So……….I suffer from shin splints when I run.  I am sure that a lot of runners get this; however with me it seems that any time I take a step up in distance or effort it’s guaranteed to sideline me for a few weeks afterwards with shin splints.  So what do I need to do about this you may ask???

Well firstly I have been performing stretching and foam roller exercises to try and recover quickly.  Secondly I have been staying off of running, and thirdly I have been having a little think.

According to some research conducted in America, you exert 3 – 4 times your bodyweight through your feet on a 10 mile run.  So somebody who weighs in at a rather portly 217 lbs (holy crap that looks like a lot when written down like that) is exerting somewhere between 651 and 868lbs of force through my feet when I run.  That is 62 stone in weight, or 395kg (for all you Europeans out there)

Essentially this is rather a lot, and it is not surprising that I get shin splints and any manner of other injuries when running.

If I can get down to 13.5 stone, or around 190lbs then I reduce the force through my feet to 570 – 760lbs, which is a huge drop.

So that’s the skinny (if you pardon the pun).  Time to lose weight.  I have decided to adopt the 5:2 intermittent fasting routine of dieting because its easier for me to fast on two days and eat reasonably well on the others than it is to commit to a consistent calorie deficit.  Mostly this is down to my working schedule, and also down to laziness.

So, fast days for me will be Mondays and Thursdays.  I have done my first fast day today, only eating a lunch of around 600 calories and it has been a lot easier than I expected.  I am going to set up a new area of my blog to track weight loss as this may be something that others are interested in over time, and will also be good to look back on.

Anyway must dash as have been in the car for the last 4 hours driving to Leeds and Breaking Bad on Netflix is calling my name.