Shin Splits? Seriously?!

So somehow, despite having ran a 10k earlier this month and a half marathon a week ago without any problems whatsoever, I've ended up with shin splits. The only thing I can figure is the epic workouts at OTF this past week (during what was called "Hell Week") did me in. This has been a problem for me before during OTF workouts, and I've narrowed it down to the pounding I put myself through during the "Push Pace" and "All Out" efforts. Normally, no matter what type of running I do, whether it be a training run or race itself, I go at a pretty steady and (what some could consider) slow pace. When I amp it up for these bursts of high intensity however, I think my body isn't used to it, which is putting too much strain on certain areas. Regardless, I met up with some Landshark's this morning to do a run, but by 1.5 miles into the planned 4-miler, the bottom half of my legs were toast. My shins were hurting, my calves were tight, and I could muster little more than a shuffle on the way out, while walking most of the way back in. Fortunately, the two gals I was "running," with (Jen and Jenn, oddly enough) were okay with the slower pace and frequent walk breaks so that somehow made it better.

I'm trying not to be too concerned about this, but whenever I've felt this discomfort before after OTF I've switched it up to the bike to keep from feeling that impact. However, the bike is what I did during yesterday's session and I STILL managed this outcome. At this point I'm just hoping that it doesn't hamper anything going forward, and with a planned rest day tomorrow I'll at least get a little bit of a break before hitting it again Monday. My biggest worry is that I will have to either cut back on the amount or effort I put into my OTF workouts, which I really don't want to do at all since I have really come to love my sessions. I feel like it's such a great workout and calorie burn that to not give it the full effort would be cheating myself out of the potential workout.

You'd think after 10 years of running I would have had this all figured out by now and that my body would have been used to what I've put it through. Unfortunately, I guess today's run just goes to show you can never be too prepared and that anything can happen despite your fitness level.

Final stats: 4.08 brutal miles in 55:48, a 13:42 pace :(