On the edge of the precipice

My shin splints are not getting better. Or at least I don't think they are. So much so that I decided not to do my speed work session this morning. From looking online the suggestion is to stop running for two weeks and then start again gradually. Others seem to think that you should cut back on mileage and not do any speed work at all. From looking at my running data online the last time I had shin splints was two years ago and I stopped running for a whole month!

I'm not quite sure what to do, if I stop running altogether then it means that I won't run Chester this year. I mean, I could but I'm not interested in running it if I can't have the best chance of breaking 3:30. And stopping running and doing no speed work is not the best chance that I can manage. Maybe if it was London or another of the big marathons I would just go ahead regardless of time but the only reason I wanted to run Chester (and Manchester earlier this year that I pulled out of due to my ankle) was to break my PB.

My last hope is getting up tomorrow morning and seeing how I feel. If I can run the speed session tomorrow that I was meant to run this morning then there is hope. But I'm not optimistic about it.

It's a shame also because I ran 12 miles on Sunday and felt amazing. The shin splints hurt for the first few miles as always but once that pain subsided then I settled in to my pace nicely and ran pretty much most of the Ealing half marathon course. It was a shame I had to stop.

If I wake up tomorrow and my shins hurt then my choices are one of two. I rest for a week before trying again. Then I run reduced distance for the next three weeks up until I go to Italy on holiday where I will do a bit of running (maybe three or four times a week) just to keep my fitness up. Once I come back then depending on how I feel I could either train for 10 weeks and aim for a half marathon at the end of October if I can find one to enter or I just run a maintenance schedule of no more than 35 miles per week that will take me into the winter when I can start to prepare for a spring marathon (maybe Manchester again, but more successfully this time by getting to the start line!).

Tomorrow is a big day.