Hey everybody! I was very fortunate this past week to be offered an appointment to USAFA and am now really looking forward to an awesome four years at college and an even better career in the Air Force. However, the one thing that I am not as excited about is BCT. I want it to be an enjoyable experience in terms of learning a lot and making a bunch of great friends, but since April of 2015, I have been plagued by on and off shin splints. I finally relented and went to the doctor back in October and he told me that I should take the rest of the year off from running. These past two weeks I have been trying to start up my running again and I think I went a little too much too fast because I started feeling a little pain, and after talking to the doctor, he said I need 3 more weeks off and then he would start me on a running regiment to be ready by June 30th.
I'm worried that I either won't be fully healed by the time BCT comes around or that I will be ok for the first bit of BCT and then my problems will resurface. Does anyone know how how prevalent shin splints are at BCT? I don't think that my shin splints would be bad enough for me to quit, but I just don't want to have to deal with that pain in addition to the rigors of BCT. After BCT is over, is there a lot of organized running at the Academy, or is it mainly just PT on your own? I've been cross training because of my swim season and using gym equipment, so I can keep myself good enough cardiovascular shape to pass the PFTs without solely running.
Also, has anyone else had similar experiences with shin splints, either at or not at the Academy? I'd really like to hear what others have done to get past them and to get on with their running.
Thanks in advance for anyone's help and to all of those who have also been accepted to the class of 2020, I look forward to seeing you all on June 30th!
I'm worried that I either won't be fully healed by the time BCT comes around or that I will be ok for the first bit of BCT and then my problems will resurface. Does anyone know how how prevalent shin splints are at BCT? I don't think that my shin splints would be bad enough for me to quit, but I just don't want to have to deal with that pain in addition to the rigors of BCT. After BCT is over, is there a lot of organized running at the Academy, or is it mainly just PT on your own? I've been cross training because of my swim season and using gym equipment, so I can keep myself good enough cardiovascular shape to pass the PFTs without solely running.
Also, has anyone else had similar experiences with shin splints, either at or not at the Academy? I'd really like to hear what others have done to get past them and to get on with their running.
Thanks in advance for anyone's help and to all of those who have also been accepted to the class of 2020, I look forward to seeing you all on June 30th!