Friday, February 9, 2007

Austin Marathon - 9 days and counting

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest), the shin pain is down to below 5 now. The swelling is gone and so is the redness. I'm going to remain smart and not run on it at all. I went back to the YMCA last night to try the elliptical trainer again, and I think I might have had better results. I got on a different one that was able to measure heartrate and a bunch of other stuff. I set it to a "hilly" course and started at it. The first 15 minutes or so I was still discouraged, because my heartrate was barely getting above 70 (my normal resting rate is 35-38 bpm). I increased the level of tension and finally got it to where I felt a level of effort without having to push down too hard on the pedals. It took me a good 30+ minutes to get the heartrate up to above 90, then around 45 minutes I finally topped 100, then really pushed it for 15 more minutes with an RPM of about 85-90 and got the heartrate up to maybe 110-115. I ended up staying on for about an hour and 15 minutes total and worked up a pretty good sweat and felt as if I had at least gotten my legs a decent workout. It still doesn't replace the running workout for my upper body, and I feel a bit awkward just sitting there with my arms hanging down or resting on bars, but I guess that's what you do. I had considered a stair stepper where you can also move your arms back and forth on the upper bars, but looking at it made me think it might be too much pressure on the left shin.

7 comments:

Neese said...

If you continue to take it easy it sounds like 9 days is plenty of time to be ready for Austin!

JayBird said...

What happen to the shin?

Nikki said...

Swelling and red..wow that must be some shin splint :'(

Glad you able to work through the pain and get some kind of workout that gets your heart rate up and legs working.

Faithful Soles said...

Long story short about the shin getting better: Staying off of the leg, resting, ice, Aleve, and a topical analgesic (all natural, no steroids or anything like that) a buddy of mine who has run about 30 marathons recommended to me.

Esther said...

You were right - the story you recommended was great. I actually saw something rather similar myself at the Gold Coast Marathon in QLD Australia. Thanks for stopping by my blog - I wish you all the very best in the 9 day countdown - tkae it easy and good luck!

Est x

Unknown said...

Rest the shin please

l'emerodromo said...

Thanks for the comment Robert!
I wish you good luck for your marathon!.
I've signed my blog on your site.
I would like, one day, to run a marathon in the USA.
Ciao
the italian marathoner.