I’ve been preparing for the Disney Half Marathon for several months now. I followed a training schedule that I got from Runner’s World Magazine and have been diligent about keeping to the schedule.
More than a month ago, I developed shin splints. I don’t know how it happened. I was wearing relatively new shoes. I was running the amount of miles that the training schedule dictated and I was feeling healthy.
I went to the orthopedist and he told me to stay off my leg for a month. I couldn’t do that. I had the Jingle Bell Jog in Brooklyn, which was a five-mile run, and the Ted Corbitt 15K run a week later, held in Central Park.
That was two weeks ago and since then, I have been unable to run. I’m actually having great difficulty walking and forget about climbing up and down stairs!
What have I been doing? I’ve been eating lots of ricotta cheese, stretching out, putting Bengay patches on my leg, wearing compression pads, and doing R.I.C.E. (Rice, Ice, Compression, and Elevation). Nothing so far has been helping. Now, I have one week to go and I’m very concerned that I won’t be able to complete the race. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to run at all.
This past week, I was in Florida visiting my parents. My husband and I stayed at a hotel that had a very nice gym. Each day we went downstairs to either run outside or workout at the gym. Since Florida was having a cold spell, it was not conducive to running outside. So, we stayed in. The first day, I cross-trained by using the elliptical machine for a half hour. The next day, I tried to run on the treadmill. I couldn’t do it. My one side was so painful. I was overcompensating with the other side and looked like I had a serious limp.
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Best of luck, Hilary.
2 - Realist
You should have listened to your doctor! You have to let your legs heal no matter how much you want to run, or you might as well begin to look into wheelchair enduros. Which do you prefer - missing a few races or never racing again?