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 First race in 5 years. 10k 43.14. Well chuffed

Do you work on soleus - it's the calf muscle that you stretch with the knee bent. You need to ensure that your toes are pointing absolutely forwards otherwise you may not feel it.

From where you describe the pain it sounds like it could be soleus. Equally for massage of the calf you need to massge with the knee bent  to get soleus (otherwise you'll just get gastrocnemius which sits on top of it).

Also do some eccentric calf strengthening exercises for soleus. This one is an advanced one.  Start off doing the exercise on the floor with both legs - knees bent , lift the heels and then lower them slowly. Repeat 3x10 3 times a day (but build up to this), and then progress to one leg, and then onto a step.  Make sure that the knee bend is controlled and not waggling all over the place

You can also  keep the knee straight to strengthen gastroc

HI Deyna,

 Yes  deep tissue massage could help - some people respond really well to this kind of therapy  - and it can help alleviate tightness etc. If you see a sports massage therapist they probably also throw in some stretching techniques, and some techniques to help the LCL (have you had this disgnosed). Tight calves can contribute to knee pain as well, although I think this tends to be at the front of the knee

you can't use it a substitute for a proper warm up/warm down routine (with stretching) tho

Good luck! 

Sorry rookie mistake - and thank you for pointing out that I should do the iron man at week seven.

Now I like your eating plan. Brocolli and branflakes are my absolute favourite! And I love the idea of a red kidney bean side dish. What do you think about adding other beans to the mix? Might help my speed training the day after!

Quite happy not to eat anything before the Ironman... but with drinking, don't you think I should do something to relax - After all my first iron man will be a big day . I was thinking of something along the lines of three bottles of red wine followed by three whisky chasers?

Has the physio thrown in some calf exercises - achillies linked to the PF via the heel bone, so calves are often really tight. Check out the gasrocnemius and soleus exercises here

 http://www.cfas-uk.com/plantar-fasciitis-exercises.html

 Massage WILL be painful (although shouldn't be unbearably so), and you may feel worse for 24-48 hours after, but then it should feel better

You can also roll a golf ball about on the base of your foot if you don't like the iced bottle... and good luck