Mark's Blog

Your pain sounds like shin splints. The one time I was troubled with shin splints (bad enough to repeatedly stop me running for days until it went away,) I tried various things such as running on different surfaces, different speeds, etc. Nothing helped until someone told me to check my shoes. I had never paid much attention to my shoes and sure enough, they were in very poor condition. I went to a sports store in Indianapolis and paid more for a pair of New Balance shoes then I had ever paid for any kind of shoes or boots before. This happen so long ago (1978) that at the time, New Balance only made two models of shoes -- and even that was really just the same shoe with two different soles. My problem went away immediately.

So, check your shoes. If you are having any problems that might be associated with worn shoes, such as shin splints, you may want to replace your shoes after 400 miles or so. Yes, I know, that does not sound like very much mileage if you are running 30 - 50 miles a week, but skimping on shoes could be a false economy.

Injury avoidance in general should be a part of any serious training plan. You may want to log any incidence of having the same pain in the same place two training days in row. Any pain that will not go away in one rest day should be noted and watched. You probably need built in rest days if you are not already doing that.

As far as hydration goes, I like to weigh myself before I dress to run and then weigh myself after I stop perspiring after the run. I assume that all weight lost is water loss and try to drink that much water over the next few hours.

I have rarely ever run over 6 miles with a hard effort in hot weather and one can do that distance without drinking during the run. For longer runs, the general advice I have seen suggest that if you are going to take in water while your running, you must start drinking early in the run for it to have a benefical effect. My understanding from what I have read is that the body can process 8 to 12 oz. every 15 - 20 minutes. Therefore, what you drink will take quite some time to help you. And it may not be any use to drinking more than 8 to 12 oz. every 15 - 20 minutes as you may just be building up a backlog of liquid in you stomach to slosh around, waiting to be processed.