Re-read Injuries In Running To the Top

I had some time to re-read a few pages in Arthur Lydiards book running to the top. The first section I went to was the injury section. It's amazing how things can seem so much clearer the second time I read things, especially after a period of time has passed since the last time I read it. In that section I learnt or was reminded of the following ways to recover from the injury:
- must use ice,
- if you want to run, stay on the flats, on grass
- no running down hills, walk if you come to one
- physio can help
- need flexible ankles
- shin splints can be troublesome for such a long period,

He also talks about the reasons why shins splints occur; one is the shoes being too stiff I already talked about earlier, and the second being tight calfs and I also noted that earlier.

Then I turned to the "how to start running". Here I thought, that because I have been running for awhile and my times are ok, I know a few things about running. Well when I re-read the basics as noted by Arthur I am reminded that it is a continuous learning process. Here are the reasons why:
Arthur writes to start by doing 5 minutes out and back. I started with a race a couple years ago and even now I started with a minimum of 5k, approach 12.5 minutes out and back maybe this was too much (at a faster pace than my first race too). I noticed that Eric was starting out at much shorter distance to see if the injury had subsided.
Try running every day, at about 15 minutes. I ran every other day.
Once you can run every day at 15 minutes, then bump it up to 30 minutes one day and then 2 days of 15, again I started at about 25.
Do you think that this section is just for beginners? Ah, not really because then he talks about my favorite part: getting sore muscles. I think that I can also use this for a recovery from an injury. He says to get out an jog every day to get the blood flowing through the area of the pain. If you stop and wait for the pain to go away, then you'll have to begin again and work through the pain, you'll have gained nothing. Here is how I use this for my own problem. I run for some good amount of time every other day. Lately I have only been doing my ankle exercises. I was biking and swimming, and one could argue that, that got my blood pumping through the area. I'll try to ignore that part, because I thought I was on to something here. What I want to do is: try light slow running every day, about 40 minutes one day and then jogging for 2 days at 15 to 20 minutes. See how that goes.

Last weeks workouts went surprisingly well:
- Monday, 4.27km in 15:15 at 5:54 pace (2.65 miles at 9:30)
- Tuesday, off
- Wednesday, 7.34km in 40:20 at 5:29 pace (4.56 miles at 8:50)
- Thusrday, off
- Friday, 7.97 in 39:30 at 4:57 pace (4.95 miles at 7:58)

You know looking at the miles paces, it seems more obvious how much faster the Friday run was. Maybe that is why the shins flared up just a touch only on that day. I have a hard time keeping my speed down. It felt like a bloody darn jog!

Today I will run 40 minutes with the kids and my wife. I'll make a plan to stick with them, instead of taking off and running faster. Monday and Tuesday I will try running 15 minutes, then 40 minutes on Wednesday and 15, Thursday and Friday.