Jogging.... help!

[lulubel]

wow I knew none of this, I live in a hilly area and my 5k is out the door with a very gentle climb, then a long steep descent, a flatish bit, then climbing again to level and a kinda flat run home.

Does the downhill bit upset my legs or am I ok as I'm pretty dam well warmed up before I start climbing?

It depends. If you're describing a climb as gentle, then I don't think it's going to do any harm running up and down it. I used to live in Cornwall, so I know what Cornish hills are like. I had what I would have described as a gentle climb pretty much out of my door, which leveled off, and then went steeper for a bit, before dropping down the other side.

When I first started, I followed something similar to the C25K program, so lots of walking and slow running, and gradually built it up, and I didn't have any problems. (I was up to about 10 miles when I left Cornwall, and had been completely injury free the whole time.) What I did do - and I think this is important - was kept my pace slow on the downhills. It's easy to run fast downhill, but it's the time when your legs take most of the pounding, so I made sure I ran down hills no faster than I could run up them. I might have looked a bit of an idiot, but I didn't get injured.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I started running again in Spain, after an 18 months break. I already knew I could run, so I just pushed myself to get on with it, ran up and down similar hills to the ones in Cornwall without gently building up, and ended up taking 3 months off with an achilles tendon injury. I'm just now starting again - very carefully!

Don't underestimate the strain that running puts your body under. It tends to be cummulative, so running injuries develop gradually, and take a long time to heal. Running is a high impact, weight bearing exercise (compared to cycling, which is low impact and mostly non-weight bearing) so the stresses on your body from running will always be much higher than from cycling.

 

[lulubel]

So would you recommend walking up and down inclines until I'm more experienced/used to it? Yesterday I just ran at them and almost had my lungs in my mouth at the top. My legs are still screwed tonight, couldn't even debate getting on the bike today.

It sounds like you're pushing yourself far too hard. My goal to build up to running again (as I did when I first started) is to NEVER have sore legs from running. If that means lots of walking to get over the steep bits - and it does for me here because there are lots of steep bits - it's worth it to be able to run injury free.

 

[Arsen Gere]

+1 for Gregs comments. I had a lot of calf problems moving to triathlon from cycling.

The research papers I read said there was no difference in the reduction of injury stretching before running, but consistency is important. If you do stretch before, keep doing it. If you don't do it and you do it before a race because everyone else does it you will be more prone to injury.

If you strech post exercise there is evidence to support small gains in performance 4-7% if I remember correctly.

However I support the streching crowd and I do it everyday now on an evening as a part of winding down for the day. I've been injury free for 6 months.

Only stretch the muscles you don't want to injure.

 

[david1701]

It depends. If you're describing a climb as gentle, then I don't think it's going to do any harm running up and down it. I used to live in Cornwall, so I know what Cornish hills are like. I had what I would have described as a gentle climb pretty much out of my door, which leveled off, and then went steeper for a bit, before dropping down the other side.

When I first started, I followed something similar to the C25K program, so lots of walking and slow running, and gradually built it up, and I didn't have any problems. (I was up to about 10 miles when I left Cornwall, and had been completely injury free the whole time.) What I did do - and I think this is important - was kept my pace slow on the downhills. It's easy to run fast downhill, but it's the time when your legs take most of the pounding, so I made sure I ran down hills no faster than I could run up them. I might have looked a bit of an idiot, but I didn't get injured.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I started running again in Spain, after an 18 months break. I already knew I could run, so I just pushed myself to get on with it, ran up and down similar hills to the ones in Cornwall without gently building up, and ended up taking 3 months off with an achilles tendon injury. I'm just now starting again - very carefully!

Don't underestimate the strain that running puts your body under. It tends to be cummulative, so running injuries develop gradually, and take a long time to heal. Running is a high impact, weight bearing exercise (compared to cycling, which is low impact and mostly non-weight bearing) so the stresses on your body from running will always be much higher than from cycling.

cheers thats really handy to know, I'm going to shift the way I run to run the gentle climb then walk down the hill, then very slowly increase the amount of the proper climb I run

Much appreciated, I think you've saved me an injury there

 

[LosingFocus]

Golden thread!

Took note of the advise in here. Went out again today, halved the distance and used the C25k as a guideline for timing.

Wow, feel so much better, and I enjoyed it so much more too.

 

[Willo]

As someone who also runs and cycles, I'd re-iterate the advice on here most notably about building up gradually. The relatively high impact on the legs from running can leave lots more aches and pains relative to cycling and if you push too hard too soon, injury will sideline you for both.
I used to run more often but suffered a few lower leg injuries by trying to do too much too quickly and ended up with an achilles injury which prevented me from running for 18 months. Now balanced with cycling, some suitable trainers to help compensate for my awkward gait, and now just running once a week complemented by cycling and the spin bike in the gym, this year I'm running as fast as ever over 10k.

p.s. wise words in this thread re hills which are a classic cause of lower leg injuries from running if you try too much too soon.

 

[BrumJim]

Makes sense. My biggest running problems have been achilies/lower calf leg pain.

Warned, learned, and will stretch better now for these muscles.