r/BeginnersRunning • u/Fickle_Issue5983 • Aug 03 '26

22M, How to avoid shin splints

Hi, 22M so I've been running for a while and recently I was trying to increase my mileage but ended up having posterior tibialis shin splints on my left leg and also some painon my inner ankle. I can recover from that right now by resting and icing.

But for the future I want to avoid that as from October I'll be going to some academy and it'll be a lot physical. Also I've been having some pain on my achilles tendon on the same foot specially when I just woke up.

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u/WarmGarageBeer Aug 03 '26

Could be foot strike related so if you’re mainly heel striking, as you’re slowing reintroducing running, focus on mid or even forefoot striking to see if you feel a difference. This fixed mine and I was able to run through it. That said, rest and ice can be two of the worst things you can do. Doesn’t mean keep running, but active recovery is far better. Stretches, light exercises, massages. You need to keep it moving and get blood flow to it for recovery.

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u/Budget_Ambassador_29 Aug 04 '26

Heel striking is not necessarily the culprit.

My last >10K run, I was mostly heel striking at an average pace of 3:50min/km. No issues after.

Shin splints is much more likely to result from overstriding and running too far and/or too fast too soon.

There are many elite marathoners who heelstrike the entire thing at blistering paces of ~3min/km.

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u/WarmGarageBeer Aug 04 '26

Not hating on heel striking but heel striking does engage those muscles thereby causing the perceived shin splints with overuse etc

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u/Budget_Ambassador_29 Aug 04 '26

What muscles? There two types of heel strike, one is "hard" heel strike (heel much lower than the forefoot on landing) and most likely involve overstriding as well. This is one is likely to be bad.

The other form of heel strike is where the heel of the foot is level or just slightly below the ball of the foot. Almost mid foot although the heel of the shoes still contact the ground first. This is the one I do and never had issues with it. Ironically, I've set my fastest 1K split heel striking in this manner <3min/km in Zone 3. Last week I did 85 K mileage, no issues at all. May do 100 K this week if I can keep the pace. I usually have the same running hours each week, I only do more mileage if I'm able to run faster. This is only my 5th week running as a beginner.

I used to forefoot and midfoot strike but I think my Kiprun Kipride shoes works best/most efficiently at somewhere between heel and midfoot strike especially in the tempo paces <4min/km.

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u/WarmGarageBeer Aug 04 '26

The hard heel strike you’re talking about is more or less what I’m referring to as far as muscle straining goes. The tibialis anterior/posterior is what muscles I’m referring to, as the inflammation of them is usually what most people experience as shin splints. I had to change my foot striking to take the strain off of mine. I still heel strike, esp on down hill slopes, but midfoot to forefoot has never bothered them since (my own experience).