Changing my gait....

[Katylou]

After i'd completed Wk1 I had my gait analysed, and got fitted for running trainers. Turns out I land in the middle of my foot, and am fairly well balanced. I done most of my running so far on a treadmill. I get painful shin splints, and when this happens I find I change my gait to land more on the front of my foot, and this eases the pain, and means I can carry on running. Is this a bad thing? When I get shin pain should I stop/go back to a walk? I'm currently on week 6, so the runs are staring to get looooong! I've only had the shin pain since topping 8 minutes in week 5 - does this mean that as I increase fitness they'll stop? Well done and thanks if youve read this far, I'm a bit of a rambler!! K xx

[greenlegs Graduate]

I don't think I can help that much, but I've only had shin pain when I've really pushed myself hard (which I confess I tend not to do!) - if I plod along gently, with fairly short steps, I don't seem to have any trouble. I don't think I've actually noticed shin pain while running, it's just been a bit achey once or twice after I've stopped. Maybe try going quite a bit slower for one or two runs, and see whether that helps?

A disadvantage of treadmills is that you can see how fast/slow you are running, and maybe that encourages you to run faster than your legs are ready for yet? A pace that suits an established runner may well be too much for a beginner. You can always speed up later, when you're used to running for longer.

Hope you find something that helps.

[Hidden]

Are you running at an incline on your treadmill?

[Katylou in reply to Hidden]

Nope, so far just on the flat. Should I add an incline (starting at 0.1, though!!)?

[grannygrunt]

Hi, I normally get shin pain when the treadmill is on an incline and I work to hard.

I stop now when the shin pain comes as I do not want to do any damage.

I personally would not add the incline until your a lot fitter and try not to run to fast in the early days.

Are you doing a good warm up?