Running - wtf!!!!

bompington

If you're going to be pedantic about percentages, it would be wise to realise that a competitor in a field of 1000 who beats 99.9% of the field has beaten 999 others, i.e. all the rest, and so comes first...

bill57

If you're going to be pedantic, do it properly ..............

The present population of the UK is 61 million. According to a study by the University of Bristol, 60% of those lead a sedentary lifestyle, equating to some 36.1 million.
So in a nationwide competition, where our fit runner has a go at cycling, if he beats 99.9% of the sedentary population, he'll get gubbed by 36,600 fat b@st@rds.
Not really one for the palmares, is it?

bompington

Well anyway I went for a run last night, for the first time in about 6 months, as I had to pick up the car from about 4 miles away - my quads are sore this morning but it felt quite good at the time.
The last time I went for a serious run it involved about 4 miles flat, a short steep hill (North Berwick Law) and back. Everything was fine, the uphill (non-trivial, it's about 150m up in 500m along) was easy enough, as commented by other posters, but after only about 30 seconds downhill, my quads were so painful I thought I'd ripped something. I staggered down to level ground wondering how I was going to crawl the 4 miles home, but once on the flat my quads recovered within a few minutes.
I dare say sports scientists will be able to explain the details much better than me, but it looks like
+ CV for stamina
+ strong quads and similar movement to pedalling help you uphill
- shock loading and extending under load when going downhill
Of course that's the effect of cycling on running, I really can't tell you the other way round, except that when I first started cycling, I was running 10k in 40 minutes or so, my first 20 mile outing on the bike took me 1 3/4 hours not including the cake stop half way...

dilemna

bill57 wrote:

If you're going to be pedantic, do it properly ..............

The present population of the UK is 61 million. According to a study by the University of Bristol, 60% of those lead a sedentary lifestyle, equating to some 36.1 million.
So in a nationwide competition, where our fit runner has a go at cycling, if he beats 99.9% of the sedentary population, he'll get gubbed by 36,600 fat b@st@rds.
Not really one for the palmares, is it?

Except that of the 61 million people you quote a proportion are made up of babies, young children, the elderly and infirm those with a permanent disability who unfortunately cannot run, those in hospital and in prison. To equate obesity and sedentary lifestyle with unhealthy lifestyle is correct, but people can still be as thin as a rake or appear healthy and not be able to run more than 10 feet to the TV remote. People don't have to be obese to be unhealthy although it obviously helps.

It always makes me laugh these programmes/stories of people turning themselves into lard warehouses as they always blame their genes or stomach. The problem is their mouths. They can't keep them closed. They cannot refuse even the smallest sweet, three piece suite. Were there any fat people in concentration camps or POW camps in WW2? I don't think so. Obesity is a lifestyle choice. It's striking watching TV footage from the 1930s and 40s. Everyone was so much smaller. The number of fat people around tells me that the credit crunch cannot be that severe for if it was they wouldn't have money to buy yet more food to fill their faces. Most low income benefit handout people are always fat and have the latest 6ft LCD plasma screens. Anyway I digress.

I used to run a lot, road running but started to suffer a lot of injuries in the region of my lower left leg muscles. At the time I was road running so switched to running on grass as it is more forgiving. I still get strains and aches from time to time especially if I push it too much. I believe this susceptibility to injury is because I regularly cross train. Strangely I tend not to feel the injuries collected whilst running when I revert to the bike for a few weeks. When I feel that I might be pulling a muscle running I stop for a few weeks and so just cycle.

Last year I didn't run for several months as I collected a bad injury in my lower left leg. Something felt like it snapped in the back outer edge of the leg muscles. I was miserable although after one week I could cycle ok. Walking was a bit painful for several weeks. After 2 months I tried running gently after two months but injury wasn't heeled as after a gentle run started aching severely. It was another 6 weeks and well into the summer before I started running again albeit at only 70% of former fitness. I am now pretty careful running.

I have concluded that running uses totally different sets of muscle groups than cycling. I often wonder how triathlon athletes cope especially having swum, cycled then finally do a road run which must be very hard on the joints. When I was running/cycling I found running before cycling a lot less fatiguing and stressful on the leg joints and muscles than running after cycling as in triathlon. I don't swim, well very badly. I run between 6 and 8 miles when I’m fit pretty much 5-6 days a week. I cycle 30 miles a day commuting and then do training rides at weekends of about 50-60 miles. Maybe it is too much but I eat well and take in a lot of protein as well. Cycling is definitely low impact sport as opposed to running which is not. I have good running shoes as well, do warm up and warm down and stretching. However the combination of running and cycling makes me feel so much stronger and greatly increases stamina. I do some weights as well to build upper body strength.

NFMC

I simply cannot run/jog.

I commute 28 miles a day, play basketball twice a week (so lots of sprints) and can swim for hours but I struggle to run for a hundred yards.

I know it's different muscles but I've always been like this. Happy to run after a ball but can't run just for the sake of it.

Then again, I don't enjoy bike riding unless I'm going somewhere. I always have a place to get to, even if I'm going there just for the ride, if that makes sense. I never think I'll go out for an hour, I'll think I'll get to x as quickly as possible and then come back a different way. It must be a mental thing!