Stupid big calf muscles slowing me down?

[Paul Hank]

Bit of an odd one this.....

I have stupidly big calfs.....they are enormous and quite out of proportion with the rest of my body - nothing to do with training, just natural genetics

My question is this:  what affect should my "tree trunks" have on my running?
Well all know that distance runners have silly little spindley legs that anyone over 80kg would buckle in a second, but should my legs in theory give me an extra push forwards or is it just a lot of extra weight to carry forwards with each stride?

To be honest, I've kind of assumed that my calfs hampered my running (because I'm not too hot at it), but a few months back in T-Mac's blog when she was playing match the legs to the person there were some pretty good legs on show there too (mentioning no names)......so now I am confused.

Any ideas?   

[StephenBayliss]

We have all shapes and sizes of calf muscles here.  I have seen some big calf muscles running along very fast.

[Paul Hank]

Well they certainly weren't mine then Stephen   

[doc]

it aint the calves ,
they help on that bike big time .
beks are pretty impressive and she pumps out sub 3hr runs

[Paul Hank]

Thanks guys....you are backing up what I am slowly learning.

No more excuses from me - next time I'm running like a big blouse I'll think of SupaBek rather wishing I had legs like Wilson Kipketer   

PS. If you read this Bek I thought your little speech at the awards ceremony on monday was dead good

[rebekahkeat]

Hey,...I decided not to comment as I was sure someone would have to mention my baby cows...calves!!...They are just starting to work for me on the bike now too...but def great for my running...and they can scare people which is even better!!lol...All the best mate, maybe measure them I bet they are smaller than mine haha!!All the best

[Paul Hank]

Ha, ha Bek.....now I'm the one that isn't sure he should comment - I don't want to admit to measuring various parts of my body with a tape measure too often           I don't make a habit of it HONESTLY!

Anyway, just for the record: 45 cm.....

[StephenBayliss]

Wohwa,  that is the same circumference as mine

Oh hang on a minute I just checked,  that is the same as my quads, not calfs! 

[Matthieu O’Halloran - "M@"]

Hey my calfs look half their size when I shave them 

[DamienC]

Paul, don't think of your calves as a hinderance, but rather as untapped potential...

[Paul Hank]

Coolio......45cm of untapped potential on each leg.....I'll be flying by next season   

[doc]

if you were stephen, then your calves would be 1/2 their size when you shaved them 

[Paul Hank]

holy moly.....is he a wookie?   

[StephenBayliss]

Not a Wookie but my arm span is longer than my height,  which makes me officially an ape

[Huggy Bear]

I took some kids to spend a week with the army once. One of the instructors was nicknamed 'Chewie'. He wasnt hairy, so I had to ask the other instructors why, this was later in the week when they got to know me.
It turns out they had removed his body hair (legs, back and chest) for charity as he was well known for his hairyness  - they told it took 8 packs of Veet wax and two packets of bic razors! I think he was half he man he used to be after.
Paul - 45cm of shaved calf, you'll be flying (and you can get a huge tattoo on there.... now I'm sure there's a joke along those lines but lets not go there!)