Another day another dollar

I followed the regular routine of stretch, massage, leg/foot exercises and icing, then went into to work this morning for a few hours. This is not a normal thing for me on a Saturday, but it was needed. After work I drove for a couple hours to get home to my family.

I finally purchased the book; Running to the top by Arthur Lydiard. So far after reading a few pages, I like his style. The first part I noticed as I flipped through the book is the injury section and especially shin splints. Some of the causes he points out:
- stiff shoes at the heel,
- heel striker,
- tight ankle and calf muscles,

One of the things he suggested is to NOT run fast down the hills, walk or take them slow. First calf raises are suppose to help build the strength and flexibility. I was doing this and found that it would tighten up the calf muscles though. Also Hill bounding or springing will help build the muscles to prevent this injury from happening.

I found that the shins could easily get inflamed after doing the springing routine, even without the fast downhill running. However, I can say that they weren't really heeled so I should not have been doing them anyways.

Are Asics Gel Empires too Stiff? I would think that the Gel and the big chunks on the heal would make them soft like and full of padding.

I know that ALL my muscles got really stiff when doing the conditioning phase. I think I started out going too fast and progressed too much in mileage and this caused my muscles to get stiff. (I have to say though the legs have really formed up nicely) The heel striking thing would line up with the "overstriding" theory as well. It was probably a combination of all of these things that led to my shins getting really sore or I just wasn't healed yet from last season when I started my first conditioning phase. I can't wait to try it all again after getting healed.

I got on the elliptical trainer for 60 minutes around the 85 to 92 rev. / minute, with no tension.

Had supper and took the kids out to fly some kites. What a blast. The youngest was worried a plane was going to hit it. He thought it was too high.