Inner calf pain

Question
Hi John,
Thank you for the help. Yes, we do have a coach, and he's serious when it comes to injuries, he won't make us run if it means we'll get hurt.
It sounds like we should be doing less on grass - roads instead? We tend to have our rest days over the weekend because it's much easier to have practice on school days - I don't know whether it would work, but would it help if we took Thursday off, or at least made it very easy, and  moved that practice to the weekend?
Also, are there any stretches or other specific exercises we should be doing and/or avoiding?
Thanks again,
-Tom


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The text above is a follow-up to ...

-----Question-----
Hi,
I'm a junior in high school this year, on the cross country team. For a few weeks now, I've had some pain on the inside of my calf, not bad enough to make me stop running, but rather persistent - especially right after I run. It's in the middle third from top to bottom, and right next to/under the bone - I think it might be in the soleus. What seems especially odd about this is that several of my teammates have had the same thing, one of them to the point that he was unable to run for a month. A typical week for us might look like this:
Monday - mile warmup(road), 3x mile repeat(grass), mile cooldown(road)
Tuesday - 3-4 miles(road)
Wednesday - 5k race
Thursday - mile warmup(road), 6x800m(grass), mile cooldown(road)
Friday - 5-7 miles(road)
Sat - rest
Sun - 2 miles road

I'm 6'2, 160 pounds, but the person who's had it worst is probably 5'8, 150, and the smallest is more like 5'6, 120.
We're also all on the middle to low end in terms of speed, running 20-24 minute 5k races

Any advice on how to deal with this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-Tom
-----Answer-----
Hi Tom
Your schedule allows no recovery of the musculature,tissues.energy systems before race or after.And your repeats on grass are also adding to the additional stress of the calf muscles do to the over stretching on a soft giving surface.It has nothing to do with your height weight.You all seem quite fit.You need to spread out your recovery days before and after your 5k races to allow the body to heal up.Hope you can see what i see tom.Let me know your thoughts.Do you have a coach?

The very best to ya

John

Answer
Hi Tom
I would just do an easy 40min jog on thurs and fri with some relaxed strides at the end of about 75 meters and hard speed on sat,off on sun,light speed mon,easy jogging tues.Don't strech your over streched calf.Let it heal.Streching should be very relaxed.Let me know how that works for you.

The very best

John