel my calves when I'm walking (especially when I'm walking uphill) or just sitting around but they don't hurt per se. When I flex my toes towards me, I can feel a stretch just by doing that. I had a bi-lateral fasciotomy to correct compartment syndrome back in 2012. I don't believe this is a recurrence of that because when I had CECS, it hurt ONLY when I was running.

Does the pulling in your calf feel like it's mostly happening along one "string" inside the muscle or is it the whole thing?

Good question. I think that is the case for the most part, like a pulling along the "center string" if that makes any sense.

It doesn't feel like a calf strain?

Get a foam roller and try some fairly aggressive rolling on calves, especially with legs slightly bent, then also with them straight. Try also some heel drops and calf raises later as well once built up

I've never had a strain before, though initially, I thought maybe this is what a strain feels like. Just managed 3.5 and the right calf felt not too terrible, but the left certainly did. Quads are still pretty fatigued. In terms of foam rolling, I will definitely do that. Didn't know about the legs bent version of rolling them out, I will give that a shot now too.

Sounds like a calf strain. You will need a couple of weeks completely off running, lest it worsens to a higher grade tear. I'd suggest using this opportunity to get in good aerobic work with cross training. When I was injured recently, I built up my cycling endurance to ~ 3hr/day for a month. Getting back to running was not that hard, it took about 3 weeks of a gradual buildup and another couple of weeks to start workouts on the grass. If anything, now is the best time to be injured. One thing that really helped me was taping my calf during the recovery phase. It alleviated the dull residual pain.

xcmets wrote:

I've never had a strain before, though initially, I thought maybe this is what a strain feels like. Just managed 3.5 and the right calf felt not too terrible, but the left certainly did. Quads are still pretty fatigued. In terms of foam rolling, I will definitely do that. Didn't know about the legs bent version of rolling them out, I will give that a shot now too.

What do you mean by "terrible"?

I have had a few calf strains and generally to me there is a dull sort of ache that accompanies it once you've trained on it for a bit. There can be some sharp, limp-inducing pain at the beginning of a run that sort of fades back into a dull ache after a bit of time. But if you are limping in the beginning, you should not be running at all. See if the elliptical aggravates it. If so, avoid it, if not get on there every day for as long as you would run and go as hard as you would normally go from a HR perspective. If the elliptical hurts it, the bike should be good.

After you take a week off, do a gentle single-leg hop. If you can hop on it 20+ times without pain, you're ready to gently get back into running. I would avoid anything above a recovery pace for the first few runs to see how you respond, then avoid anything above an easy pace for the next couple weeks. If it feels OK after that, go for it.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I had a planned run yesterday with my friend and we did a SUPER easy 5. As in 9 flat pace and my legs felt better than they have in a week. Not sure if it was the pace or just having the distraction of another person running with me. I tested it out today and resolved to run slower than normal for the first half of the run at least. The first three ended up being 8:10s, 7:50s, 7:40s and my calves actually felt reasonably good. I am thinking that that is not indicative of a strain, though I could be wrong. I might just have to force myself to run even more easily than I did today, for the next week and see how it responds.