Shin splints

[VeloVT]

p.s. has anyone ever tried to do a 5K without any training? I know I just said I have basically given up on running, but I really want to do this local 5K in November and I'm wondering what would happen if I just went out and did it without any training (other than cycling, of course). This does not sound like a good plan to me, but I'm tempted anyway.

When I occasionally am a bad girl and don't run at all for a few months (which actually hasn't happened for a maybe a year now!), I usually start out with four mile runs, and I can run the whole way. 5k = 3.1 miles, so for me, if the question were simply "can I finish this comfortably", especially given a reasonable fitness base from cycling, the answer would definitely be yes. If the goal were to "race" it, different answer (though, if you've been doing a lot of hard intervals on the bike, maybe). And once you start a race, it can be hard NOT to race. But everyone's body reacts differently to running, mine tolerates it reasonably well for the most part, but many people are more injury prone. What happens if you just go for a three mile run, if you haven't been training?

For me, if I've been biking and start running again after a hiatus, I find that my muscular endurance is just fine -- the issue for me is that running is much more taxing cardiovascularly than biking, and I can "think" I'm in good shape -- or actually be in good shape, for biking -- but then maintaining a reasonable pace running is just much harder work (for my lungs and heart) than I'm used to. And of course your body might feel floppy/sluggish/uncoordinated at first, until it "remembers" how to run efficiently. But probably all of this is tolerable for three miles as long as you're not too hyper about your time.