I've run a grand total of twice now. This morning I was going to run, but we had a major storm going on outside, so I stayed in my cozy house and shredded and did some ab exercises afterward. On Wednesday when I ran, I noticed pain in my shins, but pushed on through. Today during the 30-Day Shred, I couldn't even complete a 30 second segment of butt-kicks*. It wasn't because I was out of breath, but because my shins hurt every time each foot hit the ground and I finally had to stop.
This sounds an awful lot like the shin splints my running friends used to complain about. What can I do? Will they get better as I run more? Do I keep going with the running, or revert back to the low-impact world of the elliptical and swimming?
I want to finish this C25K thing, but not if it's going to hobble me.
I have bad joints on both sides of the family and bone issues on my mom's side, and I might be a little paranoid about making sure I don't break down my body before its time.
*Jillian has you do 4 different cardio exercises in Workout 1: jumping jacks, jump rope, butt kicks and boxing.
6 comments:
Ouch! It does sound like shin splints and is something to do with the tendon springing at the front. I would ease off a bit and gradually build up again if it were me. The tendon does get stronger with time.
There is a stretch that you can do after each session too, specifically for the shins. See if you can find something via Google because I am hopeless at explaining things without visual aids, lol.
I am thinking of adding cycling into my repertoire in case my toes (oh, the mundaneness of it) give me grief as it is something I would like to take up anyway.
Hope a wee break helps!
PS my word verification is pedli - is the universe trying to tell me something?
I think I experienced a similar pain to what you are describing when I added the 30 Day Shred into my routine and also started to run more at the same time.
I switched to no more than 3 high impact (DVD or runs) days per week. The other days I did the elliptical or walked.
I think it's important to listen to your body, it's trying to tell you something... :)
Have a great weekend, and I hope that a little break from The Shred will do the trick! :)
Ease off for a bit, then make sure you've got shoes with good arch support and add a couple of steep hills to your walks/runs (walking first is probably good). Calf raises can help a little, but I always found that hills were the best, quickest way to get past the shin splints.
There are a few stretches you can do to warm up the muscles and tendons in your calves...it won't make it totally go away all at once, but it will help and over time you won't ecxperience the splints as often.
Yous google stretches for shin splints and I'm sure you'll get a wealth of info. :)
most definitely listen to your body or else the pushing through the injury will result in a more serious injury that will take FOREVER to heal.
If you're just starting jogging, I suggest you work your body up to jogging stamina. That is let your muscles and tendons grow and strengthen to be able to jog as you were without getting injury.
To do that, start out by walking your distance... maybe a mile. Do that for awhile, then start doing 1.5 miles, then 2... then start trotting half, walking half. Then start jogging 3/4 walking 1/4... etc.
Keep alternating walking and trotting (BUT WALKING FIRST, ONLY!! to prevent injury) until jogging gets easier and easier. Then you can do the full 2 miles jogging (slowly is my recommendation just for stamina sake).
I had an injury and it took me 2 years of doing the above to get my body strong enough to now jog the full 3 miles. but before that, IT HURT SOOO BADLY to walk even a mile... so I worked up to it and now my knees and legs are strong enough to jog.
I highly recommend this. :)
GOOD LUCK!!
Oh yeah and the elliptical helps strengthen the knees and legs.... But I would still suggest the walking/trotting method so you get used to moving that distance.
FFM and Alanna, I'll do some research on stretches.
Also, FFM, I think the universe IS trying to tell you something. :) Bust out that bike!
Andrea, it's so good to hear that you had a similar experience. I think I'm going to knock off the Shred for now, then work up to the high impact by running once a week, then twice, and so on, doing the elliptical and swimming the other days.
Kristine, thanks for the ideas.
Leila, it's kind of funny because I have only run twice now, with a few days in between. I thought I was working into it slowly, but I guess my body didn't think so. I walk to and from work when the weather is nice, and I haven't had a problem. I think it must be the high impact of the running that's doing me in.
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