Michael's Diary

the ice massage sugested above is the perfect treatment for you shins immediately after your run but I am sure you long term goal is not to get the shin splint in the first place. You need to make sure you stretch both calf muscles (soleus and gastrocnemius) completely once they are warm (don't stretch them cold or risk a tear). It would also be a good idea to strengthen the muscle over your shin Tibialis Anterior to keep it in balance with your calves which are getting stonger due to the running. Muscle imbalance causes injury.
 
Day 13 - January 15, 2009
I got up at 4:45 again this morning and spent 45 minutes at the gym working my shoulder muscles. I am very sore, but it's a "good" sore, if that makes sense. I also ran 1 1/2 miles today. I have much more stamina now (running almost twice the distance before I have to take a break than when I began almost two weeks ago), but the downside is my ankles are still killing me after a run. I think I'm going to tone it down to 1 mile a day instead, since after a mile my ankles are sore but nowhere near the pain I am feeling after running that last 1/2 mile. It takes about 45 minutes for the pain to subside after I run, and then I'm just sore for about 12 hours. I iced my ankles for a while which helped bring down the pain, and I've been sitting for a while, resting my legs. Right now, they feel OK. I stretched properly before running too, so maybe I just haven't broken in these shoes well enough yet.

Summary
1hr 15 minutes total
1 1/2 mile cardio
45 minutes muscle training - shoulders/upper back
 
hey, just skimming through here, the running is really good, but it's bad on the joints after awhile, as you may have noticed. Especially if you're doing it outside and not on the treadmill.

I recommend changing it up abit, and maybe go on an exercise bike or even an elliptical a couple days a week. Cardio is important to weight loss, no doubt, but it needs rest too.

I used to do the body part a day thing, and it did give me results, but i think a better approach for what you're aiming for might be working out a whole group a day. For example: upper body day 1, lower body day 2, and back on day 3. Having a friend will really help your motivation, it's great to have them. After about 3 weeks of working out, that pain you feel the next day will pretty much not happen anymore. You're just shocking your system so much right now, but it will adapt.

If you do too much cardio, your body WILL crave, and crave and crave, more food. You don't need to starve yourself to get good results. But your calorie consumption estimates is a really good baseline to go by. If you're eating the right things (protiens, not too much carbs, good fats) you might even have to force yourself to eat all the calories in the day. Try to eliminate sugars (minus fruits) and soft drinks (including diet sodas). Your appetite will thank you.

If you can't get to the gym very often, I also suggest getting a chin up bar, and even resistance bands. I use 3 bands on one set of handles, and it's almost as good as using free weights. You can experiment with them too, so when you get to the gym, you can do similar exercises with free weights.

Good luck, stay on it, and you should have no problems reaching your goals :)
 
Ronbell said:
hey, just skimming through here, the running is really good, but it's bad on the joints after awhile, as you may have noticed. Especially if you're doing it outside and not on the treadmill.

I recommend changing it up abit, and maybe go on an exercise bike or even an elliptical a couple days a week. Cardio is important to weight loss, no doubt, but it needs rest too.

I used to do the body part a day thing, and it did give me results, but i think a better approach for what you're aiming for might be working out a whole group a day. For example: upper body day 1, lower body day 2, and back on day 3. Having a friend will really help your motivation, it's great to have them. After about 3 weeks of working out, that pain you feel the next day will pretty much not happen anymore. You're just shocking your system so much right now, but it will adapt.

If you do too much cardio, your body WILL crave, and crave and crave, more food. You don't need to starve yourself to get good results. But your calorie consumption estimates is a really good baseline to go by. If you're eating the right things (protiens, not too much carbs, good fats) you might even have to force yourself to eat all the calories in the day. Try to eliminate sugars (minus fruits) and soft drinks (including diet sodas). Your appetite will thank you.

If you can't get to the gym very often, I also suggest getting a chin up bar, and even resistance bands. I use 3 bands on one set of handles, and it's almost as good as using free weights. You can experiment with them too, so when you get to the gym, you can do similar exercises with free weights.

Good luck, stay on it, and you should have no problems reaching your goals :)
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I get to the gym about four times a week. On the days I can't go, I just do some at-home stuff along with the running. Everything else is good - I'm eating enough without overeating, I'm keeping an eye on my weight loss, and I think I've made some serious progress so far.
 
