Shinsplinty woe

[andygates]

Runners - can you suggest tricks to speed up the recovery of shinsplints? I'm suffering bigtime and still need to get a tennish miler in before the Exeter Half. Any and all tips, tricks, drugs, old wives and scuttlebutt are welcome.

Comments

[skean.livejournal.com]

Don't run the 10 miler?

As far as I know, the only thing that makes shin splints better is rest. The benefit of having better shins will out weigh any gain you get in cardio vascular from the 10 mile run.

In general, I'd say eat well (not excessively, just well), sleep well, and don't drink alcohol for at least 10 days before running.

A change of every day footwear (into something you know is comfy for you) might help, but its going to be relieving the symptoms more than curing it.

Alacerus might have some more concrete stuff - he was suffering a few weeks back with the same thing.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

You think I'll be okay with just a bunch of sixes and sevens under my belt?

[skean.livejournal.com]

For me, its mostly psychological. Doing the long distance will help you know you can do it. As you've done a half before - you know you can already, so there's that worry out of the way.

I think you'll be ok as long as you pace yourself realistically. You've got a feeling for how fit or not you are, and can plan a pace accordingly and stick to it.

The race is the 30th, so I think its debatable that a long run now would do much. If you could run it slow and steady without pain, then sure, you'd have 10 days to recover. But, if you shins hurt, your not going to be running well, which won't do much for your CV conditioning. You're more likely to hurt yourself, and your shins may well not recover by the race.

I'd be thinking about running 10-15 secs slower per km for the first half of the race than you were planning to see how you feel, then increasing it if you're ok.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Fair enough, I'll take it sanely. You're right, I *have* done it before and I know that if I take a couple of gels (for mile five and ten) then I don't bonk and it works, more or less.

I'll spend more time in the pool then - need to work on the swim for that bloody tri, and it's non-loadbearing, non-jarring which can only help while keeping my CV condition up. Ta.

[skean.livejournal.com]

Tri is truly a daunting kit fest. I am just trying to figure out my shopping list and so far it seems to consist of:

-Tri suit (oh so sexy)
-Goggles (proper ones, not from the vending machine)
-Bike (how cheap a bike can I get away with? Down to £495 so far)
-Bike shoes (which I always fall off in)
-Bike helmut (or will my MTB one do?)
-Bike computer add on
-Elastic shoe laces
-Race belt (which they all reckon is worth it, but who knows)

[andygates.livejournal.com]

* I got some tri shorts - I'll pull my running singlet on at T1, can't afford a suit without at least a season's commitment and this is a dabble. £35ish and rather nice. And I'd look bellicacious in a tri suit - at least this season!

* Swimmers with contact lenses already have proper gogs. Nya-ha-ha ;)

* I've seen the bike Paul has tri'd on. It's, er, collectable - an old ten-speed. Like Lance says, it's not about the bike. Elaine's was entry-level for a new bike, about £250 IIRC. For some serious racing, I'd look at maybe the Specialized Allez and its Trek / Felt / etc etc equivalents. Remember to save some of your budget for tri bars (and to get race-legal ones!). And if you don't have one, get a good floorstanding pump - the one thing that makes *any* bike faster on the road is hard tyres.

* Shoes - if you want proper clip-in shoes, they start from about £40. You'd optionally (but probably) want to get pedals to match (from £20), otherwise toeclips. I *highly* recommend clipless pedals.

* Any kitemark lid is acceptable, I'll be riding in my M1, which is a very MTB one.

* Computers are cheap, from £15. These days, most have the basic functions you need. I still have a fetish for the venerable CatEye Mity3, incredibly reliable.

* I've gone with lace-lock toggles and cropped the existing laces instead. Don't like sproingy laces. I'll pay someone to film my transitions so you can see how bad an idea this really is.

* Race belt? Three quid. Popcorn.