Oh no, I have Shin splint!!
I think it is important to recap my recovery process for this.
I had no idea that this would suddenly hit me. It has no relevance to my training at all. I cannot see how it will affect me. I seldom heard people has it even. I came across it first, when a dear colleague who just took up running last year, and has soared so well at it, way better than any other man that I came across with suddenly has it. Better than any man in terms of how he managed to get so speedy, within short training duration and when he only started at this age. He's 1 year older than me. So he asked me about it, and I told him the very thing that I told him when I saw he got so fast which was; I TOLD YOU SO. I told him earlier on, to control it, have gradual increment, don't push too much yada yada. And not long after that, he came to me with a shin splint. And I thought it would only get to him. Mana tahu, it got to me as well. Bummer.
How it happened. After self diagnosing myself that I was anemic, found a cure for it. Ramped up training within only 2 months in preparation for SCKLM. Have caught the bug of running outdoor instead of indoor almost on a daily basis. With sudden mileage increase (despite already having a decent one in the legs), sudden harder surface with increased intensity (have to say I was much faster that time) and prolonged usage of the old shoe has caused the shin splint to show itself right after SCKLM was done with. And I thought it was just normal soreness. I should have known better. I didn't do anything to treat the shin at that time. I thought it would go away on its own. The pain was quite mild and seemed to get better. I still ran but only mild ones post marathon. Longest run only started 2 weeks after, that's when I thought was a good time for me to start back into training, since I would have KOKK 2018 in 2 weeks after that. All the runs that I had, I could feel the nagging pain there. I had to limp a bit when starting, but after well into the run, the pain was gone. But the problem was, it wasn't totally gone. It got worse and never better until KOKK. I doubted whether I should go on with the race, considering it will be a tough course (30km and a trail one at that). After some consultation from the earlier mentioned friend, I think I could go on with the race, of course with the pain still on. I had my bandage on. Brought some spray perskindol along (as if it has any effect).
I was definitely limping through the race. The right leg was compensating with more work. Despite all the drama, Alhamdulillah I still managed to clinch no. 2 position, which was really to my surprise.
I could tell that the shin got slightly worse after that, but not too much worse. The week after that, I had RAUR 2018 with other fellow Srikandi. It was supposed to be easy course (if you are not doing it competitively). 1.1km loop after 3 other runners taking their turns, for 11 times. Doesn't sound too bad right. But it wasn't that much walk in the park, at least to my shin. Since the lap was very short, people tend to go very fast. And the park was not a flat one at all. There was a lot of downs and ups. So these 2 are a definite, sure fire recipe to make the shin splint worse; speed and hills). My runnning video really showed how I was limping with my run. I kept on putting ice on whenever I got the chance throughout the race.
The next 2 days, I went for my run. Still wasn't taking the lesson yet. Not even that I didn't give myself a break, I added more torture to it some more. Just look at the pace. So the next day, I tought I could do the same, but the shin finally said enough is enough. I couldn't even bring myself to run at all. I only managed to run 2.73 km. And it was purely because I had to walk all the way back. I couldn't even run. I was limping even walking. Every step I took was painful. Going down the stairs was the most fun of all. Since it coincided with Ramadhan, I took the opportunity to take a break myself. Focus on recovery and Ramadhan blessing more. And it was a fruitful one. This Ramadhan was the time that I managed to go to the Surau after so long. I even brought Naela along.
I had no idea that this would suddenly hit me. It has no relevance to my training at all. I cannot see how it will affect me. I seldom heard people has it even. I came across it first, when a dear colleague who just took up running last year, and has soared so well at it, way better than any other man that I came across with suddenly has it. Better than any man in terms of how he managed to get so speedy, within short training duration and when he only started at this age. He's 1 year older than me. So he asked me about it, and I told him the very thing that I told him when I saw he got so fast which was; I TOLD YOU SO. I told him earlier on, to control it, have gradual increment, don't push too much yada yada. And not long after that, he came to me with a shin splint. And I thought it would only get to him. Mana tahu, it got to me as well. Bummer.
