Solid speedwork session

6 x 2 minutes, 45 second Standing Recovery

My shins had made themselves felt in the preceeding 24 hours so it was with some trepidation that I ventured to the Ship Inn for speedwork this morning. Fortunately, the legs felt good in the three kilometre warm up to the Story Bridge and I was able to throw myself with vigour into the session. With Langy taking it easy in his final hitout prior to the Melbourne half and Slash a no show, I led from the front in most of the reps along with Gary M, Glenda and newcomer, Ben. The lack of hard aerobic exercise in the past fortnight started to take its toll by the time the fifth rep came around. I then reminded myself that Noosa was only a month away, dug deep and gave myself a massive flogging in the final rep, collapsing to the bitumen in exhaustion after a lung busting conclusion. The legs pulled up well and I was a satisfied man at the end of the session.

Nevertheless, I now plan to reduce the number of "stretcher sessions" that I have at speedwork until I have completely beaten the devil that is my shin splints into submission . Whilst its a great feeling to train yourself to exhaustion and my cardio vascular system can cope with it, I believe that my shins can't cope with it every time. Anyone who has ever tried to run fast when utterly exhausted will know the feeling of having a heavy stride with legs flaying about awkwardly. I believe when I push myself through exhaustion to continue running fast, the flaws that I have with my running technique exarcerbate the stress placed upon my shins. The trick now, is to learn to train hard at speedwork and reach the threshold of exhaustion, but not cross it and instead continue to run with a smooth and economical stride that places the least amount of stress on my shins. Only time will tell how successful this is.