I think I have shin splits now instead of calf pain
any tips please? I’ve tried stretching, resting, heat compress
If you have shin sprints you really need to rest, continuing to run on them could end up with you getting a stress fracture and the recovery time for that is even longer than shin splints. I had them last year when I first started running and although it was really frustrating I just had to stop running for a couple of weeks to let my legs recover. I needed new trainers as the ones I was running in were really old and not cushioning my feet properly so that was also a contributing factor.
One of the other things that caused me to get shin splints was the fact that I used to heel strike when I ran. What part of your foot lands first when running? It should actually be the middle of your foot, not your heel. So if it’s your heel that lands first then you heel strike and you should try to change it as this might be why your shins are hurting. There are exercises on YouTube to help with that, and they talk about the optimum running technique. Changing this was hard and involved me having to really think about every single step I took, but has stopped me getting the pain since and has made running much easier. Here are a few videos I personally found helpful.
When I started running again I had to start off really slow, and actually what helped me more than going back to the start of C25k was actually just slowly running for 1km in one go and doing that 3 times a week until I felt like my legs were ready to go back to C25k, and I jumped in at week 4 or 5. I found it easier to pace myself running for longer bursts rather than the short bursts in weeks 1 and 2.