Pain in shin!

[Mum50ish]

First run of second week completed but experiencing a lot of pain in shins ,any advice ? I really want to succeed at this .

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Shin and knee pain are very common in the early weeks of starting to run, or indeed for any runner if they rapidly increase their running load.

It is mainly the consequence of the impact, so you need to do all you can to minimise it. Slow down, avoid heelstrike, keep footfall under the body, not out in front, run on grass or treadmill and wear proper running shoes, fitted after a gait analysis done at a specialist running shop.

This article about shin splints may be useful, especially the stretches runnersworld.com/shin-splints/

Have you read the guide to the plan? healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

It is full of tips

[Mum50ish in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thank u ,am determined to keep going ,have been a couch potato for far too long !

[sallenson Graduate]

You'll already got great advice from Tim.

First of all it's shoes. Get those sorted if you haven't already.

Try to avoid hills too for a wee while.

Oh and slow down probably

Running is different to walking. When we walk we usually keep our leading leg fairly straight, land on our heels and take bigger strides to walk faster. When you're running you need to try and land on your midfoot. That means thinking of running as a "cycling" action, so your leading foot land in line with your hip, not out in front of it.

If you go slowly and concentrate on where your leading foot is falling, that should sort out any issues with shin pain.

But come back with any questions or if it doesn't get any better.

You'll get there, don't worry. You're learning new things and we're not really taught how to run. Everyone just assumes we know what to do...

[Mum50ish in reply to sallenson]

Thankyou everyone else makes it look so easy !!!

[sallenson Graduate in reply to Mum50ish]

And you will too!! Just take it nice and slowly. Your body is learning how to do a whole bunch of new things all at the same time. Cut it a bit of slack and be nice to it, okay?

And everyone will say this, but you can never be too slow. If you're puffing and panting and feeling uncomfortable, just slow it down.

The programme's never easy, but it's not gut-wrenchingly hard either... xx