Shin Splints!

[Alberto]

Well, I'm on week 9 still although its over 11 weeks since I started, was delayed previously by a cold, and after one week 9 run I'm suffering from shin splints. I didn't notice any discomfort on the run itself, but had more pain/discomfort than usual the next day. I figured I'd take an extra couple of days to recover, by the time I went out again I had no pain in my shins aside from the occasional twinge.

After 10 minutes running I had to slow to a walk because I was feeling definite pain. After stretching and applying an icepack last night, this morning my legs don't hurt, but there's a definite underlying discomfort.

I'm not sure what to do now, as I dont want to stop, but I think I may have to lay off the running for a while to allow my legs time to heal.

Having come so close to the end this is really annoying :-/. One way or the other it must be down to my shoes. I had my gait assessed, but now I'm not convinced it was done properly. I was told I have a neutral running style. Other than that, it may be down to my weight. At almost 17 stone thats quite a lot of impact to deal with and maybe the longer distances of later weeks have caused this problem.

I'd have thought if it was a gait problem it would have come up sooner, so i'm inclined to think its the weight and insufficient cushioning for longer distances...

Might try the wet footprint test to see if that agrees about my gait.

Just hoping I don't have to walk the 10k fun run I'm doing in June

[sfb350 Graduate]

If you have access to a treadmill you could try that for a bit to reduce the impact perhaps ? The worst pain I got from shin splints was after lots of walking up and down steep hills so I wonder if a "neutral" surface would be kinder to your shins while they recover ?

I think I would go for another gait analysis and pick their brains while you're there.

Good luck, hope you get it sorted.