I recently started to run a good deal more than normal at the gym. I was hooked on the elliptical machine for far to long and decided my routine needed an overhaul, went back to basics kind of thing. However I did my warm up of a mile and a halfat 7.5 miles an hour. Followed by about 15 minutes on the elliptical and noticed that today my calves and shins hurt a hell of a lot more than normal. I do a good stretch before and after but this is a feeling I haven’t felt since Mississippi mondays in which we’d run in steel toe boots and ute’s around NAS Meridian. I’ve been doing this routine and a good bit more carido for about a month, month and a half, but never felt this way after.
Any idea’s, I really hate the doctors at the VA because they still hand me aspirin and tell me not to drink so much.
Is it the back of your calves or where the calf meets the bone on the front of the inside of the leg? Over working calves can cause shin splints, I use to get them in soccer all the time.
I feel like its the whole calf. The front though is noticeable. I used to work them with weight machines but got out of that because I felt like I was doing easier and easier things. I did have two fractures from soccer but that was almost 15 yrs ago.
I experienced a similar problem when I started increasing my road runs after doing pool work with fins. I spent a great deal of time stretching which helped the back of the calves, but my pain on the front wasn’t fixed until I got proper running shoes. I was using trail shoes on grass and dirt/gravel running paths with no problem, but once I started doing more than a mile on pavement my legs were screaming. Turns out my shoes were too over stable. Find a good running store, one where the sales people are runners, and they should be able to assess your footfall and suggest a shoe that will align your foot properly. The big picture is learning if/how your foot pronates (does it roll in, out or stay neutral) when you run. The correct shoe style helps tremendously. Also, treadmills hurt me a lot more than actual road running. The impact seemed more intense when I did treadmills, especially at higher speeds. Going from elliptical to road running was fine, but going to a treadmill always left my feet and legs aching.
Sounds like classic shin splints. Make sure you are using properly fitted running shoes and stretch your calves for 5 min before a run. They will go away after a few weeks. Icing after your run will also help in the mean time.
Its not the shoes, I’ve got newer maybe 3 month old Asics Gel Blurs, that I love, I’ve run in that shoe for 3 years now. I was talking to my sister in law who is a nurse and she pointed out that I’ve been in two weddings and have one more to go and that my nice dress shoes and dancing and pictures might have something to do with it, which I hate those shoes. I’ve done some new stretches and find that they help more but put on some ICY-HOT and find that helps. I agree with not running on a treadmill but I like the machines and configurations you can do. I’ve thrown my back out a few time and so walking up hill was recommended to me by Doc’s at the VA because it uses my lower body and core. I’ve also started wearing new flip-flops after my Dog found my last pair of Reef’s so appealing. I’m going to try wearing more supportive shoes and breaking up my running to half mile increments. hopefully that will help.