Quote Originally Posted by fitz19d View Post
Strangely, I have not had too much issues with shin splints. I got them chasing some kids in boulder who mugged a guys backpack, but in the last week of jogging/stairs and some sprinting it hasn't shown up. After a week straight I am of course sore, though some stronger pinchy pain in left calf and top of right thigh, but I think those came from experimenting with a few machines at gym I've never used. Some form of eliptical I've never used before and rowing machine.

I do walk splay footed that's developed over the years, doesn't present itself as much when jogging that I notice. I do have horrible flexbility when it comes to all the normal bend over and stretch or doing sitting stretches. Always had that, in boot they commented how ridiculously tight my legs were.

As far as the test, it's not running but brisk walking on an incline, so not sure if that suffers as badly from the bad gait as your running example? Went to the gym after my updated post this evening. Did an hour a % higher incline and .3mph faster. For the first while I stayed 120 before moving up and sitting at 140 until maybe the 40minute or so mark. Between that and my talking to other people I feel that their walgreen's chest monitor reads high because every other device elsewhere I've tried has me 15-20 pts lower. Which even those lower numbers are not fabulous but would be within the score I need.

Certainly something to think about though going forward, because I'm not stopping after I pass the test. I actually had started to run and lift like 2 days before my water heater flooder and took a few weeks to get carpet replaced and everything put back then bam, suprise physical time. I got complacent for sure from my previous job keeping me reasonably in shape, and even when I was floating some sites getting me a lot more activity than my current one.
That is good to hear that the shin splints are not an issue. For me, I started hitting the gym again then gradually the shin splints and sore arches in my feet started. It was really demotivating because even just going for a 2 - 3 mile run was agonizing and left me limping for days afterward. But when I corrected my form and gait the pain went away. My physical therapist told me that even at walking it can be 15 - 20 % energy loss if you are over striding.

I worked out like an animal in the military, and I never stretched because I hated the way that it felt. My lower body was horribly inflexible. I found out that I was just stretching wrong, and that a foam roller makes all the difference in getting a good stretch. Stretching should feel good, and should be targeted to specific muscles (not the pain in the knees sit and reach to stretch everything).The routine that I use is the "limber 11", but I made a few changes. The lacrosse ball was just too painful so I switched that to a foam roller version, and I added foam rolling my calves to help with the shin splints. I hope this helps, it really helped me and whatever your fitness goals turn out to be, being flexible helps prevent injury.