Thight Splints
 

Does anyone have any idea of how to avoid them. I am training for a marathon in May, and last time i trained I had to take time off due to them. I would like to avoid them this time. Any suggestions? p.s. I am hoping to loose weight and eat right this time. Long 4 months ahead!

For strength work, train the calves and quads through squats and calf raises, which will help reinforce not only these muscles but also the underlying bone and connective tissue. Before practice runs, warm up well, run, and then static stretch. Try to avoid static stretching before the run, and certainly not before you're warm. If you get shin splints after the run, put ice on it. Finally, make sure you get plenty of protein so your body can rebuild and recover quickly and effectively.

If you are talking about Shin Splints? I use a stair to stretch. Place the balls of your feet on the stair and stretch your heels downward lower than your toes. Learned this from high school track.

Thanks for the info. I admit I am lazy with the stretching and my thighs have paid the price. It makes good sense to try some stregnth training--and stretching. I didn't do that either before. Thanks for the replies! We'll see how this goes!

I've suffered from shin splints in the past and the cure for me was to go to a running store and get measured for correct trainers. They did a video of me running and selected the type of trainers that suit my style of running.
It's really worth a shot if you haven't already done it and it actually costs about the same as normal off the shelf trainers

One more thing, try to run on the balls of your feet rather than your heels. That way your whole foot functions as a kind of springboard to absorb the shock of your foot hitting the pavement. Otherwise your heel transmits the shock straight up into your shins, which practically makes them bruised from the inside out leading to shin splints. I've heard that the force of impact on the heel is equivalent to triple your bodyweight, so for a 100 lb runner that's 300 lbs of impact shock on your shins per stride.