rest days=injuries???

Maybe it's just mental but it seems the more rest days I've been taking now that XC is over, the more my shins and knees have been hurting.

today during my run my shins/lower ankle and my knees were hurting the whole way.
I don't understand. My shins were causing problems yesterday so I took the day off and cross trained and I thought I was ready today and I felt great but then once I started running my shins/lower ankle and knees hurt.

I don't know if I want to take rest days or not.



Every time I take a step it hurts especially in one single spot then just kind of rumbles through the rest of my shin. and the knees, its kinda hard to describe in words but. yeah
What could this be? I just took three days of cross training(Sunday was a rest day, Monday was a xt day because my shins hurt and yesterday was cross training because it was storming) and now today on my first run after 3 days it hurts...

any ideas?
thanks <3

xc running gal wrote:
any ideas?

Don't schedule rest days.

what do you mean?
like take a rest day whenever I feel I need it?

Have you been stretching, icing, and taking ibuprofen for your knees and shins? If you're just resting and not doing anything to alleviate your aches and pains, you're just going days without activity, which is making your muscles tight.

maybe a stress fracture

^ maybe, you might want to look into it.

I had the same problem last year, It killed me to walk down the stairs or on cement. It only seemed to get worse after I quit running. But I just had bad shin splints. I say go to the doc first.

and I agree with tri_love.

I'd wait till you start running again to make any decisions.

Thank's everyone.
and on what Tri_Love said, yeah I guess I've been kind of slacking off on icing.
But, right this moment, I have ice on my shins and I'm going to stretch when I do core a little later.
I'm gettting back on track with icing and stretching

Don't take just 3 days off from XC, you need a week at least, and if you're still hurt after that you need more.

I have had injuries before that feel like taking rest days hurts it because running loosens it up making it feel better but really its the other way around.
My coach always tells me when I'm injuried to not get in my hot tub. Why? Because even though it make it feel better, it is making worse in the long run. Maybe this is the kind of thing thats happening to your shins.

well, it still hurts when i'm running. I just never had a problem with it until I took rest days...