Isn't running hard work ?

[Andrew Br]

Running isn't my exercise of choice any longer- I prefer cycling, 5-a-side or hiking- but, in a bid to get fitter, I went for a run just now. I did a short circuit around part of the local nature reserve ~2.6km. I don't want to overdo it !
I'm knackered and it was really painful, especially for my chest.
I don't feel such pain in 5-a-side even when I play for 2 hours.

More work required I think. I'll try to run twice a week, play football twice a week and cycle as much as possible.

It started raining just as I got back in 

[Pancho]

Whenever I see joggers, I feel sorry for them; they look so ill and suffering.

Whenever I see cyclists, I feel envious; I wonder where they're going and where they've come from.

[clarion]

Ditto.  I was watching a jogger waiting at a crossing, jogging on the spot.  I then stopped at the next set of traffic lights, put my foot down, and smiled.

Maybe I'm just not committed enough to sculpting my athletic physique.  My weight loss consultant seems to think so.

[Tom M]

Have you ever seen someone who's running smiling?

Case closed.

[andygates]

I smile on the inside. 

[border-rider]

it's ace when you're fit and you've done lots of it.

I did a lot in the mountains in the US this year - running at dawn in the Grand Tetons and the Rockies

I loved it - could't help but smile.

Not so much fun at the mo, tho'.

[Andrew Br]

When you see someone who's obviously a regular and talented runner it always looks very graceful and effortless. I like to think that's how I used to look 20 years ago when I ran to and from work every day.
I don't think that I ever used to smile though............

What surprises me these days is the contrast in the effort required for steady (slow) jogging vs. some very hectic running in 5-a-side. Give me the football anyday (atm  ).

 

[Riggers]

Yes, you're right. The way I run is bloody hard work AND, it's boring.

[Greenbank]

It's great when you learn to zone out, much like long distance cycling.

[Polar Bear]

I used to run marathons before a serious break to my left leg brought my long distance running to a premature end.   The sheer joy of leaving the house early on a sunny, clear spring morning, running through country lanes and clocking up 20 miles before returning to breakfast with my kids was simply awesome.   I also loved leaving work on dark, drizzly November evenings and running a ten home.   The stresses of the day ebbed away and the joy of life filtered through taking over instead.

Cycling is great but the thrill of being able to pull on the trainers and knock off a twenty surpasses anything I have done en velo.

I'd love to be able to run still      

[Polar Bear]

Oh, it is hard work, very hard work until you break through ont he fitness front.  Then it becomes a sheer joy. 

[Riggers]

I've been doing it for 25 years, and it's still bloody hard work and boring.

Fact.

[LEE]

I have 2 problems with it:

1) Half the people I see running locally, or on TV in London Marathon, appear to be wearing knee supports.  My knees have always hated running.

2) You just don't get anywhere.  OK, Polar Bear may be able to run 20 miles before breakfast but that's bloody exceptional.  Most city-dwelling runners would be knackered before they'd got out of the smoke and into the country.

I'm no great athlete but, given 2hours 15 minutes on my bike I can cover more ground than Paula Radcliffe running at full tilt.

Running is no harder than cycling though, if you aren't knackered and your lungs aren't exploding then you aren't cycling hard enough.  

Pain is always available on a bike if you want it.

[andygates]

I love being able to traverse terrain under my own steam - by pretty much any means I've tried.  Always loved getting from A to B by bike.  Open-water swimming makes me giggly.  This autumn's running has opened that to offroad, moors-type spaces.

(Then I go and bugger my knee by "running through the pain" on a race, and that's that for a while; "running through it" is as smart as RLJing or swimming in a rippy estuary!)

[teethgrinder]

I love being able to traverse terrain under my own steam - by pretty much any means I've tried. 

Me too. I used to run almost everywhere when I was 8 years old. I kept doing that until I started riding my bike and found that I could go for miles and to places I never knew even existed.

Have you ever tried mountain biking? You can get to a lot of new places that a road bike won't get you to very easily, if at all. It's good fun too. I spent a few weeks in Wales exploring the mountains in 2005. I ended up doing a fair bit of bike carrying and walking. But I was really enjoying myself. One of the highlights was my attempt at Caidar Idris. I rode some technically very easy double track most of the way up. Then came the big boulder section near the top. I carried my bike, firstly incase it became rideable again, but when I realised it never would, just out of stubborness that I'd conquer Cadair Idris with my bike. It was a clear and sunny day with fantastic views and not a breath of wind. I was tired out after that day though.


I'm considering doing some more running though. I wanted to do a marathon when I was 8 and still haven't done one. I might even enter that 3 day event along the Ridgeway and do 3 marathons with knobs on. Hopefully.

[Polar Bear]

Running is, in my view and experience, far and away more demanding than cycling.   It's easy to freewheel along the flat or downhill.   When running you have to still make yourself move, put the effort in.       

I could keep my weight well and truly under control when I could run: cycling I'm afraid is nowhere near as effective   

[Frenchie]

Have you ever seen someone who's running smiling?

I have; however if you are truly running (hard) it is next to impossible not to feel the pain, like in cycling (hard)!

I love running, but now need to make the effort to find interesting courses as, after years of road and track running, I can't face the monotony of doing it like I used to.

As MV put it though, you can cycle unfit, but you can't run freely unfit.