I remember being very surprised when I Googled "Calf Tear" back in 2009 when this happened to me, and there were no good images on the web to show how the wound might look and progress over time, so I had the presence of mind to do that for the World. The last 10yr or so I noticed more than a few podiatrists and sports physicians have linked my blog post, and in some cases stolen my photos (that's OK, my goal was to help people who were freaked out they had a serious injury and wanted to know how bad it was going to be), so that's probably why it's my most viewed post.
I thought it might also be nice to give people the benefit of long experience and report on the long-term effects of this injury, so happy to report it isn't an issue at all anymore.
I would say the first 5yrs my calf would get sore on hard rides, not so much long rides, although it did squawk a bit after some long rides, but mostly it was the intensity of my rides that would affect it. During the Pandemic in 2020 I rode a LOT of Metric Centuries, just as a challenge, and because with so little traffic during the shut-downs I could ride in a lot of places I never could before. In May and June I did two Metric Centuries a week on many weeks (while collecting Social Security checks!), and the calf never bothered me. Oddly, my other calf, which was never injured, DID bother me. Go figure!
Also, in 2019 I put in a lot of miles, took 6 weeks off at the end of the summer, and then rode the Victor Valley Bike Tour's longest ride - 73 miles, and no problems with either calf there either. In part because of a nice tail-wind the last 18 miles of that ride I not only set a lot of PBs on that end of the course, but managed to ride an almost perfect ride, my BP being within 10% of average at every point in the ride, so extremely well paced (riding TTs is great training for taking yourself right up to your max sustainable performance and holding it), and again, no problems with either calf.
Spiking my Gatorade with Nunn, Emergen-C, taking Co-Q10, and Pterostilbene while on the ride was a great help in maintaining that pace. Pacing was, of course, also very important, as the course hit every hill in this area. You have to stay within yourself, whatever pace that turns out to be in wind and hills. It wasn't an issue for this ride, as I had taken such a long break beforehand, but for fast recoveries, like multiple Metrics in a week, Muscle Milk is a HUGE benefit. My muscles use to ache for days, especially quads, but that's gone in under an hour with MM. The Nunn sodium supplement is a big help as our only calm wind months are June, July & August, and by noon temps are well over 100, often approaching 120F, so cramping and heat-stroke are always threatening.
Bottom line, even while pushing my cardio and endurance to the max, and probably beyond if not for a lot of nutrition and supplement tweaking, my calf has never been a problem since I took up riding again in late 2017 after a 3yr hiatus, so if you've just sustained a calf injury this should be good news. My only advice beyond what I said in my original post in 2009 is be very, very careful to not re-injure the calf while it's mending, and go easy on it when you start retraining after.
Cheers!