Day 15 - January 17, 2010
Today I only ran a mile. I'm trying to give my joints a chance to heal, so I don't want to push them too hard. I notice that my left ankle begins to hurt before my right, so there's some sort of imbalance going on. I'm guessing it's due to the fact that I'm right-handed, so the muscles on the left side of my body are less developed. Anyway, I still did the mile (and I'm running further and further before stopping every day), and I feel good. I also did a variation of the sit-up, where you go side-to-side and bring right elbow to left knee and vice-versa. I've hit a slump with sit-ups - I can do them, but even if I push myself they never burn, they just sorta stop working after a certain number of sit-ups. I tried these and I could hardly do forty before my stomach muscles were on fire. That's what I was looking for, though, so I'm going to do that more often instead of regular sit-ups.

Summary
30 minutes total
1 mile cardio
40 sit-ups (harder variant)

+ 20 minutes
1/2 mile cardio (walking with dog)

End of Week 2 Weight: 196.0 lbs
 
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Day 16 - January 18, 2010
Man, my left ankle is killing me. I mean, after I ran today both of my ankles were on fire (I was barely able to lie down on a bed and deal with the pain for the next 20 minutes), but my left one is the only one that hasn't stopped hurting all the way. It's still painful to put weight on - when I do, I feel a pain that shoots up my shin about 1/4 the way up my leg. I think I might do extra muscle exercises tomorrow instead of running - I just don't want to risk permanent damage. Anyway, regarding my actual performance today, I managed to run a full half-mile nonstop for the first time. The second half-mile required one stop, but that's it, so I'm seeing some definite improvement in my cardio. I also did two sets of 25 push-ups, which is more at once than I was previously able to do (it was 15 max without stopping). Overall, I feel great, not taking into account the severe pain afterward and the lingering pain that doesn't go away fully for the next twelve hours.

Summary
30 minutes total
1 mile cardio
2x25 pushups
 
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Day 17 - January 19, 2010
I didn't do any running today because my ankle is still hurting me, but I managed to get in plenty of exercise regardless. I woke up at 4:45 (as I do every weekday morning other than Wednesdays) and went to the gym, where I worked on my chest and arms for 45 minutes. When I got home, I did another 25 minutes of calisthenics (I don't have much workout equipment around the house) and I even did some running in place (high knees). I haven't mentioned this yet, but I've been taking pictures of myself shirtless once a day since I began, and today was the first day I noticed a difference between the first picture and today's picture. I could see my muscles more clearly, and it was obvious that my (rather flabby) stomach was taking form. Once I lose all the weight and am happy with the way I look without a shirt on, I will probably use the pictures to create a time-lapse of some sort, so I can visually see the progress I made (as well as share it with you guys). Anyway, I'm not there quite yet (another few months and maybe), but I'm happy so far and I can't wait to finally lose it all.

Summary
1h 10 min total
25 minutes at-home calisthenics
45 minutes upper-body workout

+ 20 minutes of walking with my dog (I'm still trying to keep my ankles moving every day, even if it's low-impact and slow)
 
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Day 18 - January 21, 2010
Today was my "day off", so to speak. I didn't do nothing, but I did less than I usually do. In the past few days, my weight has floated around 195lbs without any noticeable day-over-day decrease. I'm guessing my metabolism has adapted to my exercise and food intake, so I think I'm gonna try to eat a bit above maintenance level calorie-wise today to jump-start my metabolism a bit. I've probably been eating around 1600 - 1800 calories a day, but I think things have balanced out a bit now that my body's adapted so I'm gonna give it a kick-start in the hopes I can start losing again. I really want to avoid a plateau - I know it's too early to assume that's what's going on, but I want to be as preventative as possible.

