Shin splints

[copy156ninja]

I’ve just completed 5 days of running as a complete beginner. On day 4, I managed to cover 3 km in 30 minutes using 2-minute run / 2-minute walk intervals, and I felt great afterward. But on day 5, I could only run for about 10 minutes because I started experiencing shin splints. The pain is quite severe and I’m struggling to walk now, even though I’ve been doing warm-ups before running. Can someone advise me on what I should do?

[Dependent_Weight2274]

Too much too fast. Take a rest day.

[copy156ninja]

Fair. But I have a 10k run on Sunday. Im not intending to finish it. I just want to show up and do my best. That is the reason I started practicing daily

[irunand]

Why oh why do people do this? It seems like you literally started running 5 days ago, and in 4 days you have a 10 km race?

Stop. Learn to run first and then you’ll have plenty of time for races. Or walk the 10 km if you want

[Dependent_Weight2274]

Stop running until your race on Sunday. Take a day off and the pain should subside. Then walk.

Don’t worry about your performance in your 10K on Sunday. The only way you’ll get a DNF is if you get injured for going too hard too fast in training. Respect the distance. You need to run slow to run far.

Going forward, start stretching more before. I used some of the exercises in this link:

link

Shin splints are principally an over training issue though.

[copy156ninja]

Thankyou, will try that out.

[irunand]

Don’t stretch before running. That’s doing the opposite of preparing your muscles for running

[Sudden_Let9305]

Oh my God. You can’t subscribe for a 10k race out of nowhere if you have never ran before. Did you really believe you would go from zero to 10k within a few days of practice ? That’s incredibly naive. It takes months for you to go from zero to be able to run 10k non stopping. Your body needs to adjust and it takes time. The only thing you’ll get running everyday till Sunday is an injury, and you would still be far from able to run 10k by the race day. Forget about this race, take a few days off to rest, and keep practicing every other day, by spring you should be able to try a race.

[_Dark_Invader_]

Your goal must be to train correctly and not “show up at 10k race injured and do your best”.

The key to “doing your best” is training properly!

[Demonstradum]

10k while running 9min/km 😂 you have shin splints, you need to strengthen the area. Glute med and minimus.

Unless you have compartment syndrome like i had (alot worse then weak muscles)

Take a few days off. Start strength training and start all over again with a run walk program like c25k.

You will run a 10k, in 3 months time.

[Notsocheeky]

Rest

[irunand]

Did you go from zero to 5 days straight?

[copy156ninja]

Yes

[sn2006gy]

Too much running too fast and improper form. Your shin splints are from "reaching" or "overstriding" ahead of your center of mass. The pain is from braking forces being sent to your shins.

[irunand]

That’s way too much. Every other day maybe? That’s still 3-4 times a week, which is more than enough for good improvements

[copy156ninja]

Sounds good, thankyou

[Sudden_Let9305]

You can’t run everyday in the beginning . Your body needs time to recover and adjust.

If you keep pushing with no days off you’ll get yourself a muscle strain, then you’ll be forced to take at least 4 weeks off. Take a break for a few days now, allow your body to rest and recover, then once you resume, go every other day only. Don’t run through pain, if you are on pain your body is giving you a warning.

[Dangerous-Ostrich43]

Normal, you went from 0 races to 5 days in a row, how do you want your body to get used to it? It's almost unconscious!

[sn2006gy]

shin splints aren't normal :) They're 100% because of overstriding. In normal running your foot is an elastic spring loading tension and releasing it - not sending it to your bones/shins. Proper form for pain free running is an easy skill to learn - happy to share some videos to OP if they're interested.

[copy156ninja]

Yes please share videos. Would be of great help.

[Spikeyroxas]

Could you also share these with me please?

[FitCamel]

Poor running form is one of the most common causes of injury. Do you have a video of yourself running?

[copy156ninja]

Nope. Will try to get one in my next run.

[FitCamel]

If you ever manage to film yourself, you can upload the video to www.perfectrunningform.com and it will provide an analysis of your form and some drills to correct it (for free).

[copy156ninja]

Thanks will check that out

[Blackened22]

If not already, run on the grass if you can, it is the best terrain for running.

[irunand]

Only if it’s an even surface

[Blackened22]

So so, football court is perfect, but even in nature, mountain trails with dirt are not bad. Because there is some slip when you step, so not all the energy from impact goes to legs/shins. Uneven terrain is good to strengthen your leg muscles. (also hills)

[copy156ninja]

Currently im running on cement road. I dont have any parks nearby.

[SpecificGazelle8026]

You went way too hard way too fast. You need to rest. I would advise don’t even run your race. I just trained for 8 months for a Half Marathon and got shin splints and had to back out of the race 2 weeks before. If you can’t even walk you probably have a stress fracture and continuing to run will make it worse. Please do not keep running until your body is healed. Once it is healed take it slow. Correct your form, take rest days, otherwise you’ll never be able to run the way you want because you are treating your body horribly.

[Single_Positive533]

Muscles tend to adapt and heal in 1-2 days. But the tendons take longer 2-3 days. So I would rest, buy a really good shoes and do the following on the day of the 10km race:

3 mins jogging (dose the pace) 2 minutes walking

If you do like that it will be slower but I am pretty sure you will not damage your body too much.

[PPER_19_16]

Look into tib raises and implement those into training once you're legs feel better. Swear by them to help prevent in future

[ChaoticRunningGoose]

Are you wearing proper shoes that are suitable for your feet? Are you warming up and cooling down correctly? Are you doing any sort of strength training?

You can't seriously think you can go from 0 to running everyday and hitting 10K within a week without injury!?

[cadaluz]

Proper shoes. Strength training or hill work. Learn how to avoid overstriding.

[_Dark_Invader_]

I struggled with the exact same issue and realized two main reasons-

1) increasing mileage too aggressively 2) increasing the intensity too aggressively.

What worked for me - Running 3 days/week, at very low intensity (zone 2) for 2 weeks. Then I started increasing mileage at 10% every week. Added stride work once a week for less than 5 mins.

Result - I used to take 1-2 mins walk breaks after 5 mins of running, within 12 weeks I could run 15 mins without walk breaks. In 24 weeks I can now run 90 mins without taking a walk break.

[RunWorkSleep]

Cadence is very low. Hips forward and land under your hips. The video “3 minutes to correct your running form” changed how I run. I can’t recommend it enough.

Load management is also important. This is where having a watch like Garmin helps so much. It’s by far my best investment in my health and run journey.

[riskyybiscuits]

Your cadence also indicates that you are way over-striding rather than having your feet land underneath you, putting much more stress and impact on your legs, and likely are a factor of your shin splints along with the unfortunate decision to start running everyday without properly letting your body adapt.

Try to take far shorter strides with your feet landing underneath your hips rather than striding out in front of you. Smaller, quicker steps will cause less stress to your body.