Just Starting

[stu12050]

Hi all looking for tips started this week after trying it 5 yrs ago but previously have suffered from shin splints really really bad causing me to give up halfway through. I do stretching first and warm up correctly to give me every chance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Sparky1960 Graduate]

Repeat weeks if you need to and slow progress is better than no progress. I repeated week 4 as I didn't want to push myself too hard because I was worried I'd give up. It worked really well for me.

[SlowLoris]

I have no professional expertise or knowledge so can only pass on what worked for me. I had to abandon my first attempt at the program about 5 weeks in due to injury. It was 8 months before I started again. So it is not a 9 week program for me.

On the next time I just took it really slow. I stuck on week 2 for a while until I was confident to move on without doing more harm than good. To protect my knees I changed from a heel strike to more of a forefoot strike and gradually to where I am now with a sort of mid foot landing. This gave me shin splints and aching calfs. They never really went away but I didn't push to the next stage until I was happy they weren't getting worse. They are in fact just getting a bit better now.

In short, you don't have to move on to the next week every week. If you need extra rest days take them. If you want to repeat a week then do it. Be the tortoise, not the hare.

[pinkaardvark Graduate]

Couch to 5k is obviously very goal oriented. That is unfortunate as really you want to adopt the habit of running for life. To that end you shouldn't focus on progressing to get to the end of week X, but purely think of it as every single time I go out and run I'm achieving that lifetime goal of becoming a runner. That way there will be no bad runs, as any running at all will help towards your running progression. Hence if you do suffer from shin splints just step it back a bit and run less and walk more until your shins adapt.

I did c25k a couple of years ago also, and got to wk9 but never really moved past that. At the time I did suffer from shin splints, but coming back to it(now on wk8r2) I find my shins have improved a lot and I think that's down to losing a bit of weight in the interim. But whatever your reasons are, perseverance will likely get you past the woes.

[stu12050]

Thanks for advice I’m going to take it slowly this time and not beat myself up if I don’t progress quickly, massages to my shins i have been told is nice and rest so fingers crossed 🤞

[martinhermanus]

If running hurts walk fast you are still getting fitter.

[LouCollier]

Like everyone said to take it slow. I'm no doctor but from experience I found that I got shin splints from the way I ran and was hitting the ground quite hard on my heals. Try to feel how you are running, if you too are running heavily on your heals try to change it - I know it's hard and another thing to think about when all you are thinking about is just to make it through each run but it did work for me. Also if you have access to a treadmill try to mix up the runs as I found my shins were worse with outside running rather than treadmills.

[Hidden]

Also look at your shoes. I ran in a cheap pair of trail running shoes for the first 2-3 weeks. I didn't know about different types of running shoes then, and had bought them just for dog walking. When I knew I wasn't going to collapse and die and my dodgy knee was holding up, I got my gait tested and bought some running shoes, with the advice and guidance of a very knowledgeable bloke in my nearest running shop. The difference was amazing. Now you may already have done all this, but if you haven't, do consider it as you will then be running in shoes suited to you, and your shin splints may disappear.

[Theziggy Graduate]

Do a search for shin splints in this forum, I know I have posted links to exercises to deal with them several times as have many many other people.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Welcome.

Shin splints are more common in women, because of basic physiology, but there are many things you can do to reduce their likelihood.

Shoes are where I would start. Go to a specialist running shop and have a gait analysis done. This will assess whether you need support or neutral shoes. Certain shoes may be totally inappropriate for you, even if they are in your favourite colour.

You could try running off road, which lessens impact stresses, although this is possibly not the best time of year for footpaths.

Keep nice and slow. Speeding up often involves lengthening stride, which can lead to knee and shin problems. Footstrike should be under your body not out in front.

Try to avoid heelstrike and try to land as gently as possible.

It might all sound complicated but isn't really.

With all of the above, you need to remain relaxed when you run.

Tell us how you get on and enjoy the journey.

[Hidden]

I suffer with these a lot if/when i try to speed up, if i slow down, i dont have any problems at all.