How it happened. After self diagnosing myself that I was anemic, found a cure for it. Ramped up training within only 2 months in preparation for SCKLM. Have caught the bug of running outdoor instead of indoor almost on a daily basis. With sudden mileage increase (despite already having a decent one in the legs), sudden harder surface with increased intensity (have to say I was much faster that time) and prolonged usage of the old shoe has caused the shin splint to show itself right after SCKLM was done with. And I thought it was just normal soreness. I should have known better. I didn't do anything to treat the shin at that time. I thought it would go away on its own. The pain was quite mild and seemed to get better. I still ran but only mild ones post marathon. Longest run only started 2 weeks after, that's when I thought was a good time for me to start back into training, since I would have KOKK 2018 in 2 weeks after that. All the runs that I had, I could feel the nagging pain there. I had to limp a bit when starting, but after well into the run, the pain was gone. But the problem was, it wasn't totally gone. It got worse and never better until KOKK. I doubted whether I should go on with the race, considering it will be a tough course (30km and a trail one at that). After some consultation from the earlier mentioned friend, I think I could go on with the race, of course with the pain still on. I had my bandage on. Brought some spray perskindol along (as if it has any effect).
I was definitely limping through the race. The right leg was compensating with more work. Despite all the drama, Alhamdulillah I still managed to clinch no. 2 position, which was really to my surprise.
I could tell that the shin got slightly worse after that, but not too much worse. The week after that, I had RAUR 2018 with other fellow Srikandi. It was supposed to be easy course (if you are not doing it competitively). 1.1km loop after 3 other runners taking their turns, for 11 times. Doesn't sound too bad right. But it wasn't that much walk in the park, at least to my shin. Since the lap was very short, people tend to go very fast. And the park was not a flat one at all. There was a lot of downs and ups. So these 2 are a definite, sure fire recipe to make the shin splint worse; speed and hills). My runnning video really showed how I was limping with my run. I kept on putting ice on whenever I got the chance throughout the race.
The next 2 days, I went for my run. Still wasn't taking the lesson yet. Not even that I didn't give myself a break, I added more torture to it some more. Just look at the pace. So the next day, I tought I could do the same, but the shin finally said enough is enough. I couldn't even bring myself to run at all. I only managed to run 2.73 km. And it was purely because I had to walk all the way back. I couldn't even run. I was limping even walking. Every step I took was painful. Going down the stairs was the most fun of all. Since it coincided with Ramadhan, I took the opportunity to take a break myself. Focus on recovery and Ramadhan blessing more. And it was a fruitful one. This Ramadhan was the time that I managed to go to the Surau after so long. I even brought Naela along.
So I had a solid 2 weeks of complete break from running. 1st run after 2 weeks was a mere 3km. There was no pain when I was not running, that's why I had to see what would it be if I do. So the pain was still there. Ok. Then I went to monitor if it got worse after that. Alhamdulillah it didn't.
I started increasing my mileage from that original 3km with only 2 runs a week for about 1.5 months, with a lot of indoor bikes as well. I gained my confidence to then increased my running to daily and with 6 km min, and 11 km for a long run in the weekend, since the condition didn't seem to deteriorate but slowly got better as well. 1 month after the ramp up I had the first half which also served as a key tuneup race for Berlin. The half marathon was very key in 3 ways; (1) to gauge my fitness post recovery with only 1 month buildup (2) to gauge the recovery stage for my shin and (3) to gauge my readiness for Berlin.
I went in with almost zero expectation. The only expectation I had was maybe there was a remote chance that there was not that many participants and I could have a remote possibility of getting some position. But I was in no way having a high hope for the run performance itself. I was more anxious about my shin than the run itself. It turned out much better than I expected. I managed to run my best half ever, and achieved my long time aim of securing a sub 6 pace for a half marathon.
My shin still haven't recovered. But I'm quite surprised and grateful that recovery and progress can happen at the same time. It's highly not advisable though. If time is on your side, pleaseeee do recover first and put it as your utmost priority. All it takes might be just 6 weeks to fully recover and you can get back to your feet right after. But if your case is like mine, I think these has been they key things for my recovery:
- Do most of your runs on treadmill
- Reduce the speed and focus on aerobic or slightly below lactate threshold training.
- Taping. I didn't mention this much, but I noticed quite abrupt relief after I started applying this.
- Ice. Like real ice, in the bucket. I've been putting ice packs on my legs ever since I diagnosed myself having shin splint. But I got abrupt improvement after letting it soaked rather than on ice packs. I slacked a lot on this still. But believe me, this is one of recovery miracles.
After the half's race, some tingling pain is still there. But I really hope that it gets lesser and lesser. Will update further progress later.
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