I had shin splints recently... was a pain in the shin. The stick seemed to help a lot.

I didn't think you could use the Stick on shins? Maybe I heard wrong. I have a minor but persistent ache on the medial side of my left leg. Not awful but nagging. This could help it?

Tramps - Try giving your shin the hot/cold treatment in the evenings: 20 mins of hot (heating pad) 20 mins cold, repeat a couple of times. In the morning, if it's stiff (the shin, that is . . .) warm things up with a heating pad before going out. I've been doing this with my ankle and it really helps. The hot/cold will not only help with the inflammation, but also get the blood flowing through there to promote healing. Good luck. dg - I did a number on my left hamstring about 2 years ago. I refused to stop running, and it took quite awhile to heal. However, I was very consistent with the same hot/cold treatment described above, and made sure to take ibu after my runs, which helped me a lot. Good luck to you, too. Ilene - I believe SR is planning to run Surf City, and Arla is running the half. Have fun!! 27 degrees on my back porch when I left for my run this a.m. I realize that's warm for a lot of you, but that's dang cold here on the coast of Northern California. Wore my wool hat for the first time this year and never got too hot. Took a good mile or so before I could feel my fingers in my gloves. Left for work 2.5 hours later, and it had warmed up a whole 4 degrees! It was a good run, but the smells wafting over the road from the bakery almost derailed me. I think I might've actually swooned for a moment. And my run: 5 miles with 10 steep hill repeats: Average/Best/HR 1. 10:05/8:46/138 2. 9:39/8:32/155 3. 9:05/8:14/160 (10 hill repeats between Miles 3.50 and 4.43) 4. 11:19/8:17/149 5. 10:51/7:33/153 4 repeats on lower half of The Hill, 6 repeats on upper half. Switched to the upper half for the last 6 so that I'd be at the top when I was done. See, I'm not as think as I dumb I am!

Perch and Slo_Hand – I live on a hill that would be great for trying those 10-second hill bursts, but which day to do it? Tues. is intervals, Wed is recovery, Thurs is now going to be MP runs – which run would suit best for a hill-burst ending? Would it ruin the recovery if I did it on Wednesday? Of course, I climb that hill every day to get home, maybe I could just do one or two every day...

Here is a quick link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25847528/page/2/ According to other articles I read by Brad Hudson, he recommends doing them at the end of an easy day. And doing them the day before a quality workout is ok. Careful though......starting with 4 may seem easy and you will be tempted to do more. I was more than a little sore the first time I did them.......but I did eight You know......if the pace calls for 10k you do 5k. If the interval is for 800m you do 1k.....right ?

8 slooow miles in a gently falling snow. It was actually quite pretty. In the dark. We'll be getting ice on top of the snow tonight, so tomorrow's run may not be quite as relaxing. My Garmin 205 has started whining about low-battery after anywhere from 7 to 15 miles. It's not going to make it through a marathon, so I'm in discussions with Garmin technical support. They want me to try a software upgrade and a master reset before progressing to the next step. The software upgrade didn't help (of course) and neither will the master reset, but I'll do it anyway in the interest of moving forward.

George.. you're right. I'd forgotten... mine were anterior/lateral, & didn't involve an inflamed periostium. With medial they say it probably is, and so you shouldn't use it there. You mentioned calf stretches, didn't you? I had knots in my calves, & the stick help there. This is kind of interesting. http://books.google.com/books?id=fmaxqMk2VpUC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=SHIN+SPLINTS+PERiostitis+MASSAGE&source=bl&ots=Uoc6u_mToY&sig=2JDw8yGYL2qZ9YdIU_MFisES-AQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum= ... long link!

Excellent link, thank you. Again, it's minor but I just don't want it to get major.

Holly... building on what SLO says, I read about these hill sprints in a recent (March) RT. There is a possibility of injury until the muscles strengthen, then they help prevent injury. So they say to do only 1 or 2 x 8 sec sprints at 6-8% grade the first time out. They say add 1-2 per session per week until 8-10 and then increase to 10 sec. For advanced work up to 12 sec sprints on 10% grade. I'm sticking with 10 sec, increasing the repeats gradually and then go steeper. Complete recovery between sprints like just slowly walk back down the hill. I take 2-3 minutes rest between. I'm just learning but it seems like a great idea.

My Garmin 205 has started whining about low-battery after anywhere from 7 to 15 miles. It's not going to make it through a marathon, so I'm in discussions with Garmin technical support. They want me to try a software upgrade and a master reset before progressing to the next step. The software upgrade didn't help (of course) and neither will the master reset, but I'll do it anyway in the interest of moving forward.

Is it set on "Smart Recording"? If not, it collects much more data. I leave the display light on all the time and still have plenty of power. If (as I assume), all is the same but the battery life got shorter, I'd call garmin and say my battery is no longer working right and see if they replace the whole unit... Good luck.