I am sitting down and writing this after what was supposed to be a 4 mile run. It turned into a 2 mile walk. I started out feeling fine, but about 1/4 mile in, my left shin started really hurting. I figured I'd slow down, walk for a few minutes, and I even stopped to stretch, but no matter what I did the pain was excruciating. As I'm sitting here now, it's throbbing.
I can't tell you how frustrating this is to me. I know it's just my shin and probably a relatively easy fix (I'm thinking new shoes or at a minimum shoe inserts) but I am not a runner. I don't actually know what's happening. I'm a human with 2 legs who is attempting to put one of them in front of the other for 13.1 miles and if this is the kind of encouragement I get from my body, well then I might as well give up now.
I'm not going to. Being intentional means that I deliberately registered for this 1/2 marathon and I'm going to do it come hell or high water, but man, it is not going to be easy. I didn't expect it to be, but I thought maybe the initial training weeks would be a little nicer to me.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, and then Tuesday I'l attempt another 4-miler. I'm hoping I can squeeze in a trip to Sports Authority or something and pick up shoe inserts but maybe I'll just throw on a different pair of tennis shoes and give them a go. Better than nothing.
Any more seasoned runners have different advice? My shoes are definitely not worn out, so I'm a little bummed at the idea of having to buy new ones. I'm trying really hard to remain positive, but I would be lying if I said I hadn't considered throwing in the towel. But I won't! The show race must go on!
I'm so impressed that you're doing this, and also by your attitude! I'm sorry you're in pain. Shin splints are no fun.
ReplyDeleteHere's my advice:
Your instincts are right -- most of the time, shin splints are caused by your shoes. The Sports Authority dudes won't be too much help with this; I'd go to a specialty running store if you haven't already and have them check your shoes. They do a gait analysis (usually on a treadmill) and while it sounds like overkill, it's really helpful to be sure your shoes aren't causing your pain.
In the meantime, icing after running or run/walking will go a long way to alleviate the pain and heal your shins. It's best if you do it right after you finish -- beeline to the freezer, pull out a bag of peas or whatever, and plop them on your shins for about 10-12 minutes.
I think it's pretty normal for tweaks, pains, and full-blown injuries to crop up from time to time, since running is basically a high-intensity sport. The runnersworld.com website is a good resource for injury tips (from figuring out what it is to general injury prevention. They have a quiz about shin pain here: http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-prevention-recovery/problem-my-shin-sore). It's also normal to go through phases -- when I first started running, I had a lot of knee pain, which eventually went away, only to be replaced by shin splints, which went away over time, too.
I hope you feel better soon!
Tips re shin splints
ReplyDelete#1 don't ignore it. It could be your shoes, it could be running on hard surfaces, it could be your hips (my issue, which sounds weird, but when my PT explained it -- made so much sense).
You def. want to make it through to this half injury free, so don't ignore the twinges (although it sounds like you couldnt!)
I would recc icing, trying different shoes, and trying a different surface - concrete is pretty unforgiving. if you have access to a trail or a track, that's going to give you more cushion and less for on your shins. make sure your running stride is good - when i get tired at the end of a run, my form suffers and then there's the risk for injury too.
If you're running a half, I would def. get fitted in shoes from a running store. They'll figure out your gait and what kind of shoe you need. It's possible you could be a neutral runner, and that you won't need special shoes to help with your running form, but its also possible that shoes could be the magic cure-all.
good luck and of course let me know if you need anything!! :)