Minimalist Trainers for 5mths - Calves still sore

Hi all,

After a bit of research and some niggly ITB and achillies issues, I decided to make the change to minimalist trainers and having always used Saucony I opted for the Cortana's.  My ITB and achillies niggles have gone and I feel that my gait has improved.  I am now more of fore foot striker and am much lighter on my feet.  BUT....after 5 months my calves are still suffering.  It's not debilitating but always uncomfortable no matter how much I try and stretch them out.  Should I go back to 'normal' trainers or live with the sore calves?

The usual advice is to have several different trainers in rotation. This will help your muscles and joints to get some variation. Maybe a pair of well cushioned for the longer runs and a pair of minimalist for the shorter ones?

How is your technique when running with the minimal trainers? Is it possible you are staying up on your toes pretty much the whole time? You need to ensure the heel makes contact with the floor, (obviously after the forefoot) but if you are up on your toes the whole time you run that would be very hard on the calves.

Also what foorwear do you use for normal day to day wear? I switched to flat shoes pretty much 100% as I found it helped to keep my calves stretched. If you wear shoes with heels all day you wil be shortening the calves, then asking quite a lot of them to run with a much flatter shoe.