Nope, today I want to talk about my shin splints. I have been working through this particular injury for the better part of the last few months (since about March, by my estimates) and have learned a handful of things along the way. At this point, the long and the short of it is that they are still there and I am still slowly trying to keep running a part of my schedule, along with a number of activities.
On Monday of this last week I went off to the doctor to get a second opinion on my self-diagnosed injury. Although I was pretty sure about what I have, I had been having an increased level of pain leading up to the visit, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn't dealing with a stress fracture. After having discussed the progression of the injury, as well as having several examinations (including, interestingly enough, having a tuning fork placed on different parts of the bone to see if there was any specific pain), he agreed with my assessment that it fit very well with shin splints. No X-ray, but probably none needed. I got a referral to Sportwell, the campus athletic trainers, and have plans to see them shortly.
Now, all of that being said, I have been running. Every day since last Monday. There are several reasons for this, which I will discuss below. In essence, having gotten the confirmation from the doc that it wasn't a stress fracture, I decide that I was ready to start running again. Here are the reasons why:
1) New shoes. One of the reasons that my shins started to hurt was that I went from worn out shoes to a new pair - the increase in the amount of cushioning beneath the shoes seemed to cause the problem. Since I was interested in switching from road running to trail running, I wanted to get a pair of trail shoes. In particular, the pair I decided on was one highly recommended by Runblogger, the New Balance MT101's.
These shoes, unlike my previous pair, are more minimalist and built to help change your running style to a midfoot strike. I'm not exactly sure how my normal gait works, but I was interested to see what would happen.
2) Compression socks. As I mentioned, I bought a pair of compression socks and have been wearing them on longer runs and, whether psychological or physiological, they seem to be working. My legs feel better, and my shin doesn't start to feel sore until later.
3) Terrain. As I've mentioned, I've been running on the grass and trails much more than I would previously. The only time I did run on the track (not even on the road) it started to hurt. Running on more forgiving surfaces seems to help.
4) Cross training. One of the ways I've tried to maintain my fitness was to incorporate a lot of cross training into the mix. Splitting my time between cycling and running has been helpful for me to spend less time on the road (less pounding) while still getting the 45 minutes to 1 hour of activity I need to be functional. I was doing more elliptical training before, but I have a feeling that this contributed to my increase in pain (my leg was getting sore after doing a week with a lot of elliptical work). I've also been doing rowing machine, push-ups, sit-ups, weights, and so forth. Just trying to keep myself active so, when I feel comfortable again, I can ramp of the mileage and still feel food in a cardiovascular way.
So, at this point, I'm actually feeling pretty positive. I've been making sure to stretch, ice, and cross train to make sure that I don't put a lot of stress on my leg. I am hoping that in the next few weeks I can continue to work hard and rehab, so that I will be ready to do a longer race later in the summer and in the fall. I'm not entirely sure what I will do about running a marathon or something like that on the road, but I'm kind of excited about doing something on the trails. Hopefully, I will return to full strength soon!
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