The Rocket is back!

How fast are you doing those runs? I wonder if the reason the shins hurt is because the pace is too fast.

I've been having shin issues since December; I keep taking time off and starting with easy 3-4 mile runs for a few weeks, but the pain keeps coming back. I'm icing like crazy, stretching, and doing strengthening exercises... it's gotten better, but not gone completely. My pace is about 8 minute miles or a bit slower. I definitely don't feel like it's too fast... Any suggestions?

Lucia:

You've just raced 5 miles at a pace that was only slightly faster than 8:00. Your training pace should be a lot slower. Ease off to about 9:30 mile. There are several factors that affect your perception of pace - the three main ones I would single out are the strength of your cardiovascular system, the strength of your nervous system, and the strength of your muscles. What happens to most runners is that they judge how hard the pace is on their body by their favorite stressor, which is more often than not the nervous system impact. For an athletic young woman like you 8:00 pace does not produce a lot of impact on the nervous system. Based on how you raced, this is quite a bit of stress on the cardio since all you could do in an all out 5 miler was that pace. So your cardio is probably not quite getting the full benefits from this type of training, but that would not be related to the shins. I would imagine your shins are not yet ready to run 8:00 pace every day. Slowing down to 9:30 would allow them a chance to get stronger, while providing better cardio benefits at the same time.

Thank you Sasha! I will slow down on my next runs. (it's that devil, you know... I can't let people pass me by without a fight!) :)