Trying to make a tough decision - Should I give up my training or not?

I_am_WonderWoman · March 2015

I started running in June of last year. At the end of January this year I joined a running club. At that point I was regularly running 3 miles three times a week. Once in running club, I began a 15-week half marathon training program handed out by the running coach. I am almost on week 8 of the training schedule and have had bad shin splints since week 2.

I've been fitted for new shoes, wear calf compression sleeves, include calf strengthening exercises in my strength training regimen, stretching, restorative yoga, ice, massage, had chiropractic adjustments, avoid high-impact activities on my rest days, tried slowing down my pace, skip my hill runs and just run on a flat surface... The only thing that seems to help is when I take a few days off, but it hurts like hell again once I go back to running.

I saw a sports medicine physician 2 or 3 weeks ago who said based on where it hurts I most likely have a bad case of shin splints and not a stress fracture. The x-ray didn't show anything (though he wasn't surprised since a stress fracture can take a while to show up on a x-ray). He said the only way to know for sure is to do a MRI but he said that it probably wasn't necessary since the treatment for a stress fracture is the same for shin splints: rest. He said the only way for the shin splints to go away is to rest until the pain is completely gone - about 6 weeks - but if I wanted to run through the pain to just take a pain reliever and continue with what I'm already doing at home to treat it.

I've been running through the pain. My shins hurt even just walking around and the pain is blaring if my son happens to sit on my lap when I'm sitting with my legs criss-crossed. I am up to 7 miles on my long runs now and I am starting to wonder how long I can keep this up. My half marathon is May 10th so I don't have the time to take 6 weeks off from running. Running a half marathon has been a dream of mine for a while and I was especially excited to run one on Mother's Day, so it pains me to possibly give it up. I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore. I'm now faced with a tough decision - do I continue to run or do I sideline myself?

Any advice, insights, or your own personal experience would be most welcome. Thank you!

ltvln · March 2015

So sorry to hear that.

get a bike! You can bike for more hours than you can run and there are plenty of fum cycling events to enter. I used to run a lot bit now I mix cycling, hiking, and running. I run once or twice a week on trails when possible. No injuries!

mreichard · March 2015

Ditch the half marathon, take time off from running and come back when you don't have pain. Get a foam roller and roll your lower leg muscles a bit once they are less painful. Two years ago I tried "running through the pain" leading up to a goal half, and my running has not recovered yet. You will be better off in the long run if you rest now. There are tons of half marathons --- register for another one once you are healed, and work up to it slowly.

glevinso · March 2015

There will always be more half marathons around. Rest, heal, and come back to running when you can. In the meantime you can preserve your fitness using non-impacting activities like cycling and swimming. If you don't know how, now is the perfect time to learn!

jimmmer · March 2015

You're probably not going to want to hear this, but resting and recovering properly is the right thing to do.

You can find an alternative fitness pursuit for 6 weeks to keep your c-v fitness up. Something like cycling would probably be a good fit. Or maybe swimming.

I speak as someone who has recently come back from a tricky SI-Joint injury. It's unbelievably frustrating to not be doing the kind of training you love (barbell training in my case), but to continue and further exacerbate the injury just means an even longer recovery/return and possibly permanent damage. It's not worth that.

In terms of perspective, I'm a capable guy, who could no longer pick up and carry his toddler without considerable pain. That's not cool. Not cool at all. You have a son? You want to be an active and engaged part of his life? Time to start making some smart choices... you can run a half marathon when you're fully healed.

slaite1 · March 2015

You need to take a break. If you keep going without it healing you are just begging for a worse injury. Take some true time off, like a week or so to let your body heal. Then take the break from running, switch to something low impact to keep yourself in shape and focus on healing.

I've been through injuries more than once. If you keep pushing it you're going to wind up not running much longer than 6 weeks. Either way the half in May will be out of reach. Heal, learn and come back stronger than ever and do a half marathon in the fall. Good luck :-)

glevinso · March 2015

I have seen people who have had catastrophic failures of their tibia in the middle of a race because they pushed through the pain of shin splints, which became stress fractures, which became straight-up breaks while running.

Pushing through the pain only applies when it is non-injury related. This is injury related.

wesley58 · March 2015

I hate to say it, but you need to stop and look after yourself. The damage could be long term if you continue. To stay in shape, and hopefully compete in marathon, would be to use an eliptical or stationary bike, see if that helps. Either of those are not as hard on the joints. Good luck, but please look after your injuries. The reason that you wanted to get inot shape was to be healthy. This is just a small setback.

skippygirlsmom · March 2015

If you continue to run through the pain until May your HM will be a horrible painful experience and not the fun you want it to be. Like you I was training for a HM in April, got hurt in December finally went to the doctor in January, started physical therapy the first week of February (after doc told me never to run again and that I needed back surgery). After 3 days of PT I was allowed to start running again..2 miles. Four weeks later and I'm back up to 8 miles and back on track for my half in April. How I wish I went to PT in December and stopped running 3 weeks earlier when I hurt myself.

