Yesterday I decided to go for a run for the fourth day in a row. I set my sites on my four mile loop, and was actually pretty pumped for it. I hit the road and almost immediately knew it was going to be a struggle just to get through a mile. As hard as I tried to focus on my stride it just all felt awkward. And my body showed it to me. My calves have been very tight during some runs recently, and after a couple runs I've felt slight shin splints (say that five times fast; did I really just write that?!).
Anyway, I toughed out 3 miles when I probably shouldn't have, and my shins hated me for it. I iced them and took some advil which helped, but today I worked a shift at the restaurant and I could feel them slightly throughout the day. I'm so worried this could stop me from running for any significant time that I've been reading reviews about compression sleeves and other such remedies online hoping for a magic pill. I realize that the montra is spare a day to save a week, spare a week to save a month yada yada yada. I really don't want to rest. I have an awesome 8 mile run planned this sunday down the west side of manhattan and I have no intentions of skipping it.
Take a day or two...and stretch those calves...actually stretch your legs overall. I know that regular stretching has been a game changer for me. I dealt with some off and on knee pain for almost a year before I learned a couple of targeted stretches for my hamstring and ITB...it's all connected and having loose legs definitely helps stave off those injuries. Enjoy your run on Sunday!
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