Running surfaces
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Hey everyone,
I'm curious to know on what types of surfaces does everyone do most of their run mileage. I do most of my runs on hard sidewalks and roads, and running over extended patches of grass whenever I can find them. Most of my intervals are done on a track, but most of my Z1-Z3 stuff is on the roads. There are a few miles of dirt trails near where I live, but getting to them involves jogging a few miles through concrete. There are also a few nice parks nearby with soft grass, but I find it mentally draining to log easy miles while running in circles and loops.
Most of my past running injuries have been shin splints (back when I was a beginning runner), and I suspect that might have to do with all the hard surfaces on which I run. I have this irrational fear of getting a stress fracture some time in the future if I ever decide to rack up high mileage on the roads, but fortunately that hasn't happened yet.
Here's a nice summary of the types of common running surfaces, sorted by relative degrees of hardness. Note the distinction between concrete (ex. sidewalks) and asphalt (ex. roads). http://www.runnersworld.com/article...-0,00.html
Anyone lucky enough to live next to miles of soft dirt trails? 
Comments
I live in Track Town USA, so I know I'm about the luckiest runner on earth. We not only have Pre's trail, the first bark trail in town which was conceived by Steve Prefontaine before his death, but we have several miles of other bark trails to choose from. Two of them are about 1.5 miles from my house, so an hour run will typically be 50/50 sidewalk and bark trail. Longer runs can be done on the 3.5 mile bark loop, so more like 70% of the run is on bark. I also have a brand new middle school track less than a mile from home, which (like all the tracks in town) is open to the public. All the bark trails are marked in 1/4 mile increments, which probably explains why I've never thought about buying a GPS watch to track my miles. I also have miles and miles and miles of asphalt bike paths to choose from if I get tired of the bark.
FWIW I haven't had any injuries in the past 3 years of running on hard surfaces.
I try to mix it up, I love trail running in the fall and spring and think that helps keep me from getting to pounded. When training for IMAZ I did a few long runs on a lot of concrete as there was lots of it at the race and I wanted to be prepared.
Over the years - since 2003 - I've run 17 marathons and put anywhere between 1200 and 1800 miles a year on roads. No injuries other than a few bouts with calf knots - nothing serious and nothing cronic. I don't mind groomed gravel but not a big fan of rugged hiking trails. I actually prefer asphalt over anything else - I like the feel (as long as it isn't all busted up).
I built my house adjoining a 1300 acre state park specifically so I could run on trails w/ my dogs. I do almost all my training runs on trails except for marathon prep when I will do some long runs on asphalt to toughen up legs. I attribute trails to keeping my legs healthy and reducing injuries these past 12 years.
I did almost all my running last year as trail running, but my local trails are pretty rocky, rugged, muddy, and steep. There's no way I'd do any sort of intervals or fast work on them. So being in the OS right now, I've been missing my trail runs! My dog misses them more than I do, I'm sure. I had to take her up there for a trail run the other day and she was SOOOO happy. I figure I'll get back to more trails once into longer/more steady runs ahead in the training. I totally agree about the positive effects of trail running on stability, ankle strength, balance, etc.
@ Robin - lots to be said for Eugene although I've never run on a bark trail. However, I don't believe anything beats pine straw as a surface. Some of the best runs I've ever had were on smooth, pine needle covered trails in Germany.
@Paul, that sounds like a beautiful surface! Legend has it that Prefontaine had the idea for the bark trail after running on some of those trails in Europe. We don't have many pine trees around here, but lots of lumber mills makes bark easy to come by.
Some of my favorite running trails are up in the mountains near here through forests where the trails are deep forest duff, pine needles and such. The 24 miler I did around Waldo Lake this summer was mostly on that kind of surface and it was heaven, plus it smelled great! I've been running almost 100% in my Five Fingers, and running on the trails feels great, esp. compared to asphalt or (shudder) sidewalks.
I read differing "scholarly" studies on the impact effect of running surface on the lower limbs and feet. Here's one related to the plantar fascia (a current interest to me as I heel my fasciitis), which indicates that asphalt, grass and tartan turf are all the same, easier on the PF than concrete, except for the forefoot, where only grass is superior.
On the other hand, here's a classic study, often referenced, which claims there's no difference.
And, if you really want to get into it, here are two summaries of studies:
http://jap.physiology.org/content/92/2/469.full.pdf
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_r...amp;page=1
Personally, I think elevation changes (up and downhill running), speed (hard interval efforts), and running too far too soon when coming back after injury are much more likely to be sources of injury than running surfaces. That said, I'm with those who avoid concrete if possible.
I meant to also include this quote from "SportsInjuryBulletin.com":
"...the ground-reaction forces at the foot and the shock transmitted through the body all the way up to the head when running on different surfaces varies very little as one moves from very soft to very hard surfaces. Many researchers believe (and there is experimental support for the idea) that runners are subconsciously able to adjust the stiffnesses of their legs just prior to footstrike based upon their perceptions of the hardness of a surface. When moving along on hard surfaces, runners create 'soft' legs, and when they travel across soft surfaces they do so with 'stiff' ones. As a result, impact forces on the legs are similar, despite the wide differences in surface hardness."
Robin - wow, bob, wow do I ever love that trail. I did the Eugene Marathon a few years ago and I still vividly remember the taper runs we did there in the days leading up to the race.
Al - your quote poses an interesting point. Personally, I can feel that sometimes I feel my legs are pounding harder or just as hard whenever I run on grass as opposed to pavement. I guess that's the subconscious stiffening of the legs at work.
There does seem to be a common theme here. What a great forum.
My bad ankle keeps me firmly on hard surfaces, all the time. If I'm on any dirt or irregular surface my eyes are locked about 24" in front of my feet, always.
Strictly on a "what I like" basis, asphalt is my favorite... but again, so much of it is canted in roads for drainage that I will usually choose a flat concrete sidewalk over a canted asphalt road.
One side-benefit of running in the FiveFingers I've found is that I never roll my ankle anymore. It turns out (for me at least) that was an artifact of running in shoes with some height in the heel. I run on a lot of rocky, rooty, muddy trails and have not rolled anything since switching to the FiveFingers.
Hey All,
This is good stuff! I do most of my running on asphalt and concrete, with the occasional dirt road.
I'm working on strengthening the knees and ankles to attempt trail running, but for the most part running on uneven surfaces has not been good to me. The knees and ankles have complained muchly.