If you stop training now, get well, there's a good chance you'll make that HM. You don't want to make things worse.

questionfear · March 2015

Don't run through the pain! You can always bike or swim to stay active, but running through the pain instead of resting and addressing the issue isn't going to fix anything.

bke52 · March 2015

As someone who resisted resting during an injury and paid for it heavily later, I highly recommend you forget about this marathon (there will always be another!) and rest as prescribed. Stress injuries are no joke. Running while injured WILL make your existing injury much worse.

Sued0nim · March 2015

I can't run because of shin splints

I do (walking/running 1 min) intervals on a treadmill and still get them and then I stop

I wouldn't keep going if I were you

I_am_WonderWoman · March 2015

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I really appreciate it. It's really frustrating and saddening to stop my training, but you all are right - better to rest and come back to running pain-free rather than risk injuring myself further. It's just really hard to accept that but I'll just keep telling myself it's not forever and that there will always be another half marathon to train for. Deep down it's more important to be an active mom for my son than to finish my half marathon training. Maybe I will indeed fall in love with a low-impact sport in the meantime.

MeanderingMammal · March 2015

lampeybjones wrote: »

At the end of January this year I joined a running club. At that point I was regularly running 3 miles three times a week. Once in running club, I began a 15-week half marathon training program handed out by the running coach.

I'm somewhat surprised that the club coach would put you straight onto a half marathon plan from a start point of nine miles per week, when you just joined the club. It sounds like a straightforward overuse injury.

Given that you don't seem to have given it time to recover then it's no surprise that the various things you've tried haven't had an effect. They're all preventive, not corrective.

As upthread, give it time to reocover, then ease back into the running again. I'd agree with the suggestion of cycling or swimming as good complementary training, particularly if you stick to freestyle.

From my own experience, in HM last autumn I ended up suffering from Illiotibial Band Syndrom from about 11km into the race. Pushed through and then couldn't run for a month afterwards. Not fun.

BrianSharpe · March 2015

Too much, too soon.

Dial your volume back and take more rest/recovery time. Running requires significant physiological adaptations, especially when you're looking at longer distances and everyone adapts at a different pace.

Running is an activity that, with any luck, you can enjoy for the rest of your life. Going from zero to HM in less than a year, in my opinion, is progressing too quickly for most people.

It's supposed to be fun not painful.

esjones12 · March 2015

Have you tried trail running? I used to get terrible shin splints from pavement. Heck I still do. But I can run tons and tons of trails!

I do obstacle course racing (TRAILS) and have an entire season planned out from April through September. HUGE goals have been set AND paid for. 5 weeks until my first race and I'm on rest for overtraining syndrome resulting in calf cramp issues. It is *killing* me mentally. I've basically been banished to the pool, bike and yoga for the next few weeks. Not ideal ways to train for carrying heavy objects up mountains

I feel your pain

I_am_WonderWoman · March 2015

I will take upping my mileage more slowly once I get back into it. The running coach wasn't concerned about me going for the HM training plan, but I definitely should have just gone with the 10k training plan. I think I'll aim to do a 10k at the end of summer.

esjones12, I'm sorry that you are in the same boat! I tried running on a trail for the first time this past week and loved it. I want to do more trail running once I'm back running. I you recover quickly!!

Springfield1970 · March 2015

Take up swimming and cycling to keep fit for now.
Use a foam rolling pre and post running from now on.
Never up the volume AND the intensity on the same week.
Do a bulk over the winter, then get your body composition to the right level for running.

I love running but I have to watch it like a hawk for injuries. I screwed up bad in my first year of running, but it got me into triathlon so it was a good result.
I only run twice a week half the year, then 3x during training build.
I keep my body weight right down, weight train, eat adequate protein, foam roll, stretch, work on Glute activation, never push through pain.
I also took the advice to not do advanced exercises like hill sprints for the first two years of running.

amandarunning · March 2015

glevinso wrote: »

I have seen people who have had catastrophic failures of their tibia in the middle of a race because they pushed through the pain of shin splints, which became stress fractures, which became straight-up breaks while running.

Pushing through the pain only applies when it is non-injury related. This is injury related.

I'm such a runner - now ex runner as never fully recovered.

OP - when it impacts on the quality of every day life then it just isn't worth it. Swim, bike and maybe return to running as a triathlete! Good luck and heal well.

Foamroller · March 2015

Order of progress: Length < Pace < Intensity.
Training is muscle specific. I'd do variations of cycling, swimming for now and foamrolling. I suggest walking slow/fast when you have recovered more to phase back into running. Have patience. Muscle fatigue and injuries are not something you want to override. Research some basic exercise physiology if you want to learn more. Good luck

corindeathawk · March 2015

lampeybjones wrote: »

Running a half marathon has been a dream of mine for a while and I was especially excited to run one on Mother's Day, so it pains me to possibly give it up. I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore. I'm now faced with a tough decision - do I continue to run or do I sideline myself?

The bolded part of the your quote says it all. Put it down and do something else for a while. There will be other HMs and other Mother's Days. Life is better when it remains something you love.

