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Sore Legs

hsmith108hsmith108 Posts: 3
in General Chat
Hi

Am new to this so bear with me!



When running i seem to get a pain in my calf round the front right next to my shin bone. It starts when i start running and after 5K it doesnt really get any more painful. Am a bit concerned as i am sure this isnt normal. My shoes may be to blame as they have already done one year of tris (only compete in 6 super sprints last year) and i had to wash them after a cross country run (sounded like a good idea at the time). Also have heard i may benefit from a treadmill as road running is bad for joints?



Any help would be appreciated!!

Comments

  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    Hi there,

    I guess you can't be wrong by going to a doctor( one who knows about sports too) with this issue. Better safe than sorry.

    About the road running:avoid running always on the concrete/asphalt. Get a mix: run on road, grass, woods, treadmill, do track workouts,...

    Softer surfaces save on the joints . Otherwise sooner or later you will get injured. I made the mistake of always running on hard surface for 3 years. I got injured on the knee. My physiotherapist states it's due to the monotomy of pounding those knees all the time.

    Better to loose a weeks worth of training than getting injured for two months.

    Good luck
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    This isn't the dreaded 'Shin Splints' is it? I thought that was a pain down the front of the lower leg, caused by landing too hard on your heels and letting your toe slap down, which overextends the front of the calf and shin muscles.



    I'm not a doctor, though, so I'd go with Benny's advice and talk to an expert.



    Finding some softer surfaces to run on will always be a good idea in the long run (no pun intended). Avoid concrete - even asphalt is better than concrete. Just make sure the surface is not unstable, like sand, which is a great work-out but will ruin your legs (according to two books I've got).



    Finally, treadmills are very soft on the legs, but you can easily end up with all your stride behind you, i.e. not lifting your legs enough to make your stride symmetrical. You can combat this by tilting the treadmill by a few degrees. I would not advise doing ALL your run training on a treadmill. Mix it up like Benny says.



    Anyway, are you still there? You should be at the doctor's!
  • bennybenny Posts: 1,314
    I didn't want to mention it, but my first thought was the same as yours, Bopomofo. This sounds a lot like shin splints. I really hope we are both very wrong, so before we jump conclusions, I'd say: go to someone who knows this stuff.

    Best of luck !
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    It's funny how nobody wants to say 'Shin Splints'.. like it is some kind of curse.



    Two years ago I had leg pains which now I understand where exactly this problem. I had two triathlons close together at the end of the season - just sprint events, but I was getting a bit worn out by then. I put in a lot of very poor quality training and ended up hurting myself in the first one, then making it worse in the second. Then, with these odd pains down the fronts of my shins I did a charity 10k the following week...



    My friends said I was hobbling as I crossed the START line! By the time I finished the race my legs had loosened up OK, but within an hour I had difficulty walking, and could barely get up the stairs.



    I was lucky... it was only eight weeks of pain before I was OK again. 8 weeks of swimming only. No cycling, no running, lots of ibuprofen.



  • IronJohnIronJohn Posts: 58
    Oh dear - I've had this problem and had conflicting advice. More cushioning in your shoes might help, as will adjusting your posture when running downhill (using your knees as "suspension") in my case I just had to apply ice packs after each session to enable me to recover properly before the next one, and cut back on my training.



    Try the treadmill and set the incline to 1 degree, lessening the impact of each foot strike. Personally I found the treadmill made it worse, because I tended to run harder than on the road.



    I sympathize - it's fecking agony, it messes your training schedule up and no-one seems to know the solution. If I had the money I would see a professional sports injury type person. But I don't [:(]

  • LuckyLucky Posts: 137
    I found new trainers fixed the issue, the trainers I'd been using were getting towards the end of their useful life, replacing them made the problem go away, also I always do my treadmill runs with an incline of 1%... other than that 90% of my running is outside on tarmac / concrete.



    But going with the majority, see an expert rather then relying on self / forum diagnosis.

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