Step stones no1

[123456789]

Well hi there, yesterday I did my first of the stepping stone pods.

What can I say, could I get the speed correct no! Of course I couldn't sooooooooo.

Laura dear Laura tis time for misself to stick with me ould gentle running stuff.

For a while longer at least, I also awoke with tender shinny bits on my right stick, sorry leg.

Is this fate! I leave Laura sooner than I should and the curse gets me!

Well I will strive for a while longer and see what happens.

I do believe I have a bruise arising on the lower inner shin, hmmmm, as I cannot feel pain in this area I will take care and slow things down a bit, I also have other implements of torture to use, see pic.

Not one jot did I suffer in the graduation process so I must have erred on the side of stupid to cause this, after all, I am a man of good judgement and stuff.

Ahhhh we shall see, no pain no gain.....doh!

The 4" x 4" in the pic is for my shin splint exercises that are rather harder than they seem.

I have failed to find the original, my apologies to the writer!

Below for the lovers of!

1. Find some stairs. Actually, just one stair or a curb will do.

2. Turn so you're facing down the stairs. Scoot forward until just your heels are on the stair, with the rest of your foot hanging off (you can hold a wall or railing for balance).

3. With your legs straight, point your toes downward as far as you can, then lift them up as far as you can. Repeat.

4. Use a timer. Do as many as you can in 30 seconds. Do them rapidly, but with full extension and flexion.

5. After 30 seconds, bend your knees at a 45-degree angle (about half way). Without pausing to rest, do another 30 seconds of flexing in that position. That's one complete set. If it burns like hell, then you're doing it correctly.

6. Rest for a minute or two, then do another set—30 seconds with the legs straight, immediately followed by 30 seconds with the knees bent. Rest for a another minute, and repeat the two-part set.

7. Each day, do three of these two-part sets. The total daily routine includes 6 30-second sessions.

So a little of this a little of that, and onwards and upwards we go.

I hope everyone is going okay, and managing the excitement levels better than I.

All the best

Dale

[thinnerandfitter Graduate]

Hi Dale,

Sorry to hear of today's frustrations. Don't know that I can help much except by sympathising - I have suffered from both Stepping Stone mistiming and shin splints (although not together).

Stepping Stones - yes - many people (myself included) have moaned about it having tried once. Most say that 150bpm is too slow. It's all personal preference, but I'd strongly suggest keeping the faith and giving it one or two more goes. I got used to it eventually and then went onto speed and stamina. I really found that having the bpm in the background stopped me going too fast (old habit) and meant I could keep going for longer.

Shin Splints - this was weird, but I got really bad shin pain (both legs, could barely move the first couple of days) after week 1 run 1. I researched exercises on the Internet and found "toe tapping" on You-Tube. University of Utah I think. I did it 3 or 4 times a day - unbearable to start with - but I was back running w1 r1 again a week later. 5 months on (seems incredible I've been running that long) and touch wood I've never had shin pain since. Your exercises look to me like they'd hit the same place so good luck with them.

Hope your right pin feels better soon and happy running!

Ann