Disappointing morning. Went out to do Week 4, Day 3 with my wife. My shins had been hurting a little ever since the end of Wednesday's run. I thought it would be no big deal and they would work themselves out. Oh no. Shooting pains in my shins made me cut the workout short at the halfway point. Had to limp home. Took some Aspirin and put some ice on them and it has at least mellowed the pain out a little bit (I could barely walk or put any weight on my legs at first).

That being said, everything I'm reading makes it sound like I'm experiencing good ol' shin splints. Does this sound accurate? Anyone with experience with these? Tips, recommendations, etc. on how to go forward?

Edit: The pain seems to shoot from above the inside of the ankle to about 1/3 way up the leg. It rides right along the inside of the tibia. Looking online, it sounds like 'posterior shin splints.' Going to take a few days off from running and hit up the elliptical machine instead. Ugh.

[This message has been edited by tamuaggie2007 (edited 1/14/2012 9:11a).]

Hope you get to feeling better soon!

Week 3 Day 3 done. Off to face my nemesis Week 4 on Monday.

W3D3 done.

Going to hit Week 4 head on Monday evening.

Tackling week 3, starting tomorrow.

[This message has been edited by Another future ag (edited 1/15/2012 9:38p).]

W4D1 Complete!

Was afraid of the rain tomorrow so went and ran at halftime.

Feeling it now. Ran 5 out of 6 days and will take 2 days off before hitting W4D2 on Wednesday.

W5D3 today. NO EXCUSES!!!

Update Jan. 16. It was a fun update for me to do. A lot of people making a lot of really good progress at different stages of the program.

Week 0

Week 1
HUEY04 - W1D2 (11/28/2011)
Char99 - W1D3 (1/12/2012)
Lily09 - W1D3 (1/11/2012)

Week 2
TresPuertas - W2D1? (1/11/2012)
Macpappy99 - W2D3 (1/7/2012)
another future AG - W2D3 (1/13/2012)

Week 3
metrag06 - W3D3 (1/14/2012)
musicforall - W3D3 (1/5/2012)

Week 4
G Money - W4D1 (1/15/2012)
tamuaggie2007 - W4D2 (1/11/2012) - Doing elliptical this week to rest shins
Big12Champ06 - W4D3 (1/13/2012)

Week 5
Seven - W5D2 (1/6/2012)
Thriller - W5D3 (1/13/2012)

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Graduates (since thread inception)
MaroonBlood9 (1/12/2012)

Honorary Graduates
ssolari94 (1/5/2012)

Checking in
- Char99 & Lily09 - Great job on your first weeks! Keep up the good work!
- MaroonBlood9 - Congrats on finishing! Good luck on the bridge to 10K!
- Macpappy99 - How you doing? Didn't see anything from you this past week.
- musicforall - You get in any runs in this week? I saw you posted, but it wasn't clear if you were able to get a workout in.
- Seven - Today's your day. Make it happen! You've got Thriller threatening your lead on the second half...

[This message has been edited by tamuaggie2007 (edited 1/16/2012 9:15a).]

W5D1 done today. Felt pretty good!

Got W4D1 tomorrow. I need to work on slowing up my pace a little for the onger runs.

Still here, still trying. Simply cannot do Week 4. Today I walked 1/4 mile, ran a 1/4 of a mile, alternating until I had a mile and a half done. Could have done that for a long time, if I was slow about it. Will keep trying but cannot seem to figure out a pace that will let me breathe.

Music how fast are you going? Slow it down some and maybe you can string together longer segments

W3D1 complete.

I've been doing the jogging portion at about 6.8 mph on the treadmill. Although I did'nt feel too tired after today's workout, I've grown concerned about being able to maintain this speed throughout the program. Would y'all recommend dialing down the speed a tad?

music - Are you doing it on the treadmill? Try getting on a track, if possible. I find it very difficult to run at a sustained pace on a treadmill, even at one that my run averages out to. If you can't get on a track, try slowing the run pace. It may also be a good idea to repeat week 3, or just take a week off.

future Ag - Keep that pace if you're comfortable with it. The good rule of thumb is, if you can carry on a conversation at the speed, then you're ok. As the run get longer, you'll probably slow down at some point during the run, but that's ok, as long as you're still running.

Decided to take a two day break this time so I'll tackle W4D1 tomorrow morning.

future - 6.8 is too quick for me (I'm also pretty heavy though). I do the jogging segments between 5.7 and 6.0 depending upon how I'm doing that day.

W5D3 done. Felt great wanted to run longer. May start week 6 tomorrow

W2D1 done..I felt great but I really hate running in the wind!

