On the bench

Apparently, being a beginner runner is not a walk (or run) in the park. I was on holiday last week and right on schedule with my training. I did 8 miles without stopping the first day with my buddy and we even ran at our desired pace. It was perfect. Then later in the week, I did a three mile, five mile and three and a half mile spaced between days of rest. I was finally doing the full training plan…

As the week progressed, I felt more and more pain in my right leg, which had previously been pain free. A few weeks back it was my left, but it was perfect. The new pain was in the middle of the shin and just inside of the tibia. It was a weird pain. The pain was really only after periods of non-use. When I would stand from sitting, it would hurt for a while, for example. It wasn’t nagging, just felt like I needed to stretch. Getting out of bed in the morning was the worst, as I felt that I couldn’t put all my weight on it. After stretching, though, it was O.K.

Over a few days, the pain became regular. I had to quit on my 6 mile run after doing just a mile as I could tell I was limping. From what I’ve read, running with pain is fine. If your mechanics change, you need to stop. So, I stopped. The pain continued and I went to the doctor early this week to make sure it wasn’t a possible stress fracture, which would be a pretty serious and require at least a month of rest from running.

The doc confirmed it didn’t appear to be skeletal, but rather muscular. So a regular shin splint, not serious. I got some anti-inflammatory meds and ordered not to run for at least two more days after the pain completely subsides. Then I’ll have to hash out a gradual plan to get me back on schedule. I’m figuring this will throw me off about 2 weeks, but I can still do it. I AM NOT THROWING IN THE TOWEL.

This is a minor setback and a learning experience. Tons of shin splint prevention techniques are only a Google search away.

In the meantime, I can do other aerobic exercises as long as there is no pain. So, biking will be back in fashion and I get to dust off the elliptical. Need to keep as much endurance that I can.

I'm feeling better today, one day after the doc visit. Hopefully, I'll be back on the road in a little more than a week.