25mins :(

Well, after the Spar 10km, I was very happy with myself but also very tired and very worried about waking up the next morning with stiff legs. When I did wake up the next day (yesterday), I was still happy, cause no stiffness, BUT, a little later in the morning I realized that I might have shin splints in my left leg. I was having some pain on either side of the shinbone when walking and sometimes even when just sitting. I did some reading on the web and that confirmed it. The symptoms of shin splints were exactly what I was experiencing. It was quite a blow....

Of course the main 'cure' is rest, but thats REALLY not what I want to be doing right now, especially with my next 10km on Saturday. I really want to do this 10km for two reasons: Firstly because its my club's run and secondly to get a more accurate assesment of how well I CAN actually do a 10km. I couldn't really tell that with the Spar race, cause there were just so many people that you couldn't run the way you want to.

In looking up and asking around about what one can do for shin splints, other than rest, I found a few ideas. Anti-inflamatories can help, a horse gel called Arnica Ice (I think) is apparently also recommended (runners LOL they'll do anything to get back on the road) and then there's taping ( http://www.runnersworld.co.za/injury-prevention/treatment-room/tape-yourself-shin-splints/) . I decided that using all three might be my best bet, so decided to go out and get some tape.

I went to Sportsmans Warehouse in Canal Walk, cause I knew that I had seen some of the tape there and its the closest and biggest sport shop to me. I was helped by a very nice dude called Calvin (if I'm remembering correctly). The tape is about R119 a roll and obviously when used, its used and gone. According to the video above about taping, it will last about 5 days on your leg. If this is likely to be a recurring or ongoing problem, that will end up costing me quite a bit. Calvin then introducted me to compression socks. At R299 a pair, these are much more expensive, but have the advantage of you being able to use them over and over again, so in the long run it seemed like the better deal. I tried them in the shop and walked a bit and the effect was great. The pain was almost non existant (in hindsight, I spoke a bit too soon here, but that comes later).

I got the compression socks (Thanks Calvin) and put them on when I got home. In walking around with them a bit, I discovered that while wearing flat shoes, I can still feel the pain, but its not nearly so bad but when wearing my stability running shoes, it was MUCH better. I was so pleased by all this, that I decided that I might do a short training run today (this all happened yesterday).

I woke up this morning, still all pumped up about the compression socks, only to find that the shin splints seemed a bit worse this morning. Hmmmm, "okay (I thought), I won't know untill I try"

With that thought in mind, with compression socks on, I went for a training session. I decided to try the next Shape Challenge session, which started off with a 5min walk, then a 20min jog. I thought that i would see how that went and decide from there what to do. Well.......the 5min walk went okay, although I could feel the pain of the shin splints with every step. The 20min jog however, ended up being an 8 min jog, I just couldn't do anymore than that. I walked a bit, jogged a bit, walked a bit, jogged a bit more and then I really just couldn't anymore. My session ended up being about 25mins, with most of that being walking.....

So, with reality having kicked me firmly in the shin *SIGH*, I have decided to make the rest of the week a rest week and then try my Pro Sano 10km on Saturday. I am unhappy and perturbed about it, but what can I do. Any further training is just likely to make the situation worse and as much as I hate being 'grounded' I SUPPOSE its the best thing to do right now *HUGER SIGH*

A very unhappy Carol sighing (deliberate misspelling) out.....