Week 6, Day 1 complete

60 degrees, 20 mph wind WSW. Wow the wind was stiff this evening, though it was much better than it had been all day long (30 mph most of the day). Wind definitely impacted the run - a full 1 minute per mile slower on average today.

2.46 miles in 35 minutes, including 5 minutes of warmup and 5 minutes of cooldown. Elevation gain of 68 ft and loss of 41 ft.

Two 10 minute runs followed separated by a 5 minute walking period. I didn't feel too bad considering the extra couple of minutes in each segment. Hopefully a sign of improved aerobic capacity, if that is the right term.

Argh! I lost my lead due to laziness. I will get it back though.

Congrats on being non lazy thriller. You give me motivation to beat you

musicforall - Keep your head up. Perseverance is key. Don't be afraid to repeat a week as many times as necessary. It's no secret that things will get tough at different points in the program for different people. If you find yourself getting stuck on a segment, try and force yourself to do go another 5 or 10 seconds longer (even if it's at a very, very slow jog). During the next run, try and go another 5 or 10 seconds longer. Speaking from experience, pushing the limits of what your mind and body 'thinks' is the limit will make you stronger during the next run.

No treadmill available. I have run on dirt in a park, the sidewalk and I tried the track for the first time this weekend. All I can say is that everything seems much longer on the track - I will have to get some music or someone to run with, because it is boring. Which is probably why I am trying to run too fast - to get it over with. Other than an inconsistent pace, and maybe the wind, I do not get why I was able to run a mile one week, and now cannot do a 1/2 mile. Bleh. Will not have time to try to run again until Sunday. I think it is going to take me quite a while to get week 4 done. Not giving up. Week 4 may take me a month, though. Getting old is bad. Do not do it.

you may just need to take a break

W4D2 complete.

Didn't take my planned 2 day break and feeling fatigued.

On a good note my garmin 405cx just arrived.

Once again I was ready to just take another day off, nice and easy, when I check here and see someone else went out and ran. Thus, week 4 day 1 is dedicated to GMoney for guilting me onto the treadmill.

Did 2.42 in about 35 minutes - took it a bit easier on the pace than last week and I think that saved me. My left foot and ankle were beginnin to feel like a block of wood just swinging along on the bottom of my leg but I made it through without falling out on the last run. This was as far as I made it last time around so I'm looking forward to putting W4D2 behind me on Thursday.

[This message has been edited by metrag06 (edited 1/17/2012 4:35p).]

Double post...

[This message has been edited by metrag06 (edited 1/17/2012 4:36p).]

Wow..I'm running a lot slower than you guys. I'm running different routes through my neighborhood averaging about 11:30/mi for the actual running portions. I've noticed that my pace has slowed by about 1:00/mi since the shorter intervals in the beginning. Wonder how much slower I'm going to have to get to finish the 5k!!

Good Job Metrag06!

This old man is trying to keep up with you.

Please call me out if I get off the program, we are right at about the same place in the program.

W4D1 in the books. I was seriously considering doing week 3 again because of the 5 minute intervals in week 4. I was able to slow my pace down to the 8:30-9 minute range. Made it 2.79 miles in 35 minutes.

Unscheduled day off for me today, unfortunately. My wife left for Austin early this morning and I have the kids all day. No opportunity to run, so W6D2 will have to wait for tomorrow.

I've also developed some very odd intermittent pain in the right side of my chest and I'd like to see that go away before getting out there again. Frustrating since it should be a nice day to go running.

Completed W3D2 Yesterday.

Taking a rest tonight and tackling Day 3 tomorrow.

I did this a year and a half ago to start running. I ran my first Marathon on Sunday. Good stuff.

W2D1 done. I will be tackling day 2 and 3 tomorrow and Friday. Work is not giving me much time to run this week.

W4D3 Complete!

My new Garmin 405cx kept telling me it was time to run.

Way too many features to understand but managed to figure out 2.57 miles in 31.5 minutes. Burned 488 calories and average heart rate of 160.

G Money, there are videos online that help explain the features.

My running partner had some issues today. First had to stop to potty then tangled me in the leash during the last run. Ugh.

App said I got even slower today. 12:00/mi. Double ugh.

But I finished and can tell I'm gaining endurance.

I wouldn't worry too much about your speed right now. It will come with time. I started running roughly 2 yrs ago. My first 3 mile run I was averaging 11-12 min miles (I've kept track of all my runs in excel). I ran a half marathon at 7:08 pace last December.

Don't let the pace discourage you. Just get the miles in, keep up with it and you'll get faster.