Well, missed another speedwork session this morning as I’ve been resting my shin splints… they just don’t seem to want to improve. The TIBIALIS POSTERIOR and associated tendons have been hurting less, but fact is they both still hurt, and quite a bit if I stress them wrong. I’ll wait until Friday – then it will have been a week since my last run, and nine days since my last decent run. I have been eating well and exercising every day in the meantime, so I've done well. We will run again Friday, but I have to say I feel I will just be hobbled with pain again. But I’ll give it a go. I may have to get orthotics.
But I’m concentrating on working the upper body and core in the meantime so when (if) the shins splints recover, I’ll be running further and faster. My research says a good upper-body musculature will provide robust ‘countering’ movements to running, and a stable core will allow these counters to travel through to the legs, and also hold my spine and pelvic girdle straight and aligned to avoid injury.
But I’m concentrating on working the upper body and core in the meantime so when (if) the shins splints recover, I’ll be running further and faster. My research says a good upper-body musculature will provide robust ‘countering’ movements to running, and a stable core will allow these counters to travel through to the legs, and also hold my spine and pelvic girdle straight and aligned to avoid injury.
Now, puffy, jiggly bumps won’t help me do anything but look musclebound (CHECK THIS INTERVIEW HALFWAY DOWN THE PAGE) so I’m doing bodyweight exercises and isometrics exclusively at home, along with my usual swimming and biking during the day. Bodyweight exercises build functional muscle for a good power/weight ratio - weights build more powerful muscle, but at a proportionally much higher weight, so from a power/weight ratio (as in, athletic rather than aesthetic) point of view, they're no good. Plus, I don't want to look like a weightlifter or bodybuilder! Rather look like a runner (or a badass). Right now I do 55 pushups and 70 bicep curls each side (10kg weight) each night, and I bust out two one-minute planks (the pushups hold a plank anyway so it’s all cake really) at the end. I can really feel where the RECTUS ABDOMINIS attaches to my pelvis now, which is a new sensation and definitely down to the planks. I can also feel my back crackle when I first settle into the position, which I also take as proof positive the exercise helps support my back - my research says they develop all the muscles of the core including the lower back, thighs and 'deep abdominals'. I've noticed so soreness - but interesting fact! We only get soreness after loading a muscle during ECCENTRIC CONTRACTION (more or less contracting while lengthening - also known as 'braking contraction'). So isometrics such as planks don't result in DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) as it's a static contraction against a static load. So development comes without delayed muscle pain (possibly because the exercise itself is so freaking awful! Gawd it burns!).
I think this will give me good, functional muscle without too much weight or stress on my joints. The bicep curls are purely for me, so I don’t look unbalanced! So there’s SOME vanity – but I’m trying hard and doing the right thing. Let’s hope the legs agree with me. If not, there are plenty of other sports – it must be said I like this one, but we can’t always have what we want. Hell – we never get what we want but the tragedy is if that inescapable fact keeps you from trying: trying harder, trying more, and trying for longer. I’m going to keep trying and see what happens. Hopefully good things!
So Friday it is! Let’s hope I can get some running in before collapsing in pain and making a doctor’s appointment.
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