Ouch! Shin splints are the worst!

Last Sun­day, with the mild tem­per­a­tures finally arriv­ing, I decided to enjoy my long run out­doors. I fig­ured it was about time to take it to the road and hope that my nag­ging left hip injury (it’s nice and quiet these days) wouldn’t rear its ugly head again. So out I went on a nice 16 k run around the neigh­bour­hood, com­plete with a few good hills.

From the get go, my body felt great. Legs were strong, hips were happy and my glutes felt loose and comfy. All good through­out the 16k and well into the remain­der of the day and night. Sure, my legs felt a bit fatigued but I was pain-​free and thrilled that I could once again enjoy run­ning outdoors.

Unfor­tu­nately, because I felt so good, I decided that icing wasn’t nec­es­sary. Big mistake!

Yes­ter­day, I awoke to the worst case of shin splints that I have ever expe­ri­enced. The worst pain was felt while walk­ing, so teach­ing my usual Mon­day ros­ter of classes wasn’t really a prob­lem. Thank­fully, my yoga class couldn’t have come at a bet­ter time. Although the shins weren’t exactly an area of con­cen­tra­tion, the rhyth­mic breath­ing and fluid stretch­ing of the body helped to take my mind off of the sear­ing pain in my shins.

My evening was spent lying on the couch with my trusty ice bag and hop­ing that Tues­day would bring some relief.

So, here we are on Tues­day and guess what? Shin splints till remain. Tues­day is my interval/​speed run day, so I was a bit ner­vous that my shins weren’t going to be very accom­mo­dat­ing but to my sur­prise, I ran com­pletely pain free! Again, the worst pain came when I walked and so I was able to once again teach my classes with­out any dis­com­fort. It was the walk­ing to and from the car that made me cry!!

So here I am now, with my ice bag, shar­ing my sor­rows with all of you.

So why am I suf­fer­ing from shin splints? Well, I know I’m a heel striker and the tread­mill def­i­nitely pro­vides alot more cush­ion­ing than the road. I could try and change my stride but I don’t think that’s going to hap­pen any time soon. I think this week should be a bit bet­ter, as my body adapts to the harder sur­face. Regard­less, I’m just happy to be back pound­ing the pave­ment, so to speak. Run­ning, you could say, is my other addic­tion. (next to cycling and peanut but­ter, that is!)

Have a great night every­one! Check back for another weekly workout!