Marathon training on hold

PLease please can someone advise me i am going loopy,i have injured my left leg in a 20 mile race a week and a bit ago,since then i have run once only 4 miles.I have been advised to rest for 10 days before trying to resume my training but am terrified i will lose form and also it only leaves  me 1 month before the marathon.I have been training since October and am upto 20 miles .Can someone please tell me if i can still get there and also what should i be doing.Most people i know are now doing alot less milage in the run up to to big day ,but what about me ?

Hi VH

Shin splints...same here.  Took a week off then resumed training, and it came back again. Frustrating so close to the goal.

So my advice is

(1) Don't rush back...you'll be tapering in a week's time anyway, so you're not missing as much as you think

(2) Buy a Mueller Shin Compression sleeve - very good compression / wear your Skins all day...compression is vital when there is so little blood flowing through the shins.

(3) If the shin splints are now chronic then rotate ice and heat 2min/off max 20 mins

(4) If you hate swimming try running in the pool. Failing that keep the aerobic conditioning up by getting on a bike/ rower / cross trainer.  I did over 30 miles on the rower last week (couldn't manage a 1 for 1 mileage swap, but not far off...check what the bike conversion factor is...)

(5) Look on Youtube for shin stretches..daily dose to ease the fascia.

good luck...you've hit 20m so you should be fine

Thats alot of help Teknik many thanks .I have just ordered the sleeve so should be here in a few days.I really dont know how bad it is but it hurts and  put the fear of god in me and i really dont want to have to pull out so will be taking it easy for the next few days still and will defo get on my bike .Are you doing the marathon? have you done one before? my friend did a half marathon on Sunday and completed thinking she had shin splint but turned out a full broken ankle!!!!!!! she is now in plaster for 6 weeks,luckily she was only training for that ,but what pain must she have been in ???

Thanks again ,i dont feel quite so low now.

VH - ouch for your friend.  I'm training for my 5th marathon, and I've had shin splints only once before- managed to run through it. This time the pain was so bad I had an MRI to check for a stress fracture - fortunately negative result. Still on for the marathon, then...

You might also want to spend some time getting your gait analyzed - under or over-pronation is usually the cause, and I've apparently started rolling worse on one foot than I used to, thus precipitating the latest bout. New orthotics....

You know your stuff for sure.!

I was analysed last Friday but all good in that im in the right shoes and my gait is level and all ok which is a relief .Personally i am putting it down to my 2o miler which was on the thames tow path and the terrain was so varied ,cobbles mud shingle and concrete.It is the furthest i have run yet so i was desparate to do well .Finished in 3 .24 which may not sound that great but this is my first marathon ! I'm not after breaking any records on the day or beating anyone,i just want to run the whole thing without stopping if thats possible.

So i am going to aim to run Monday night 3/4 miles and see how i go .Watch this space.Any more tips would be greatly appreciated and thanks again for taking the time to write.Viks