That is why Kipchoge manages a couple of marathons per year and kilian jornet races every week. The difference in impact from tarmac or pavement is massive.
Do you think it is mostly the difference in impact? I wondered if it might be more in the variability - that on a smooth hard surface you are repeating
exactly the same movement every time, and wearing exactly the same points of cartilage, muscle or tendon over exactly the same range every time. Whereas on a varied surface those movements will be irregular and so perhaps not hit the same concentration in one place over the run.
I'm thinking that the over-regular movement might cause problems more akin to RSI than simple over-use, but I don't know if that's a valid comparison.
Personally I just greatly prefer the nature of trail running, and if I could run 50% faster and 50% further on tarmac I still wouldn't choose to do it. But some people care about those things more.
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