Shin Splints - Gone and Back Again

I went to look back through my training log and my shins have been bothering me since late March. It became progressively worse in my left shin after the marathon, and I was beginning to worry that it was a stress fracture. The shin would pulsate with a dull pain pretty much all day, and I could only run after taking a couple ibuprofen and waiting an hour. Not exactly a sustainable game plan, I know...but they've been getting better. Sort of. Two weeks ago I thought was thisclose to being back to 100%, now I'm pretty far from that. The good news is that both shins have been hurting and the pain is much less intense than what it had been.

A couple weeks ago while on vacation I went on a few runs, and 3 of the runs included hill repeats. I felt pretty good during those runs and was able to hop into the cold ocean water for a post-run "ice bath." It was during the days following vacation that I thought I was almost at 100%, so I'm thinking that all the swimming and cold water had a positive effect on the shins (especially since I didn't really back off on the runs). I had also been doing more single leg lunges, calf raises, body weight squats, etc. to try and strengthen my legs - so that could have helped as well. In any case, I'm going to continue running, but try and do some more leg exercises to test out what works for me.

Sunday		24-Jun		-		3.0		Rest / Cross Train		0:07:45		11.12		Battle Road.  Awesome trail, shin felt great, a bit dehydrated, but was never really hurting.  Great to finally get in a run like this.
Monday		25-Jun		5.0		7.0		Easy		0:08:00		2.5		An easy jog with Raleigh. Finished up with 6 short sprints/strides and then some leg strengthening exercises.
Tuesday		26-Jun		4.0		8.0		Intervals				0		Ultimate
Wednesday		27-Jun		-		4.0		Recovery				5.2		10 min @ 6:24 pace, 1 min rest, 10 min @ 6:22. Very cool tempo workout.
Thursday		28-Jun		4.0		7.0		Moderate		0:08:00		1.35		Jog with Raleigh, and Ultimate.
Friday		29-Jun		-		4.0		Rest / Recovery				0		Very tempted to head out, but I felt really worn down and reluctantly took some rest.
Saturday		30-Jun		8.0		12.0		Long Run Easy				3.64		Fresh Pond race in 15:29, a new PR (kind of)…two cups of coffee and pie for breakfast then 7 minutes before the race I decided I'd run. Still fun.
Sunday		1-Jul		-		3.0		Or cross training/soccer				0.00		Rest.
Monday		2-Jul		8.0		11.0		w/10 100m strides		0:08:00		8.54		Hill route during lunch, roughly 5.5 at 7:40.  Night run with Raleigh, and finished up with 10 sprints. Good stretch & ice bath.
Tuesday		3-Jul		4.0		8.0		Intervals				6.92		1000/800/800/600/600/400/400/200/200 - killer workout.
Wednesday		4-Jul		2.0		6.0		Moderate		0:07:44		3.17		Hot and humid out there.  Took it easy enough though, as today was an active recovery day.
Thursday		5-Jul		5.0		9.0		Hard or Hills				2.79		One lapper around Fresh Pond, new PR: 14:59.  So close to a sub 6 pace, but that'll have to be another day.
Friday		6-Jul		-		6.0		Recovery				0		Did a bit of a warm up, then decided to just do some exercises. Shins.
Saturday		7-Jul		13.0		16.0		Long Run Tempo		0:08:08		11.50		Battle Road again with Eli. Shin was barking a little bit at the start, but not too bad. Very hot & muggy so we didn't push it.

A few really good workouts in there, and some ok distance. Unfortunately, it looks like the next three weeks are going to be difficult to start any kind of consistent training. Races on the 15th/22nd/28th will keep me from doing trail runs, and ultimate will be a substitute for speed work...I'm a slave to the running log!