Forums >Health and Nutrition>Shinsplit for 1+ year
Hello everyone!
I would like to be short, but I think I need to provide history of my injury, because I really hope someone can give me some concrete hints based on experience.
So, in summer 2020 I was 37 years old man, 100kg 183 cm, who worked in IT area, doing no sport for 20+ years since school (but in school I played soccer a lot, I could do it for 4 hours). Even without this activity I like in general challenges, for example once I did walk in mountain - 50km.
In June 2020 I saw that in July there will be event - 100km ultramarathon around Vitosha (Bulgaria), 2k denivelation. So I decided to try it And start training - walk every day from 5 to 10km, and on Sunday - 15, 20, 30 and once 50km.
I had 50 days preparation and I lost 9 kg only because of my activity - I didn't have any diets. I managed to finish this 100km even in 18:20.
After that I decided to start running. I ran a lot, start right from 10km, and after 2 weeks I decided to run marathon - alone, without any food, just on next day after I ran 10 km. So I started running, after 10km I felt bad, went to shop, bought a lot of snickers and felt great, continue running and finished marathon in 5:40.
So I ran a lot, and after 2-3 months, in October, I started feeling pain (shinsplit). It happened after I ran downhill on asphalt as fast as I could for 30 seconds.
But I was so big fan of running so I decided not to stop running. I bought expensive soft shoes, I checked if I had some problem with feet (like flat feet - but I don't), I bought compression knee socks, I started doing stretching, some massage... So it helped me a little so I run from October till March with that pain - and my week distance became 70km. I did 2 speed workouts, one long run and other easy runs , 80/20.
On March I realized that I can't even walk. So I stopped running, made pause - 1/2 weeks, started again, rush it, got it again, very quickly. And it happens till June. for 4 months! I ran per week 10 km max, I was feeling so depressed. I did some biking, but not a lot.
In June there is another Vitosha 100km event, I participated even with zero running distance in whole month. Finished in 16:20. Didn't have any pain in shins.
But after I again, ran too much, get same pain... Since July and till now, I can't run more than 20km per week, and even with 20km I feel pain in shins...
Only last month I realized that I have to change it. I start doing a lot of other stuff like ellipsoid, biking, waling uphill, power training. I did pause with running for 2 weeks and last day I ran 2km, practically without pain, but I want to have it without pain at all.
So that's my story. Do you have any friend which had same and finally found a way how to recover? Please share your experience, I really want to return to 70km again and ran every day, like i did in 2020... I know it is about patient, but I also need some motivation story... I have so a lot of energy and wish to run a lot, but this injury stops me
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"...I started feeling pain (shinsplit). It happened after I ran downhill on asphalt as fast as I could for 30 seconds...."
Shin splints are most commonly either an overuse or an impact-created injury; this describes a classic cause of shin pain -- the impact of the forefoot is transferred up the muscle chain of the leg when pounding downhill. With ice, rest and stretching this should heal in a few days.
The rest of your description of ongoing pain over time reads to me as more resembling stress fracture rather than the overuse/impact created soft tissue pain.
You might find some good insights in this (long ago) discussion topic about shin pain.
Acceptable at a dance, invaluable in a shipwreck.
RIP Milkman
I agree with this. Simple: do the hop test. Do you fail that? Then you probably have a stress fracture.
Frankly your injury has been going on so long you may even be able to spot this with a cheap x-ray.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
I agree with this. Simple: do the hop test. Do you fail that? Then you probably have a stress fracture. Frankly your injury has been going on so long you may even be able to spot this with a cheap x-ray.
I checked what hop test is but still wondering what you meant. There are different ideas about this test - single jump on one hand, triple jumps or even 10-12 jumps without any pain. I read that if you have injury, you can't even jump three times - I tried 10 times in my flat without shoes and didn't feel any pain. But today is exactly 2 weeks without running, so it is quite usual for me.
What is really surprised me - the fact that I could manage 50-70km per week before and now I can handle only 20km, and only with pain.
But yesterday I researched other topic about shin splints and got idea what may happened with me.
"He did a brief exam, diagnosed Medical Tibial Stress Syndrome, and explained exactly what it was. Basically he said it's a imbalance of the muscles where the calves are so much stronger than the ones on the front of the tibia. He blamed it on her building up her calf muscles from biking. When she would walk she would go about a 1/2 mile and the pain would start. Her feet would also start slapping the road. What this was coming from was the muscles on the front of the tibia were not slowing the foot on the downward motion. The pain was coming from the muscles being weak and therefore overworked."
When I just started running, I did only running. When I had to make pause, I started biking. I always think that my calves are strong, but because a lot of people suggest to make calves even stronger when you do running, I did it. But I ignored all exercises for the musles of the front of tibia. So it is very possible that I created this disbalance, and every time when I suffered because of this disbalance, I tried to improve my calves even more...
And yes, I had recently one session with coach and she said that I have to run ... not so loud... So maybe my problem partially (or mostly) was created by this disbalance.
runktrun
2/10
Not running for my health, but in spite of it.
What does it mean?
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