How you can do just about anything to SUCCEED in life

Only a few days before our #IRONMANCAIRNS event kicks off.

If you've ever been curious to know the day in the life of a tri-athlete in training, then it could look a little like:

4am - Get up & ride for a few hours before work
6am - Breakfast, say hello to the family, get ready for work
7.30am - 5pm - Work the day job
--- lunch hour -----  Few laps of the pool as a recovery swim
5pm - Go for a 20km run
7pm - Home and ready to settle down for the evening
9pm - Bed!

This is just ONE day BUT what you see on competition day is MONTHS of training, dedication and commitment.

You can make all the excuses in the world as to why you couldn't do this but if you wanted to, you could.

YES, even YOU. 

Can't swim?          Get lessons
Can't run?             Get a coach or join a running club
Can't ride a bike? Jump on one and practise

There is no secret to achievement or success, it is simply work at it, work at it, work at it (I'm not just talking about IronMan either). You need to set your sights on your goal, get off your butt and take those baby steps, each day, that will help you get to your final destination (goal).

So the next time you admire your friend who can "run easily" or you feel envious when your  mate rocks up in a flash car, remember, you are only seeing the end results of an accumulation of EFFORT.

Your success depends on YOU committing, being consistent and believing you CAN DO IT.

What would YOU like to achieve?

Do your shins hurt when you run?

Lower leg pain?

I've come across several people this week that have asked me about lower leg pain when running, so I thought I would address this common issue and help you out with some useful information.

The term “Shin Splints” is commonly used to describe any pain the front or posterior rear of the lower leg that isn’t restricted to the main muscles that make up the calf (ie it’s not a pulled muscle).

Possible Causes of Shin Splints

Increasing volume too quickly – If the only running you've done in the last 5 yrs is to catch the bus pulling out or a quick sprint to the bar before last orders and all of a sudden you decide to start running 5km every second day, you could easily get lower leg pain within weeks. 

Shin splints are fundamentally an overuse injury so doing too much too soon is probably the biggest cause of lower leg pain.  If you want to increase your volume of running, make sure you do so gradually adding only 5-10% to your distances each week and monitoring for any pain.

Inappropriate footwear – This comes in two types.  The first is starting a program of running with very old running shoes.   Old shoes that you wear day to day may look fine but the cushioning in running shoes packs down fairly quickly.  Your runners should only be used for running and should be replaced at least every 12 months.  If you do more than 25km per week of running you may want to change them every 6 months.

Running exclusively on hard surfaces or roads – Some people can handle doing lots of running on concrete or tarmac and never have problems with their shins.  For other people doing the majority of their running on the road or footpaths leads very quickly to shin pain.

The solution is to limit your running on hard surfaces to 1-2 times per week and do the rest of your running on grass or sand.

Doing too much running in total – again, some people seem to handle running 4,5 or 6 days per week year in and year out without any problems but for many people (particularly if you are heavier than average) doing more than 3 sessions a week of running can cause problems.

The solution is to do enough running to get used to the skill of running (yep, it’s a skill) but get some of your conditioning from alternate methods like circuit training, or coming to my FITCamp for example for cross training.

Not backing off – Your ability to run faster after a period of training is due to your body’s response to and recovery from the stress you apply during a series of training sessions.  As you progress you will have to add more and more volume or intensity to your program to see better results but this comes with a catch.  If you keep trying to do more and more you will eventually break down.

To avoid this it is necessary to plan in periods of lighter training with a greater focus on recovery every 4-6 weeks.

Tight muscles - Tight hamstrings, calves and muscle imbalances may also be a contributing factor to your shin pain. Before self-diagnosing,  consider the above points first, but also consult your physio before your condition worsens.

what do you do if you start to get shin splints?

The first thing to do is STOP RUNNING.  If the pain is very minor take 2-3 days off running but continue to do other activities such as body conditioning or cycling then reassess your pain. 

If the pain is moderate to severe or it persists during the whole session and/or after you finish then you probably need to take 2-4 weeks off all running.  Again, other activities like boxing or cross training with circuits (or my FITCamp) can be used to maintain or even improve your fitness while you give your legs some rest. 

However, I would recommend seeing a physio for a proper diagnosis of the condition and root causes so you can then follow their advice on remedial exercises, massage etc before building back up to running very slowly.

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