Get new shoes, run on softer surfaces, check mechanics, back off on plyos & sprinting in spikes, ice, and possibly soft tissue assessment of surrounding areas.
This is the best way to ice shin splints for me. I fill a dixie cup up with water and freeze it. After it totally frozen I take off the cup around the ice and just rub the ice along my shins. The ice is in a perfect shape to rub up and down your shin.
If you have or are starting to have shin problems, if you have to run in the grass can you do the same workouts you would do on the track or do you have to alter them?
Originally posted by DaGovernor
If you have or are starting to have shin problems, if you have to run in the grass can you do the same workouts you would do on the track or do you have to alter them?
I think you could do the same workouts but the stimulus would be a little different due to the much softer surface.
Ok, well obviously if I did the same workouts that I am doing now I'd be ok. But it seems like because it would be less taxing on the CNS, I could concievably do more to maximize this stimulus. Am I correct? Any suggestions?
If you did more, the stimulus still wouldn't be the same. It would be as if the squat workout you were supposed to do was 8 x 3 w/ 4 sets @ 405 but your gym only had enough weight for you to squat 315. Well, you could do 12 x 3 w/ 8 sets @ 315 but it still wouldn't be the same. I just don't think pure speed work should be done on the grass unless there is no other option due to facilities, weather conditions, injuries, etc.
Do you think grass running or running on cinder could serve as sort of a form of resisted running, or would resistance have to come from hills or something other than the surface? BTW, sorry I'm asking so many questions today.
Originally posted by mike
If you did more, the stimulus still wouldn't be the same. It would be as if the squat workout you were supposed to do was 8 x 3 w/ 4 sets @ 405 but your gym only had enough weight for you to squat 315. Well, you could do 12 x 3 w/ 8 sets @ 315 but it still wouldn't be the same. I just don't think pure speed work should be done on the grass unless there is no other option due to facilities, weather conditions, injuries, etc.
That makes sense. Well I have a few girls on my team that are battling shin injuries. If I gave them workouts in the grass every day, I know their Speed endurance will be ok, but without pure speed work being done until they are ready to step on the track, how far behind would they be once they return to the track?
Originally posted by pete
Do you think grass running or running on cinder could serve as sort of a form of resisted running, or would resistance have to come from hills or something other than the surface? BTW, sorry I'm asking so many questions today.
I think so but from personal experience I don't quite think they are equivalent. Whenever I've done runs in the sand or cinder it always to place a much greater stress on the lower leg muscles than their resisted run counterparts. Also, the softer the surface, the longer the ground contact time. Shorter ground contact times have been indicated as one of the primary indicators of better sprinters so overly soft surfaces should probably not be used to often for speed development work.
