Okay, so...

I finally dragged my carcass out for a run tonight - all 3km of it, but 3km that may well have been the most illuminating yet. My shin splints were generally well behaved and I was experimenting with different footstrikes and generally enjoying stretching my legs. Also of note was the fact I found this 3km very easy indeed - I barely broke a sweat, quite literally! It was cold and I was running very gently, but not that long ago 3km nearly killed me.

Anyhoo, the tendon reared its head at the 2km mark, and I thought I'd trot awhile and use the increased biofeedback to find a running style that placed as little demand on the area as possible. I found almost immediately if I turned my toe in at footstrike and concentrated on landing in the middle of the forefoot with a straight foot, the wrenching on the tibialis was lessened significantly. In fact, as I ran I slowly began to realise I had been twisting my toe out in the late recovery phase quite significantly. Consciously twisting it back in felt cleaner and more direct (more of a clean, vertical, aligned circle with my foot), and also took care of a sgnificant portion of the excess pronation I had noticed previously. I now suspect it was caused in large part by my toes twisting out at footstrike, rather than the edge of my foot moving under, as it were. My poor tibialis! Having to wrench all that back in. Sorry guys.

So ran waaaaay less than I thought I could, but am feeling no real residual pain, except a touch of plantar pain I'll assume is normal for now. It popped up after my shin splints had been around for a few days. Most likely related to weakness from the tibialis. I'll keep an eye on it.

One final, weird thing - did some planks tonight and thought I'd do them first before any pushups to see how long I could bear the pain. Previous record was 2:10... this time I did 3min easily and stopped cause I was sorta wierded out (plus, severe pain). I think maybe I made a mistake, but it sure felt like more than 2min. Strange as I was stuck at 2min for ages. I'll try again tomorrow and see how we go!

So very happy with the first run back - I think I'm onto something with my observations on the toes pointing outwards and while I'll likely be taking a day off tomorrow to be super-cautious, I'm feeling confident for the first time in a while (except for the plantar pain, which vexes me slightly).

Plus using the GPS watch will be fun! Having it for over a week has been kinda tough, but it'll make it even more fun to try out!



Quill