Couch to 5k and shin splints

jagspal

I started this program last week, I didn't feel that much pain with the 60 second jog, but this week I am jogging 90 second than walking for 2 minutes and the pain in my shins is nasty. I want to work through it and see if this program will help make the shins stronger. I have never been a runner but would love to be able. Anybody else with the shin issue and if so any advice as to what might help?

suzi67

You might want to back off on your pace for a bit and just work on the time. As your body adjusts you can increase your speed. That always seemed to be the issue for me, going to fast too soon.

ak_in_ak

it is all in how you run. I suggest looking in to shoes like five fingers of other minimal shoes

silentmalu

I had the very same problem to the point that it hurt to walk. I was told that we need to build up the muscles and tendons on our shins. You can do toe raises to build up the muscles as well as walking. I know that I would get them for softball, but the weeks that I worked out on the elliptical really helped to alleviate the pain. I hope this helps!

pvtnick

Make sure you are not trying to run everyday, that may be too much stress on your shins. A recommendation that helped me is to point your toes and write the alphabet with them as this helps strengthen the shins. But most of all, just take it easy and slowly work your way up because you get more out of doing lower intensity than you'd like than not being to do anything because you're hurt.

jlmuhlenkamp

I too had shin splints when I first started running. Make sure you stretch good and slowly increase your length of running. If the pain is bad stop running and just walk. It will take some time to get through it but you will get there. I never ran a day in my life and now I can run up to 3 miles, with a little walk in between. If I can do it ANYBODY can. Good luck!

Jlynb1109

I've stopped running a few times due to shin splints. A few things I learned along the way were: 1) you need good shoes, I bought a pair of Asics and then bought separate insoles for the high arches on my feet, 2) stretching after running helps, 3) ice the area after running, and 4) running on harder surfaces made me feel worse. I found that running on a treadmill or track felt better on my shins.

Hope that helps!

4cookiesmom

Make sure you are running in a good shoe. You may want to consider getting professionally fit. I had the same problem when I did that plan. It was the shoes.

pvtnick

I personally am not a fan of the "five finger" shoes because they give me no arch support when I run. However if they work for you, go for it. I honestly would not recommend a new runner try them though because if they need the arch support like I do, they just spent a lot of money on weird looking shoes.

fudgebudget

I had terrible shin splint issues the first couple of times I tried doing C25K and ended up quitting in the second week. This time, I did a lot of preparation for it with calf raises and lunges, and it has made ALL the difference. The calf raises will not only strengthen your calves, but also the muscle that covers the shin (tibialis anterior), and the lunges will help to strengthen your quads and stabilize the knees. Also make sure that before you run you stretch your calves really well so they don't tighten up and cause more strain for the shins.

Strength training has helped in so many more areas than I anticipated - if you're having a lot of issues, you might want to think about prepping your legs for C25K before jumping right in. The program's name's inclusion of "Couch" was misleading for me - I couldn't hop right off the couch into it.