The prevailing wisdom suggests that favoring grass and trails over harder surfaces is less stressful on the body, but I have suffered more lower-limb injuries than ever since I started running much more on grass and trails. It may be partly that these areas are more hilly than the roads I was running, but can anyone relate to this phenomenon?
Dude, doing anything on grass totally cannot be overrated. Rolling a fatty and getting totally baked before my long run is...like...a metaphysical, totally tubular rush, man.
What sort of injuries?
I think it all depends on the surface. Golf Course grass is great on the legs.
Hard pack trails and dirt roads are the best, grass and other trails can cause a lot of injuries.
I run on grass all the time and find it much easier on my body. Never get injured.
dingle wrote:
Hard pack trails and dirt roads are the best, grass and other trails can cause a lot of injuries.
I disagree. You're probably trying to do too much too quickly. Grass and trails work different muscles than pavement. It takes time to strengthen those muscles, just like anything else. Start slow - once a week - then gradually add more. You'll get a lot stronger running on grass or trails.
In high school we did all of our runs on grass. Ran 50-60 miles a week. Never had any injury that kept me out of running.
In college we did all of our runs on pavement. Ran 60 miles a week. I had two season ending injuries.
Now I do half my runs on gravel roads and half my runs on pavement. I still get injured from time to time, but it's more because of my own stupidity (overtraining) than because of the surface.
Grass was obviously good to me, and I obviously didn't adjust well to the pavement. But I am used to it now. The body can adapt pretty well to things with a lot of consistency.
Dude...I'm back. A couple of Twinkies and a box of Swiss Cake Rolls and I'm totally ready for my workout, man. Running on grass...sweeeeeet.
I think it´s a quite useful method of strenghtening your legs; know that Choge and some other Rift Valley guys do their first run barefoot
3 of the 4 injuries I have had were sprained ankles that happened while running on unpaved surfaces. The other was a hip injury that happened after I started running on paved roads to avoid ankle sprains.
Dude, I got the joke the first time around. (But maybe others who aren't as "hip" as I am did not.)
soft surfaces ftw.
you can do so much more mileage healthy on it.
what do pros run on? SOFT SURFACES NOOB.
Tibial stress reaction last year, now hamstring strain. Both when starting - conservatively - to train after building up a base. Yes, probably a case of too much too soon - just wondering if anything else could be a contributing factor.
OldXCguy wrote: Dude, I got the joke the first time around. (But maybe others who aren't as "hip" as I am did not.)
Sorry, dude. A few minutes on the bong and I turn into an attention whore, man.
I happen to agree with you, although other runners will obviously have different experiences. I seem to suffer more lower leg distress when hitting very cambered and/or loosely packed trails; which is why I don't run on them too often. I prefer a nice, chewy asphalt (preferably laid down within the year).
you are the minority my friend!
really? just man up. push through the pain. what kind of injuries do you get? This is why people get stress fractures. they run on grass and their ankles get a little sore so they stop and then they don't have enough lower leg muscles to support their lower leg and then they get stress fractures. You need to strenghten those muscles that hurt when you run on grass.
quoting myself "which is why I don't run on them too often."
I just prefer the road. I do all of my racing on the roads and I run faster on roads. When I need to get away, I hit the trails.
No. I cannot relate at all