<p>Ok, I have played three varsity sports all four years of high school, and have fairly bad shin splints and some other injuries like tendinitis and other things due to lack of rest...I plan on letting these heal and start training about mid march, is this too late to start running? I'm not worried about push ups and pull ups, it's just the running. If anyone has gone throught beast, what's the farthest you had to run? Thank you for any responses...</p>
<p>jd - </p>
<p>I'm a bit curious. How did DODMERB view your shin splints? I thought that was a disqualifier.</p>
<p>Do you have a good sports medicine doctor that you can see? After taking some time off, you may want to try running in a pool with a flotation belt. It is a great way to build strength and cardiovascular fitness without putting weight bearing stress on your legs.<br>
Good luck!</p>
<p>Definitely make sure you rest up, if you can make the time. I had some pretty horrible shin splints during Beast. It was definitely the worst part of the summer, being hurt. If you've been active throughout high school though, the runs shouldn't be too bad. Get in shape beforehand, but keep in mind that they will build you up over the summer, so you're not going to start out with long mileage runs right away. :)</p>
<p>Good luck with getting ready!</p>
<p>I got DQ'd but i got my waiver approved and i should be getting my appointment next week...so yeah it was a disqualifier but waivable:)</p>
<p>I actually had a stress fracture and got that waived. I think they know that most candidates abuse their bodies pretty badly, and leg injuries are one of those things that happen when you push yourself.</p>
<p>Hey, I know what its like! I started taking 500mg Calcium pills twice a day for the last week and a half. REally helped any shin pains (I used to have bad shin splints).</p>
<p>As far as running, you can do it if you want to. My experience:
I started running in August at a 9 min mile, and I couldn't run any further. I now do 3 miles at a 7:40 pace 3 times a week and my mile is at 6:58. My training has been rather sporadic and I started out in bad physical conditioning. You can probably work up VERY quickly with the initial strength already being there and having time to heal. Good luck!</p>
<p>it's co-ed so it cant be THAT bad ;)</p>
<p>haha that was bad greenapple....thanks everyone for the advice</p>
<p>That's what you think mrgreenapple--there are some frickin' FAST girls here. Besides, you get separated into running groups.</p>
<p>lol i was teasin m4m hehe. fast around here is 11s, is that the same standard as over there?</p>
<p>hey man i took a sports medicine course my senior year of high school...and i was on the track team with some pretty bad shin splints...you want to ice them legs for 20 minutes in a whirlpool/ice everyday and stretch your calves a lot. Before running, rock back and forth from the heel of your feet to the toes. When you're studying, before you go to sleep, on the toilet, do some toe tappers...when my shins bother me, i do about 400 toe tappers before i go to sleep. try and learn some massage techniques for the shins or the muscles that support your shins. It'll hurt alot, but it helps. Cross-fiber massage on the shin bone itself, and some deep tissue on the muscle surrounding the shin. if you have any questions just ask, and remember to stretch.</p>
<p>hortnetguy - how did you change your mile time/endurance? I'm pretty much in the same boat - I was going to talk to the XC coach at our school asking for a workout to help me, but I'll ask you as well. When I took the CFA I had an 8:30 mile, and I can do 1.5 miles at about a 9ish? min pace. Suggestions?</p>
<p>Sorry about that mrgreenapple--we get a lot of that here that's NOT teasing. Fast is probably going to be considered 12s/11s</p>
<p>
hortnetguy - how did you change your mile time/endurance? I'm pretty much in the same boat - I was going to talk to the XC coach at our school asking for a workout to help me, but I'll ask you as well. When I took the CFA I had an 8:30 mile, and I can do 1.5 miles at about a 9ish? min pace. Suggestions?
</p>
<p>I understand, I had a lot of difficulty breaking through those exact same times. First, I HIGHLY recommend running with a partner in similar or better shape (I run with meg who posts around here), it helps motivate in amazing ways lol. Try to run longer distances at slower paces. Try 2 miles within a 10 min pace, your lungs will start getting used to it and the muscles in your legs really improve. I remember I was doing 1.5 miles with meg, then we randomly hit 2.5 miles one day. It killed my legs, limping, but I was able to do it again within a week. Try a modified version of this work-out : <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=119708%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=119708</a> (scroll down) by doing a slower time than it says. </p>
<p>Try interspersing short runs (like on a Friday) with long runs. Your body likes to break the plateau when you change what it has to do. You'll find as you get used to a longer run, your short distances will slower improve and you will be able to either cut your distance times or simply go further.</p>
<p>Basically, run further to improve shorter distances. Takes time, but you see results quickly.</p>
<p>Hope that wasn't too jumbled up!</p>
<p>marmadillo: I am not a coach, but have done a fair bit of running. My 2c would be:</p>
<p>You need to build endurance before you can work on speed. If you are not a seasoned runner start a running program where you run on alternate days (you need a rest day to recover and prevent injuries). Remember to warm up, cool down and stretch. An easy way to build endurance is to add 5 minutes to your run every second run until you are running the distance you need. My sons MALO suggests building up to 5 miles before Beast. Once you have a good base (cardiovascular fitness and endurance), you can work on your speed. You can use one session a week to do a time trial (see how fast you can do your 2 mile or 1 mile run). If you dont like formal interval work (sprints), learn to do fartlek; ie play with speed on your normal endurance runs, up the tempo on certain sections of your run. You do need to add speedwork to endurance runs if you want to decrease your 2 mile time.
Having a partner is really important, it is hard to do it alone as hornetguy says, having partner that is better than you is even better.</p>