I Am In Bad Shape!

The Visit
Well, this weekend I had my sister over. She had flown out to Utah to see family, flew in to NC to visit a Brother-in-law, then over to see my family. We had a great time and the entire family had fun!

Shin Splints
My sister has been complaining about shin splints. She gets them from walking, running, etc. Because of the pain she does not work out. Shin splints is the inflammation of the muscle and tendon (the posterior personal tendon) that runs down the front of your leg or shin bone. It is believed that this is cause from additional use of the tendon in running and walking. as you walk or run, this tendon and muscle are used to lift the front of your toe out of the way. With any muscle and tendon use, if you over do the work out, it will become sore and inflamed.

Oh My Gosh!
I showed her some stretches do do and a couple of workouts to help. Oh my gosh! I had a hard time doing them and a couple I couldn't do at all. I am in really bad shape. I have my doctors appointment tomorrow and I will talk with him about my progress. My incision site is improving but I am still really sore and have to be careful. I will especially talk to him about my knee. I am really concerned now since it is sore and stiff.

How To Treat Shin Splints
There are several ways to treat the problem. First we are going to assume that you do want to continue some type of work out, but this muscle and tendon need rest and can not be over worked. This is commonly called relative rest.

Relative Rest
Relative rest is a combination of stretches, exercises, and modified walking or running to help strengthening the muscle and reducing inflammation of the tendon. Doing the Soleus Stand stretch and the runners stretch are important. Check out these stretches also. Next proper exercise of the soleus muscle is needed. Find a step, place you toe on the step and you heel over the edge. then to toe raises, allowing you foot to fall bellow your toe, over the edge of the step. Last modify your running and walking. You can do this by running in a pool with a water belt, or substituting the running and walking with biking. Biking is a great aerobic exercise that builds muscle in the legs and DOES NOT have the impact stress of running and walking. slowly build back into running and walking and I mean slowly. Normally you would increase your mileage by 10%. If you suffer from shin splints, do not increase more than 5%, may even 2.5% would be better.

Time And Miles
It is difficult to translate an equivalent bike ride to walking and running. Generally speaking, 4 miles of biking is equal to 1 mile running or 2 miles walking. So if I run 1 mile, the biking equivalent is 4 miles. If I want to walk to get the same workout as 1 mile, I have to walk 2 miles.
For all of you pros out there, YES THIS IS NOT EXACT. THIS IS INTENDED FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON TO WALK OR RUN TO GET BACK IN SHAPE.
So walk 1 mile. How long does that take you? Lets say it takes you 15 minutes. then do your walking in a pool for 15 minutes. Generally I can bike twice as fast as I can run, So I would bike for 30 minutes on a stationary bike, setting the resistance level to feel like I am using as much energy as I would if I were walking.

Why Not....
I will probably get a lot of emails asking my why not use the odometer on the stationary bike, or why not do this or that or the other. when I was really working out and training for triathlons, I probably WOULD do this that and the other. If you feel that you are at that level, by a book on the subject relating to triathlon training or running. I don't have the time or space on this blog to do and explanation justice. Remember, this is for me and other to just get back into shape.

Last Thoughts
The best way to start is stretching and walking. Slowly build the amount of time or distance you walk. I will keep you posted on my progress as I get my fat butt in shape.