I am all out of the usual lunch suspects so I busted out this frozen Pad Thai meal.
Served up on a pile of Costco’s Asian Veggies. It was delicious!
I picked up Matt from camp and now have to be a Madre de Tigre and make him practice his keyboard. Madre de Tigre is like a Tiger Mother, but we have our kids play soccer instead of tennis and play the accordion instead of piano (normally).
Ask a Monican #42
1. I used to have an ED and want some advice on how to come to terms with exercise and food fears.
2. Years of yo-yo dieting have trashed my metabolism – help?!
3. Training for Marine Corp Marathon and having shin tightness – help?!
Please chime in if you have helpful tips to add for these peeps!
Email your questions to me at runeatrepeat at gmail dot com
Now we’re off for a walk and a treat – see ya tomorrow!
Question #3
I had the same issue – I changed my shoes and really worked at massage and stretching – I would stretch my calve with both a straight leg and a bent knee (get’s both muscles)
But first you might need a couple of days rest for the muscles to heal…
That’s my two senses…
Good luck
Your little captions about Vegas cracked me up. 🙂 For question number 2, I’m sure she’s already considered this but it might be a good idea to go get thyroid labs done just to make sure all is functioning correctly there.
I’m dumb, I totally thought this but didn’t say it (extra dumb because I’m dealing with that right now!). Thanks for adding!!!
Question for the next ask a Monican…..Do you ever feel like you eat some many cherries that you will throw up like Felicia in the movie “The Witches of Eastwick”?
Thanks.
I am a collegiate athlete who encountered shin pain frequently, more going into my sophomore year of college. It came on suddenly, although I always had tight shins, and several stress fractures in the past. I must admit that I didn’t want to look into it because I didn’t want to stop running. That was dumb. Listen to your body.
What ended up happening was I had something called “Compartment Syndrome.” The pressure in my compartments were too high when I was exercising. Your lower legs have four compartments in each leg. I had to undergo surgery to fix the issue, and ended up having to go under the knife for a second time because the first time didn’t work. I would suggest getting the test because it’s simple and rules out something that could pop up at any time of your life.
Other symptoms that I encountered although everyone who has CS doesn’t encounter were extreme tightness, foot numbness, and I felt like I couldn’t go any faster than I was currently running – which proved to be a sticky situation for races.
I hope this helps and I also hope that this is NOT what any of you guys are experiencing!
I used to suffer from horrible shin splints, so bad that I could barely walk after every single run. Unfortunately, I found that the only thing that made them go away for good was taking time off from running. Of course, if she’s running in old shoes, getting some new ones might help, but I found that once the shin splints occured, my body needed some serious time away from the pounding of running.
I know most marathon training plans call for at least 4-5 days of running, but maybe she could knock that down to 2 days for a while and add in some hard-core cross training such as swimming or spinning that would allow her to increase her aerobic capacity while giving her shins a little bit of a rest. Oh, and also, ice after every run! I can’t emphasize that enough. Icing brought my shins so much relief when they were hurting!
For question #2, the things I would say is make sure you’re doing weight training. It’s also important to shake up your workouts a bit (just like it’s important to shake up your eating). Building muscle can help speed up metabolism (and also make you see results in your body even if you’re not seeing it on the scale).
I liked the advice to see a nutritionist. It might be important to see a doctor in case there is some kind of issue with hormone or something.
There’s a great story on nerdfitness (http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/) about a girl who ended up gaining weight but looks amazing!
Hope this helps!
I can definitely comment on #3 because I’ve always had problems with shin splints and general tightness on my calves. I met with a physical therapist and he highly recommended and I work on my hip strength. There are lots of exercises and you can find them all online. Its also good to really stretch out your calves because If they are tight, you will be pulling on that shin muscle excessively and it’s not a very big muscle. Be careful not to run through the pain because it can develop into a stress fracture in your shin, and I can tell you, it’s not fun.
Thank you for your comments re: intuitive eating. I think if we really tune into what our bodies are saying, we can definitely learn a lot!
i’ve actually had this brand of frozen entree before and been more than pleasantly surprised with it. i think i tried the indian – maybe chiken tikka masala. delicious if you are in a pinch!
Hi! I’ve had shin issues from the moment I started running. Thymes haven’t gone as bad as to say stress fracture but I did find myself in therapy to treat my shins. Just like monica said its better to prevent an injury and if you just started your training I’m guessing its more of a warning than an injury. This is what helped me overcome my issues with my shins:
1. Proper stretching after running
2. Compression half sleeves for runs longer than 3miles
3. Alternating shoes. I have two pairs one is a minimalist shoe and the other one has more support. They got me through my marathon training
4. Icing my shins every single time after a run even when there is no pain
5. Foam rolling after every run
6. Strength training my quads. I don’t do any specific lower legs excersice because that would usually make thinks worst so I just focus on my upper leg.
7. Yoga!!!!!
Now I know it is a lot but I prefer to do all this than to be injured. On the bright side my shins have gotten better! I dont have issues with them anymore. It can be frustrating at the beginning but it pays off. I hope it helps!!!
It sounds like the shin pain/tightness is actually a post tibials issue, it probably feels like the bone and muscle are separating. The main cause of this is wearing shoes that are worn out or not supportive enough, both of these things also cause calf tightness. If your calf is tight it pulls on the tendons surrounding your shin and that applys even more stress to your shin. A few quick helpers are beig fit properly for shoes, wearing compression-helps with tightness-and KT Tape-found at most specialty running stores. Of course ice and rolling your lower legs are also great! Please ignore all the typos, I’m on my phone and just a bit too lazy to walk across the room for my computer 😉
HTH!!
gah, posterior tibial! A lot of people just call it post tib, at least that’s my nickname for it =)
I have no helpful advise to add, but I did love the captions from Vegas 🙂
Hey, I emailed you about getting together IRL. Whoa. Scary 😉 Also, do you know of anyone who would be interested in buying my Disney Half bib off me? I’ve decided not to run it and I know you know a lot of Socal runners (or, anyone commenting!).
When is the Disney half? I’m in San Diego and
training for the AFC on Aug 19th.
Disney half is in Sept, the Princess Half is in Jan. Disney is sold out though.
Yes technically it is… but I have a bib I don’t need, wink wink nudge nudge.
I’m in a similar situation as question #3. I’ve been running for years and finally signed up for my first marathon. I ran a half and then took 3-4 weeks off before my training was officially supposed to begin. Once I started my training, I had some serious pain in my shin. I don’t know how to describe the pain, although I know it doesn’t feel like shin splints. It’s a sharp pain on the inside of my shin, only on one leg, and goes in and out as I run, eventually becoming unbearable. I tried to rest for a week and run again but I can’t seem to shake the pain. I’ve decided to drop the marathon and now just run 1-2 three miler’s a week (for sanity purposes). I’m not much help – as I feel like my hands are tied, too – so I’m curious to hear what others think on this topic.
That pad thai looks delicious! I’m going to have to see if my grocery store has anything like that. And, it’s so easy to sneak extra veggies into pad thai (as you did).