HIM No More for me?

X2.   I just checked your logs and you've got a buttload of racing and training done this year.  Rest the calf, swim like crazy and enjoy race day on your new terms.

That totally sucks.  The longer you are in the sport though the more you find out that you are going to have to pull out of races.  It never gets any easier though.

As for keeping up the cardio.  Swimming really can work wonders.  Honest.  Get thee to a pool!

Love your avatar...looks just like one of my puppies sleeping!

I did this in 05, took me ~6 weeks to be able to again run without much issue.  My muscle tear was in the Soleus which is under the Gastrocnemius.  Which one did you tear?

I pulled a hammy in December and was out for ~3 weeks, I swam with a buoy after a week and lifted weights & worked the core, that's all I could do.

Sucks but all you can do is let it heal properly. 

Oh, I would recommend a massage as soon as it is able to be performed to work the injured tissue.  That really helped my calf out when I had it done after a 2nd issue with the calf about a year later.

I had a grade III shoulder separation 10 weeks from IMAZ, thought I was out, made it to the start line with almost all my training intact.  You never know.  Don't make any decisions, take the next week and aggressively ice, massage, etc.  Maybe even try ART.

One day at a time

For cardio, can you use an elliptical?  Water running?

Like others have said (and experienced), don't foreclose your options yet.  Wait until the race gets closer and keep an open mind. You just never know how quickly your gonna heal.

You have an excellent base (I looked at your logs also) and are not gonna lose much if any fitness during your recovery.  

I pulled my calf at week 3 of a 12 week Marathon Training Program and I took 5 weeks off from running entirely and did 1 week of recovery running and then went directly into a 3 week taper and set a PR by a bit over 30 minutes

But I did go into my marathon training with a good base and probably ended up doing the race on current fitness.

Best of luck

I wouldn't risk further injury. It's hard to forego a race, but healing is more important than haveing a sucky race and possibly turning an injury into a chronic problem. Rest up for next year and use the down time to wrench your bike.

x2

If you press too soon, you can re injure and then it just prolongs things.  Allowing to heal properly can get you back to 90-95%

Now of course that depends...on whether it's Sprain (grade 1, 2, 3) or Tear (grade 1, 2, 3).  I personally had a grade 3 tear in my hamstring.  2cm tear across the belly of the Biceps Femoris, and another tear on the tendons that connect it to the ischium tuberosity.  Needless to say it was quite nasty, I was walking with a cane although up to month 3, then a limp, then finally all healed at the 8 month mark (bruising took about 6 months to go away and was all the way down to my calf).  I did PT, massage, e stim, ice, heat all 3 x per week.  After all that I am at prob 90% and always nervous.  Very cautious when doing anerobic stuff.

My point in all that:  Let it heal!

(disclaimer: If it's not grade 3 tear then I have no perspective...in which case maybe listen to one of the other folks.)