Running on grass harder on the body than pavement?

The point is to stress those lower leg muscles and ligature (sp?) without a massive strain on the joints and bone structure themselves. Eventually your calves will strengthen (unless you over do it) and it will feel pretty good.

Running on uneven surfaces will strengthen your feet, ankles and lower legs. Even hard packed dirt results in lower impact stresses to your joints and conective tissue.

Grass can cause minor technique flaws to magnify. If you pronate a little, you'll pronate alot on grass, which can show up as the ankle tendonitis you have. If your calves/soleus are a little tight, they will get stretched alot on grass.

Just be smart and don't run too much on grass until you know you can handle it. Eventually your feet and ankles will get stronger and compensate, but until then you can accumulate some irritating minor injuries.

The best surface is probably packed dirt, a little softer than asphalt but not so much give as grass.

Run barefoot on grass and your ankle issues will fly away.

I have bad ankle tendonitis. The only time it doesn't hurt? Barefoot on grass. It's magic.

I love asphalt and have had very few injuries. I like to do many things while on grass but running isn't one of them. I think one should consider what they mainly race on when they decide on which surface to train on.

Race on tar, train on tar.

Race on grass, train on grass.

Great Wall of China first built from hard-packed earth. Some still standing!

Find a running surface that is firm but pliable.The grass has nothing to do with how hard the ground is.When running in shoes the best surface I have found was a road thickly covered in pea shaped/sized gravel.In hot weather I like soft flat asphalt.When running barefoot I like soft muddy gound covered in grass or clover.Your feet sink into the ground giving perfect custom support.The grass surface allows for traction when pushing off.Running in shoes on hard uneven ground is a good way to sprain your ankle.Cheers

10K Runner wrote:

I've read numerous posts on this site about how its preferable to run a good portion of one's weekly mileage on grass instead of pavement because of the reduced schock, and overall wear and tear it puts on the body.

However, I find that running on grass puts more stress on my body than pavement. I tend to overwork my calves on grass, plus the uneven surface cab make my ankle ligaments more sore. Also, we haven't had a lot of rain lately, so I'm not even sure the impact is that much less than pavement.

Anyone else think that grass running is overrated?