Summary
30 minutes total
10 minutes muscle training (abs only - sit-ups, crunches, and variations of the two to work different portions of my abs)
20 minutes cardio (running in place for 5 minutes, jogging up and down stairs for about 7 minutes, and doing some leg muscle endurance workouts for 8 or so minutes)
 
Day 19 - January 22, 2010
I ran today, after taking two days off to rest my ankles. I still only did a mile, but while there was pain, it was not too severe and it subsided quickly after I got off my feet. I'm kind of annoyed at my ankles - I know that if they didn't hurt, I could be doing more running. My muscles can take it and my cardio is good enough now that I could do a mile and a half (or even two miles) a day without too much fuss, but my ankles are making it nigh on impossible. I'm still hoping this is a muscular thing and will go away as I strengthen up - otherwise, I might have to look into doing something other than running if I want to avoid permanent damage. I also did 45 minutes of weight training at the gym this morning, as I (now) usually do during the week.

Summary
1hr total
15 minutes cardio (1 mile, with a break in between for my ankles)
45 minutes muscle training (mostly triceps, but also biceps and abs)
 
Trusylver said:
I think you should go see your doctor to have your ankles checked for problems.
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I'm gonna give it some time and see if it goes away. If in a month's time it's the same story, then I'll make an appointment and go get seen about it. I'm still not convinced it's not just an adaptation injury, so I want to give it a bit more time.
 
Day 20 - January 24, 2010
I took a bit of a break today. I didn't do any running or other workouts, and I pretty much sat/laid down the majority of the day. I did manage to get in a 30 min, 2 mile walk, so I didn't do nothing. I still stayed under maintenance - I didn't gorge myself. I just felt tired and ready for a day to relax, so I took it.

Summary
30 minutes cardio (2 miles, walking)
 
Day 21 - January 25, 2010
Today was pretty normal. I got up, went to the gym, and when I got home I ran a mile. Only difference is I'm now able to run both half-miles nonstop - I just need to stop once between the first half and the second half. My ankles still hurt after running, but I've been able to deal with it and it hasn't gotten any worse, so I'm just gonna let it be for now.

Summary
1hr total
1 mile cardio
45 minutes weight training (upper back)

End of Week 3 Weight: 193.4lbs
 
Day 22 - January 26, 2010
Today also held no surprises. I did the standard fare - work out in the morning, run in the afternoon. Ankles still hurt, but bearably so. Also did some sit-ups between the running to give my abs a bit of a workout.

Summary
1hr total
1 mile cardio
2x40 sit-ups
45 minutes weight training (shoulders/biceps/triceps)
 
Day 23 - January 27, 2010
Sorta kinda took a break. Only ran half a mile, and didn't go to the gym in the morning (no gym on Wednesday). I would have ran the other half but my ankles were still sore.

Summary
1/2 mile cardio
 
Day 24 - January 28, 2010
Went to the gym, did the normal morning workout. Ran a mile that afternoon, along with 2 sets of 50 sit-ups. Felt much better today - I think I'm coming to rely on these morning workouts. When I don't get them, I tend to feel worse throughout the day. I think that's a good thing.

Summary
1hr total
45 minutes muscle training
1 mile cardio
2x50 sit-ups
 
Day 25 - January 29, 2010
Morning workout as usual. Ankles were completely killing me, and I did some furniture-moving for about 30 minutes with a neighbor, so I took a break from the running. I still don't know what's causing it, but I have (a bone disease of the knee) so I wouldn't be surprised if my ankles have problems as well.

Summary
45 minutes total
45 minutes muscle training

+ 30 minutes moving furniture
 
Day 26 - January 30, 2010
I did a half-mile along with 2x50 sit-ups. My ankles were still hurting so I couldn't do the full mile like I wanted. I am considering switching over to a bike instead. Will probably try that tomorrow.

Summary
20 minutes total
1/2 mile cardio
2x50 sit-ups
 
Day 27 - January 31, 2010
I did some biking today instead (twenty-odd minutes worth of really pumping it - my leg muscles are dead) and I don't have any ankle or other joint pain. I'm going to do that from now on instead of running - it hurts less and I can do it for longer. Plus, it should help strengthen up my back and leg muscles, which need it.

Summary
20 minutes total
20 minutes biking
 
Sever's disease is the ankle equivelent of Osgood Schlatter's disease, I am not sure how old you are but it is normal to grow out of both problems, have you tried strapping your ankle, as part of my job as a sports trainer I often have to apply strapping for both conditions, but when it is realy bad the young athletes get sent to see a physio.
 
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