Running on grass

Ososlo

I am trying to do some of my recovery and easy runs on grass. I know the benefit is reduced/softened impact of foot to ground. Makes sense, ok to reduce the possibility of injury etc. But, most of the grass I run on is quiet uneven so my feet are not hitting flat ground. It's parkland so it's flat in the main, but the grass growth is very uneven so unpredictable. Therefore I'm sort of twisting my ankles slightly when landing on the grass. I'm landing in a very unstable manner. Should I stick to it and get used to it or could it be doing damage itself? If I stick with it, should it get easier?
I find it so much easier to run on paths, I find grass running 10 times harder but feel I should do at least my recovery runs on grass. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

pconn062

I think if good ground (ie flat, cut grass, non bumpy) is not available then you would probably be better off doing your runs on the paths. The last thing you want to do is twist an ankle and if it's causing you to work a bit harder then it's undoing the good of a recovery run. But if good, flat grass land is available then I would use that if possible once or twice a week.

Enduro

I would say exactly the opposite to pconn (sorry!). Running on uneven surfaces is going to strenghten up your "stabilisting" muscles in your ankles, and as a result in the long term you will be far less likely to get an injury from an ankle twist. I do a large proportion of all my training on very uneven ground (trails, hills etc), and I've never twisted an ankle. I do notice when I've been away from running for a while that my "stabilising" muscles will be initially sore from being made to work, but after a few days things are back to normal.

It's like thinking "I started training, and my legs are sore afterwards. Should I stop". The whole point is your going to get your body to adapt by putting it under stress. Same here with this. Its a good thing!

pconn062

Enduro wrote: »

I would say exactly the opposite to pconn (sorry!). Running on uneven surfaces is going to strenghten up your "stabilisting" muscles in your ankles, and as a result in the long term you will be far less likely to get an injury from an ankle twist. I do a large proportion of all my training on very uneven ground (trails, hills etc), and I've never twisted an ankle. I do notice when I've been away from running for a while that my "stabilising" muscles will be initially sore from being made to work, but after a few days things are back to normal.

It's like thinking "I started training, and my legs are sore afterwards. Should I stop". The whole point is your going to get your body to adapt by putting it under stress. Same here with this. Its a good thing!

I agree to a point, however if the point of the run is to recover I don't see how putting undue and unnecessary strain on the body helps in that process.

RayCun

I guess it depends on how much strain you're talking about. Ploughed fields or rough terrain wouldn't make for a good recovery. But if you're running on flat grass, like in a park, and you don't worry about the speed you're going at, then it's good recovery and your legs will get used to the surface soon enough.

pconn062

RayCun wrote: »

I guess it depends on how much strain you're talking about. Ploughed fields or rough terrain wouldn't make for a good recovery. But if you're running on flat grass, like in a park, and you don't worry about the speed you're going at, then it's good recovery and your legs will get used to the surface soon enough.

I think that's the point I made in my original post!

Mycroft H

Enduro wrote: »

I would say exactly the opposite to pconn (sorry!). Running on uneven surfaces is going to strenghten up your "stabilisting" muscles in your ankles, and as a result in the long term you will be far less likely to get an injury from an ankle twist. I do a large proportion of all my training on very uneven ground (trails, hills etc), and I've never twisted an ankle. I do notice when I've been away from running for a while that my "stabilising" muscles will be initially sore from being made to work, but after a few days things are back to normal.

It's like thinking "I started training, and my legs are sore afterwards. Should I stop". The whole point is your going to get your body to adapt by putting it under stress. Same here with this. Its a good thing!

Absolutely agree. Found the exact same when I ran cross country. It's far far easier on the knees too.

Ososlo

Thanks guys for all the really useful opinions. I think I'll try to incorporate more grass running into my weekly schedule overall and not just for my recovery days. I did 20 min warm up before my session today on grass and same for cooldown, and while I did have to go slower to keep the heart rate down due to the uneven surface, I'll just stay going slower until I've mastered it as I do feel it'll strengthen up my ankles and benefit me overall in the long run. My ankles feel very weak sometimes I really do find it very hard work on grass that's not completely flat, but I guess the key is to keep it slow.
Cheers again!

wrstan

pconn062 wrote: »

I think if good ground (ie flat, cut grass, non bumpy) is not available then you would probably be better off doing your runs on the paths. The last thing you want to do is twist an ankle and if it's causing you to work a bit harder then it's undoing the good of a recovery run. But if good, flat grass land is available then I would use that if possible once or twice a week.

I really like to run on grass too, but for sure it is hard this time of the year to find a decent surface.

If the surface is muddy or poor, I would tend to agree with pconn062, and I would suggest staying to paths, at least until conditions improve somewhat (spring is on its way ). This time of year I definitely run more on the roads then on grass.

If building up your stability etc. is a key objective, I would hit the trails rather than run on muddy uneven grass.

Pacing Mule

Came across this thread searching for the answer to the same question Ososlo posted. Anytime I've ran on grass - even in Phoenix Park I've found it very uncomfortable. I'm interested to see how you got on Ososlo 1 year later. Do you do much grass running now ?

rom

Thread title makes me think of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jShyzQcoCo

Ososlo

Pacing Mule wrote: »

Came across this thread searching for the answer to the same question Ososlo posted. Anytime I've ran on grass - even in Phoenix Park I've found it very uncomfortable. I'm interested to see how you got on Ososlo 1 year later. Do you do much grass running now ?

I still don't run on grass very much as I find it very difficult too but I try to do the odd recovery run mainly on grass. Those trails in the PP are fantastic though so I'm definitely going to start using them more now that I'm not so caught up in pace/heart rate anymore and just running by feel. Grass slows me down a lot.