I jumped from running 15 miles a week to 30 miles over the course of a month and now my shins are killing me. Should I take time off completely or can I keep running through it with ice and stretching?
You basically did exactly what causes shin splints - doubling your mileage that fast is rough on your shins. The bad news is you can't really run through this one. Pushing it will just make it worse and drag out your recovery. I'd take a solid break from running, maybe a week or two minimum, and let the inflammation actually calm down. Ice and stretching help, but they're more for managing pain while you're healing, not a substitute for rest.
That said, you don't have to sit completely still. Swimming, cycling, or elliptical work can keep your fitness up without pounding your shins. Once it feels better, ease back in - like way more gradually than you did before. The rule everyone mentions is adding about 10% more mileage per week, not doubling it in a month. When you do start running again, take it seriously. Better to spend three weeks recovering now than three months dealing with chronic shin splints because you tried to tough it out.
Shin splints are inflammation of the tissue along your shinbone, and it gets worse the more stress you put on it - so yeah, running through it will extend your recovery by weeks. The thing nobody mentions is cross-training: switch to cycling or swimming for cardio while your shins heal, so you don't lose fitness entirely and won't feel like you're starting from scratch when you return. Take at least 7-10 days completely off running, ice after any activity, and when you do start again, bump your mileage up by no more than 10% per week - that rule exists because of exactly what happened to you.
What both of those answers are getting at is real - you need to back off significantly, not just dial it down a notch. Complete rest isn't always necessary, but running needs to stop for a bit. What often works better is switching to low-impact cross-training like cycling or swimming for a few weeks while your shins recover, then gradually building your mileage back up way slower than you did before. The 10% rule (increasing weekly mileage by no more than 10% per week) sounds boring but it actually prevents this exact situation.
The immediate fix is to cut running almost entirely for 2-3 weeks, then rebuild slowly using the 10% rule - never jump your weekly mileage by more than 10%. I made the same mistake a couple years back, went from 20 miles to 35 in like 6 weeks, and ignored the warning signs. By the time my shins were actually painful, I'd done enough damage that I couldn't run for nearly 2 months. Cross-training like cycling or swimming keeps your aerobic fitness up without pounding your shins, and honestly that's what saves your sanity during recovery.
The ice and stretching thing does help with inflammation, but it's not a substitute for backing off the volume. Ice after any activity you do, hit your calves and shins with some massage work, and throw in calf raises or eccentric heel drops a few times a week once the acute pain starts fading. But here's the thing - your tissues need actual time to adapt. Collagen remodeling isn't fast, so even if the pain goes away after a few days, the structure underneath is still fragile. Come back too soon and you'll re-injure it.
Give yourself a real break first, then spend the next 8-12 weeks building back up properly. It sucks way less than dealing with chronic shin splints for months because you tried to push through too early.
The one thing that might help you avoid weeks of complete downtime is catching this early with active recovery instead of just stopping entirely. Everyone's saying to cut running, and they're right, but you can still do low-impact stuff like swimming or cycling at easy effort for a few days to keep your fitness up without pounding your shins. Once the acute pain settles, you'll rebuild faster than if you're starting from zero after sitting around for three weeks. The key is patience with the rebuild - those guys mentioning the 10% rule aren't exaggerating, because that's genuinely how your body adapts without breaking down again.
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