Just dropped an Ocho on the treadmill last night and it felt amazing! Following a tip I’m pretty sure I read in this months Runner’s World I started the treadmill at 7.0 mph (8:34 pace) and bumped it up by .1 mile per hour every half mile until I got up to 8.2 mph (7:19 pace). Then I slowly scaled it back down from 8.2 – 6.5 over the last 1.5 miles.
Overall I wound up running 8 miles in 1:03:45 (7:58 pace), while efficiently including a good warm up, some quality intensity, and a decent cool down.
The best part was how great I felt. I’ve been battling shin splints since about September. I took some time off in December hoping that would allow them to heal up but when I started running again they came back immediately. Lately they seemed like they were getting progressively worse despite my daily icing and stretching. I thought maybe old shoes were the culprit so I purchased some new ones. After running a couple days in the new shoes my shins were hurting worse than they had before. I was limiting my runs to 3 milers and hurting the entire time… Friday night I finished up my run and the pain continued for 45 minutes even after I stopped. I was forced to lay on the couch with ice-packs on my shins till they finally tamed down.
This weekend I bought some Dr. Scholl’s arch supports for the new shoes and I think I might of finally found a solution. Saturday I tried my first 3 miler with the new supports and while I still felt some pain it considerably muted. I took Sunday off and then popped a couple Ibuprofen before last night's run.
The first half mile or so I felt a little bit of pain but it quickly subsided. Next thing I knew I was running pain free! I realized that this was the first pain free run that I’ve experienced in the last 4-5 months… I was straight up loving it! The endorphins were flowing, I had my headphones on, and I was singing along to my Ipod… I’m sure the other people around me probably thought I was either completely crazy or totally annoying but I couldn’t care less…. I was in the zone!
It was just what I need. The kind of run that reminded me why I’m training in the first place. The first “great” run of the year… the first of many!
glad you had a good run. i always have to play games like that on the treadmill to keep myself going!
ReplyDeleteyour shinsplints sound awful... it seems to me like you are doing all the right things - you took time off, ice and stretch regularly... i don't know what to suggest. hope the inserts continue to work!