After a three week lay off to rest my shin splints, this week I took my first hopeful steps of what will be a slow build up of mileage over coming months. I'm looking forward to a gradual buildup which with any luck will help me to avoid repeating the same old mistakes leading to the same old problems which have dogged my running to date.
Tuesday's run was a 3 mile run around the Auckland Domain. Even after three weeks rest the shin was not 100% and I could still feel it's not totally right. This is a little disconcerting as half of me does wonder that if it is troubling me a little now its likely to get worse as I pick up the mileage, ending in yet another frustrating lay off. The half wonders whether I just need to accept that as a runner I have to learn to live with these niggles and just harden up.
For the time being as I've got another check up with the Podiatrist this week, I will just see how I go until then and see what he thinks about continuing on or what further treatment options might exist.
Fitness wise, I found that I've lost very little condition.
Thursday was a 4 mile run, again around the Domain. The shin actually felt a little better on Thursday during the run. It's the aching afterwards that's still a problem. Back to icing it each night it seems.
Saturday was another 4 mile run, this time around my neighborhood in Albany. For something a bit different and fun, my eldest son Jack (5) tagged along on his bike. I chose a pretty flat out and back route to minimise the hills Jack needed to climb and although the pace was a bit slower than normal it was great to combine something that I really love doing with something that he really enjoys as well. He had a great time even if I did have to give him a bit of a helping hand up a few of the hills that we couldn't avoid.
Yesterday I actually ran in some new shoes which I picked up at sale some months back. I've been keeping them back because I have only run about 550 km in my old shoes and I had heard that you should be able to get up to 1000 km out of a pair of running shoes. The new ones felt good though and the shin was again not too bad. So it might be time to make the switch.
Here's Jack and Sam on their bikes today, enjoying the wet roads after a shower; 
Also this week I went for a 1300 meter swim which took about 35 minutes.
This weeks numbers;
Tuesday
- Distance 5 km (3.1 miles)
- Time 25:15
- Ave pace 5:03 minute k's (8:06 miles)
Thursday
- Distance 6.5 km (4 miles)
- Time 33:30
- Ave pace 5:07 minute k's (8:15 miles)
Saturday
- Distance 6.75 km (4.2 miles)
- Time 39:00
- Ave pace 5:47 minute k's (9:07 miles)
- Max HR 159
- Ave HR 145
I ended May weighing a shade over 85 kg, a slight increase on last month.
Have a good week.
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Sunday, 3 June 2007
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8 comments:
Hey - cute kid pics. You're right about the Kiwi girl at the spelling bee, in fact she's part of my report tomorrow. Her accent drove the judges crazy. Sweet girl, though.
Stay healthy!
Bruce - Shin splints are a frustrating condition. I'm afraid the crawl, walk, run approach needs to be taken here. OK skip crawling unless your in more serious pain than you elude to.
If you still feel pain when you run you should listen up and back off. I'd go with 2/3 walking and 1/3 pain free running to start with. You need to build up the stabalizer muscles before you can keep running strong. One exercise you can do is stand on one foot with the other bent at the knee behind you. Close your eyes and try to keep your balance. Try this three times on each leg for 1 min durations. If you feel too stable then move the leg that's raised in another position. In fact what I do is move my leg back, to the side, and in front to mix it up. You should also be icing your shins with an ice cup after your walk/runs to help with any swelling. Slide the ice up your shin from your ankle toward your knee.
Three weeks may seem like an eternity but if you were really hurting you may need another three to heal properly and not set yourself back. Don't worry, you won't go insane. Just the people around you will.
Good luck!
Hi Bruce,
I'm looking for writers to contribute about health and fitness to a men's magazine. Email me if you're intersted jazialc@gmail.com, look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks!
There are two fellow bloggers you need to meet: Andy and Chad.
Andy spent a year recovering from an over use injury caused initialy by poor training techniques and Chad had severe knee injuries that were so bad I thought he'd have to give up all together. Both pulled through with a lot of determination and are now doing great.
Shin splints are the classic over use injury. As Journey to Centum said above, you may need to go back to the beginning and start the walking regime all over again and then sloooooooooooooowly transition to run / walk before you start pounding the pavement for hours at a time. I realize this sucks, but you've got nothing but time in front of you and there's no need to rush.
Good luck.
Bruce, if it's 'just' shin splints I think it is possible to overcome the problem while continuing to run.
As you've found out, shoes can be critical, also running surface, hills (avoid if you can), very easy days between harder days etc. Also, running form can make a difference (how you run). Anyway good luck.
Nice use of the kerb by Jack - he could be the next Burt Munro ;)
Hey Bruce. Thanks for your comment. Yeah - I had problems with my head being more ambitious than my legs from the very start. My problem was calf and ankle-tendons rather than shin splints, so I can't really advise on how to deal with the problem itself.
However, you do have to look at the longer term objective and realise if you *need* to take a break to allow an injury to heal, you can do that, because you are more likely to still be running in a year's time if you pause-heal-restart than become dispirited by running with the pain.
I got that advice from my physio and so took 10 weeks off, did some cross training (and I really dislike cycling now) to try to maintain some condition and then I started out again slow in the Autumn.
Phil was fantastically supportive throughout and by just reading around I came to the conclusion that it's not about pace, it's about the time you spend out there - it's easy to fall into the trap of trying to keep pace with some of the people you'll read about. Don't!
So, I would advise (on my dodgy experience!), do what you can to sort the shins out first - even take a break if you need to. Then set small incremental goals which are about time, not about distance or pace, with mixed walking and running. Get back to 30 minutes easy pace pain free and then start increment by 10% (maximum) time each week. You'll know when you can start to cut loose on the pace
And blog - even if you take a break - keep the conversation going. You will get the support you need.
Andy
I had problems with shin splints when I first began running and training for a marathon and did some stretching exercises to help alleviate the problem. Eventually they went away, but I did spend weeks running with pain, but not constant. Good luck working around the situation.
i have shin splints right now! and they suck!! i play for Bonney lake high schools girls basketball team and have to get my shins wraped every day so they dont hurt as bad! it helps but they still hurt! Love a BLHS student!!!!
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