Should I Just Run It Off?

If I developed a niggling injury my old philosophy was to simply just run it off. It was certainly the philosophy of the infantry soldier, as we were often told…

So when the pain started in my knees or I developed cramp in my calves, or the blister busts and another one formed as my sock filled with blister juice. Brought on from the constant rubbing of a wet sock against your heels in your wet boots. I would indeed simply run it off. When we did eventually stop our first aid at the time was to quickly apply black masking tape to the back of your heels, it’s shiny surface stopped your wet sock from rubbing against your skin. This quick and simple method would get you through the next 12 miles or more. Peeling it off at the end was not so pleasant, I think I will leave that you your imagination.

So these little niggles I now faced as a 50 something runner and wannabee triathlete, seemed nothing in comparison. I was still invincible…. After a short break during the festive period I set out on what was going to be a steady 6 mile/10km run. However feeling good after my rest I decided to continue as I reached my 4 mile point, and instead of turning for home I continued and ran a reasonable 12.2 miles in under 2 hours, totally pain free. The next day I went for a 2 hour gym session, as I peddled on the spinning bike for 30 min as part of my warm up I felt a slight twinge in my right shin. Thinking that it was nothing more than the after effects of the day before . I then continued with my 1 mile sprint on the treadmill, a sprint for me now is anything under an 8 minute mile. I felt the pain in my shin increase, thinking it was just a mere touch of shin splints, thought nothing more of it and finished my session on the cross trainer, followed by my obligatory weight session, while admiring myself in the mirror, (come on we all do it).

No pain no gain

Don’t trust the Internet

That’s the problem with the internet as soon as we feel some kind of symptoms we immediately turn to the internet for answers. I had ruled out Shin Splints as I have been running far to long for it to be something more associated to fledgling runners. Surely this was a stress fracture, at times it felt like my leg was going to snap.

It’s time to see sense

After a week the pain was still there in fact it had got worse, I really did think that my shin was about to snap at any time. So I asked my wife to make me an appointment with the local Physiotherapist, it was worth the £30 fee just to find out what the problem was. After a quick examination I was diagnosed with tendonitis/tendinitis, a thickening of the tendons in my shin. Obviously brought on by doing too much to soon. The only problem here is that the treatment means that I must rest it completely… that’s not going to be easy, especially with a major event coming up.