JoRocka · March 2015

I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore

corindeathawk wrote: »

lampeybjones wrote: »

Running a half marathon has been a dream of mine for a while and I was especially excited to run one on Mother's Day, so it pains me to possibly give it up. I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore. I'm now faced with a tough decision - do I continue to run or do I sideline myself?

The bolded part of the your quote says it all. Put it down and do something else for a while. There will be other HMs and other Mother's Days. Life is better when it remains something you love.

I would disagree tremendously with this concept.

I agree she needs to rest- to much too soon- too fast.

But training- for ANYTHING becomes a chore. Training for long term success is not always fun- inspiring- or entertaining. it sucks. Talk to any marathoner- or any competitive lifter- or anyone seriously training.

it becomes a grind. Using your level of entertainment to determine if you should keep going is a bad idea. It's why so few people are successful or we have any master crafters any more- they don't have the drive to stick out the grind to met with their big long term goals.

So yes- she did way to much to soon too fast- and needs to take a break and work back into it- but not because it's a chore- but because she has an actual injury.

corindeathawk · March 2015

JoRocka, I think we are saying the same thing with different emphasis. You are focusing on the injury and that it needs to heal. I am focusing on the fact that not taking the time to let the injury heal is impacting her attitude towards running in general, and that can be as crippling as the injury itself. Its one thing if running (or whatever) today is a chore because stress/work/kids/life. Agree with that. But when you lose interest in the end goal because every run (or whatever) is a chore, that's bad, and that can be avoided in this case by giving it a rest.

arussell134 · March 2015

JoRocka wrote: »

I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore

corindeathawk wrote: »

lampeybjones wrote: »

Running a half marathon has been a dream of mine for a while and I was especially excited to run one on Mother's Day, so it pains me to possibly give it up. I used to love running but now it's starting to feel like a chore. I'm now faced with a tough decision - do I continue to run or do I sideline myself?

The bolded part of the your quote says it all. Put it down and do something else for a while. There will be other HMs and other Mother's Days. Life is better when it remains something you love.

I would disagree tremendously with this concept.

I agree she needs to rest- to much too soon- too fast.

But training- for ANYTHING becomes a chore. Training for long term success is not always fun- inspiring- or entertaining. it sucks. Talk to any marathoner- or any competitive lifter- or anyone seriously training.

it becomes a grind. Using your level of entertainment to determine if you should keep going is a bad idea. It's why so few people are successful or we have any master crafters any more- they don't have the drive to stick out the grind to met with their big long term goals.

So yes- she did way to much to soon too fast- and needs to take a break and work back into it- but not because it's a chore- but because she has an actual injury.

There is a difference between the daily grind of training and an all-out lack of love for the sport you're training for. As a distance runner, I've experienced both. There was once a time that a marathon training cycle became WAY too much and I listened to my body and quit it. I don't regret it.

I've been putting down some serious miles the last few months, but built up slowly and am now putting in serious work to improve my times. While it's definitely not easy, I've not "outrun" my love of running.

OP, like others have suggested, I do not believe you were prepared to start training for a HM running approx 9 miles per week. I suspect you ran into injuries b/c you upped your miles too quickly, too soon. Take a good recovery cross training, and then when you're ready, slowly build your miles back up (e.g., no more than a 10% increase week over week). After your body has adjusted and can handle say, 20 mpws for a good couple months, then look at starting a HM cycle. I think you'll have a much better, injury-free experience.

JoRocka · March 2015

I would agree. But I guess saying "it's a chore" just felt a little generic to me- almost like an excuse. We see so often the "I'm bored" with my workout as an excuse to stop doing something and it's like at some point you gotta say- get over it and just go do it- life isn't always FUN. But yes- difference between getting stale on something and just out and out hating the entire concept.

Mr_Knight · March 2015

Rest. Heal. Restart (if you want) but at much slower pace.

Aed0416 · March 2015

I just joined to try to keep my diet in check while I recovery from an injury and am no longer able to eat what I want because I am no longer running. I was training for a half and two weeks before the race had knee pain, I decided to stop training and rest for the two weeks prior to the race. Race day 1.5 miles in I was in terrible pain and had my first DNF. Dropping out of a race and watching all the other participants run by you while you try to hobble to your car is the worst way possible outcome. Now I am waiting for surgery and then will have to wait through recovery.

It may pain you to give up your dream of running this specific race. However, dedicating more time and energy into it while doing further damage to your body and likely increasing your recovery time will be more painful.
Be smarter than I was.

rileyes · March 2015

*Taking it slow* seems to be mantra with *becoming a runner* I gave up on becoming a runner because I'm too impatient. There are lots of other sports that don't give you shin splints. And training for them is actually energizing. I ❤️ Tennis. I don't mind working out to be stronger and faster at my sport. And I don't get shin splints any more. You can join the USTA and compete in tournaments for your level. And, I'm sure, there is some type of team sport out there that you would like that will *shut your shins up*.

Trying to make a tough decision - Should I give up my training or not?

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