Day 8: Oh my achin' shins

Today, I began the Couch to 5 K program, which I mentioned in my last post.

For the first week, I am to do the following:
- Brisk walk for 5 minutes
- Jog for 60 seconds
- Walk for 90 seconds
- Alternate jog/walk until 20 minutes has passed

I decided to do some stretches this morning in order to fend off any pesky cramps and am happy to report they worked.

I was also really pleased with the 20 minute workout. Since I'm not REALLY starting from the couch and have a good week of exercise already under my belt, the jogging and walking combination was not entirely strenuous. At the same time, it wasn't a walk in the park, either. I think it was a good amount of stress.

I must say, it was really nice to watch the time instead of the mileage. Also, Saved by the Bell had an episode about training for a triathalon, which was an epic motivator. Kind of.

But ugh ugh ugh my achin' shins. I don't know if I psychologically put this upon myself, but my shins were angry.

Shin splints (n) - a pain in the lower leg caused by the overuse or misuse of muscles. The pain is sharp when walking/running and ceases when you stop moving. In extreme cases, may lead to stress fractures.

I'm buying new sneakers today. I'm intrigued by these but probably won't buy them because I tried running barefoot on the treadmill today and it felt really awkward. I looked up ways to prevent and treat shin splints, and the website mentioned that shoes only have 500 miles of wear on them before they stop being supportive. The age of my current sneakers coupled with their cheapness makes them a prime suspect in my shin splintage.

Here are the other ways to prevent them:

1) Do not overstride. Keep strides longer in front and shorter in back
2) Walking shoes with flexible soles and low heels
3) Strengthen your calf muscles with exercises/stretches [definitely going to look into these]
4) Walk on softer surfaces
5) Walk / jog every other day until the pain disappears
6) Warm up before going fast
7) Stretch after warm up
8) Slow or stop if you feel pain

Thanks for reading :) See y'all tomorrow for a (hopefully) sunny day of trail running!