Shin pain, but only at start of run

[YoureDoingGreatPet]

Hi, Wondering if anyone else’s has had a similar problem to this and how they worked through it.

First a bit of background, I’m on week 4 run 1. It’s not been plain sailing cos when I first started back in January I damaged my knee in week 2 running on an uneven surface. Now I’m back on it and trying to be more careful with the knees, the breathing is getting easier as I get fitter (I am still 4 stone above my target weight) and I can run the 5 minutes sections, but the big problem I have is shin splints.

I appreciate that these will ease as I loose weight and build muscle, but today it was agony for the first (3 min) run, painful for the second (5 min run) then it was fine after that for the other 8 minutes of running.

Where I run it takes me a bit longer than 5 minutes to get to the start, so I find I do an 8-10 minute warm up walk, then same at the end.

I’m not trying to break any land speed records, and I have had 2 rest days since my last run on Sunday to see if that helped, but it doesn’t seem to have.

Weather permitting I’m entering my first park run this Saturday, which will be the day after my 41st birthday, and because I don’t want to leave the start line with Sarah Millicans voice ringing in my ears telling me to walk a steady pace for 5 minutes I need to be able to run from the start in less pain or I fear I won’t get through it.

Any tips for how best to help my shins recover over the next 2 days and how to ease the pain at the start of a run would be greatly appreciated. 🙂🏃🏻‍♂️

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Are you wearing proper running shoes, fitted after a gait analysis at a specialist running shop? If not that may be contributing.

Slow down. Run on grass. Keep footfall under body to avoid overstriding. Avoid heelstrike.

All the above may help.

[YoureDoingGreatPet in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks for the reply, I’m currently running in a pair of karrimor duma trainers, but I am hoping to get into a local running shop for gait analysis this Friday, im sure they will recommend something more appropriate to me.

I think if I ran any slower it would actually be classed as walking, and we’ve had so much rain recently that if I were to run on the grass, I’d be better in a canoe, but they are both points I’ll bear in mind on my next run.

Your last two points have got me curious though. I’m not sure how I actually run, I’ll have to make more of an effort to concentrate on how and where my feet are landing to see if that helps. I don’t think I’m overstriding, I’m trying to run tall with out sending my feet out too far in front, but I’m not sure which part of my foot touches down first.

What has me the most puzzled is how the pain can get less the further I run. The shin doesn’t seem like a place that would require much specific warm up time over any other part of the leg.