I need some runner advice or help

Evanstl

7 weeks ago I started the C25K program. I made it thru week 6 doing well. I had a weekend away and was also babying a knee injury so I ended up taking 1 week off. Well this past monday I tried starting into week 7 and failed. I wasnt even able to run more than a few minutes after completing week 6 which was running 22 mins straight. So I was very discouraged and have just been walking this week. I found my knee brace and his the streets tonight feeling well supported in knee and wanting to kick some butt. I did a brisk 5 min warm up then heading into my jogging. I couldnt even run 60 seconds without getting excrusiating skin splints. WHATS THE MATTER???? I only took 1 week off and I feel my whole 6 weeks has been shot to hell. 2 weeks ago I signed up for my first 5K race and now I feel like im not going to be ready for it. I need some help or advice cuz I dont know what to do. Do I repeat the last week or so or just keep trying???? I need some tips or something.

junyr

Bad days happen. There are days I can run 5 miles and days where I want to drop dead at 1.5 miles...

When you're down for injury and take a few days off you cannot get back out and start right where you left off. Slow down a little, shorten your distance a little.

The beauty of c25k is you can do time or distance. I did time since I though I'd be easier to run for X amount of minutes at the pace I was able to do it in rather than having a distance to achieve

The most important thing is to get out and do it.

The hardest part of running is getting out your front door.

darkrider42

Relax, you didn't lose everything....but you do need to warm up your shins before you start your run/walk. I don't know any name for the exercise I do as I came up with it on my own. I'm not claiming to have invented* it as I'm sure other people in the world certainly must use it too, I just don't know who they are.

Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you and together. Lean back a little....not quite 45 degrees and support yourself with your arms. Starting with the right leg, pull your right foot toward your rear-end so that your knee raises up and stop when your leg is at a 90 degree angle. Now place the heel of your left foot on top of your right foot so that your left heel meets your right foot at the first toe joint (closest to ankle). Using just the natural weight of your left leg, meaning you don't have to use your muscles to push down with your left leg, flex your right foot -- bending at the ankle. The net effect of this is that you'll basically be doing a "Shin Curl". Start out with one set of 15 repetitions (on each leg).

Do this before every run and it will not only warm your muscles up, but it will strengthen the shin muscles, which is the real root of the problem with shin splints. They are unprepared for the stress being put on them in this relatively new activity. I promise if you do this for a week, you will notice improvement very quickly. My further suggestion would be to do it every day, either in the morning after you wake or at night before bed, or both. My guess, as well as my personal experience and that of others I've shared this tip with is that you will only need to do this for approximately two weeks.

Now, if my description above has left you completely confused by making it seem *waaaaaaay* more difficult than it really is....never fear! Here is a link to a video of it I made and uploaded to Dropbox: http://db.tt/K8LW7CRf

Good luck and feel free to message me if you have any more questions or just want to chat about beginning running. I *love* talking about it!!!!



Dave