Running surfaces - road vs grass

runrabbit

I'm new to this running game and I've managed to throw my SI joint out of whack after a road race last week. It has been suggested to me that running on the road did the damage as I do all of my training on grass, and my body wasn't used to the hard surfaces. I love running through the fields, it's what I miss most now that I'm injured. The roads don't appeal to me half as much, but I now think that maybe I should hit the roads once or twice a week.

Does anyone have any experience of this? How much road running should I be doing to ensure my body can cope with a half-marathon on roads (i.e. can I continue to do my LSRs in fields and just do one of my shorter runs on the road?). Would appreciate any advice - I want to ensure that I'm not out of action for weeks after my next race!

G-Money

I'm new to this as well and have been wondering the same thing road/footpath v grass.

Anyway like I said, I'm new to this so I don't have much of a clue but I was wondering would it possible for you to incorporate both surfaces into your run? You could fire up Google Earth or look at a map or something and find a route that suits you that takes in both surfaces. So you could run on the road/footpath when leaving your house until you reach a park or field and spend time running there before making your way back home.

Just an idea anyway.

I'm hoping to do the first day of C25K this weekend and have been looking on Google Earth to find a place to run. There's a rather large grassy park of some description not too far from where I live. So I suspect I'll start out doing thte 5 minute brisk walk and then have to jog a bit before I reach the grass. At least that way I'm getting in both types of surface.

I'm sure others will have better ideas.

Krusty_Clown

If your target race is on the road, then yes you need to incorporate some training on roads to allow the body to adjust to the impacts etc., particularly for longer distances like half marathon upwards.

I run all of my recovery runs on grass, but run my long runs and speed/tempo sessions on tarmac or trails. Takes a bit of planning, but eventually you'll identify different locations that are suitable for different types of run.

RayCun

grandmaster wrote: »

I'm new to this as well and have been wondering the same thing road/footpath v grass.

Just to point out that road/footpath aren't necessarily the same thing, the material is important.
Concrete is harder than tarmac is harder than grass.
Running on a tarmac road - or a tarmac path in a park - is easier on the legs than running on a concrete footpath (or a concrete sidestreet).

You should also watch out for the camber of the road/path. A lot of roads peak in the centre and slope down to the paths, and running along a slope like that is not good for you.

runrabbit

Thanks all for the advice! There are some nice even tarmac paths in a park near my house but I would probably struggle to do many miles on them without going mad from boredom as I would have to do so many laps!

I'm planning to do the adidas race series - does anyone know if the roads in the phoenix park are concrete or tarmac. I was planning to head up there this weekend for a recce anyway but that's out now

RayCun

Pretty sure its all tarmac...

average_runner

Agree with Krusty. Grass is good for when injured and recovery, but if your races are on road you need let the body to adjust to it. Make sure you have a good pair of runners too

menoscemo

I do all running on 'roads' but like Raycun says there is a huge difference between concrete paths and tarmac Roads/paths. I normally do most runs tarmac in paths in parks but you can also run on the actual road surface if the road is wide/quiet enough. Just make sure to run into the traffic.

Avoid concrete paths like the plague. Apart from being very hard surfaces, the camber is awful. They are not the same surface that you will be running on in road races.

runrabbit

Thank you all for the advice. I'll plan to get a couple of runs per week on tarmac once I'm better!