I was pretty cautious when I went out for my afternoon run today. I wanted to make sure I warmed up properly, took it slowly and took a route with some soft ground to take the pressure off my legs.
Now, over the last few months, I’ve tried loads of remedies to reduce the shin splints. Aside from standard ICE techniques (ice, compression, elevation; I leave the R, rest out 
) I’ve been stretching, doing sports massages, some yoga, sitting at night watching telly and writing the alphabet in the air with my feet… you name it, I’ve tried it and all of them have had some good effect.
Today though, I decided to try something else: I’d heard really good stuff about these shin splint supports by a company called Cho-Pat. They are a compression sock with strapping at the top and bottom that allegedly gives extra support to the bits that really hurt and should allow you to carry on running.
Sounds genius right? So I decided that despite them costing £30 per leg, if they worked they would be a godsend and so I ordered a pair and was chuffed when they popped through the door this morning and was keen to get them on before going out to run.
They went on pretty easy and the straps were simple to fasten into place… but when I got on the road, it felt like I was running in cement. By half a mile, I could hardly feel my left leg and so I released the straps a bit but then my legs started to hurt. Not just shin splints but everywhere on the leg to the point where I could actually run no further, had to stop and take them off.
When I did, I just went back to running normally. I’ll give them one more go after the Brighton Marathon on Sunday but as it stands, they are possibly the most disappointing bit of kit I have bought.
Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and full details of the run
Miles today: 3
Target: 624
Miles to date: 815.09
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