Road running v off-road (particularly races)

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beebop Jan 2013 12:31am, 10 Jan 2013 176 posts	0 beebop Binning kit? Unless you managed to rip it to shreds, Halo Sports Wash would probably get it clean. Works on shoes and everything. On to subject of thread - I tend tto sign up for road races in order to force myself into training for a PB, because I need the incentive push myself, sadly. Then I sign up for trail or off road races as a reward, because they're just pure fun... Some road races get into the fun category just because of the scenery. Which tends to translate as hills. Love hills! Anything requiring navigation puts me off, though. Poor show, eh?
redeaston Jan 2013 8:49am, 10 Jan 2013 331 posts	0 redeaston Navigation is something I need to brush up on. I used to be good but I am now very out of practice.
Yorkshire Pie Jan 2013 8:51am, 10 Jan 2013 10,806 posts	0 Yorkshire Pie On the subject of scenery, it's one of the reasons I prefer easy runs off road rather than races - if I'm running somewhere nice I want to be able to stop to enjoy the view and maybe take a photo!
Bazoaxe Jan 2013 12:26pm, 10 Jan 2013 4,944 posts	0 Bazoaxe I can get the scenery from my road running if I pick my routes carefully - may be some off road sections and I love these. However the lack of time, progress feedback from off road racing is an issue for me. I can guage this from road running and by factoring in the course profile and conditions. I dont tace often though Think the key here is we are all different and enjoy different things, we will never all be the same. What we need to acept is that others are different and we cant all be pigeon holed into the same way of thinking Theres nowt stranger thanfolk
Mrs Winkle Jan 2013 12:38pm, 10 Jan 2013 6,846 posts	0 Mrs Winkle Why is it so hard to understand why people like road running? Or living in London for that matter? We're all different, and we enjoy different things. I'm certainly not going to list the reasons I like road running and do a few marathons a year. And I wouldn't really be interested in why some people don't.
rf_fozzy Jan 2013 12:52pm, 10 Jan 2013 4,181 posts	0 rf_fozzy Mrs Winkle - that was an odd reply to an honest question. Why am I interested? - I was more curious than anything. And what I'm really interested in particularly, is why some runners won't run offroad at all - e.g. happy to run a marathon, but won't run in the XC league (just an example) or try a trail race for a club trip or something like that. I'm just interesting in learning what makes people tick, I think. As for living in London. I will never understand why anyone wants to live there. Or the SE for the matter (ruined because of London commuters in my opinion). Don't particularly enjoy visiting London. Didn't enjoy living and working there. Too many people, who were rushing everywhere, being rude. Don't get me wrong, I met some very nice individuals there and I have friends there, but in general - a lot of rude people. I also don't like the fact that there's no edge to London. It just goes on and on and on and all runs into each other.
rf_fozzy Jan 2013 12:57pm, 10 Jan 2013 4,182 posts	0 rf_fozzy I'm fascinated in this absolutely, 100% quantitative idea of running. I am a physicist and as such, am very logical, rigourous and analyse absolutely everything, including my running, but not to the extent where I won't do a race simply because I won't get an absolute measureable value from it. I will do things where I look at my time and compare it to previous races and as % of the winners time (I have to do this when I calculate the scores for our club fell league) and similar, but not to the point where I need to see and improvement on every single race. In fact, I suspect that that is one reason I enjoy running on the fells/offroad - you don't get the pressure from having to improve every single time and can relax and enjoy the race more. I can do, say, 7 or 8 road races in a year and get the "hit" I need for the quantiative side and the rest of the time enjoy my racing for the competitive side more.
rf_fozzy Jan 2013 1:02pm, 10 Jan 2013 4,183 posts	0 rf_fozzy TBH, I can get the quantitative information I often need from an intervals session on the track (something like 16x400 with half time recovery is ideal), often better than in a race - because I've do that session several times a year, whereas each race only comes up once a year, and if conditions are bad on that day (e.g. Brass Monkey half was very windy last year), then it can be 2 years before I can measure my performance against a previous time. Parkruns are ok for comparison I guess, but 9am is too early to be doing speedwork/performances really.
Bazoaxe Jan 2013 1:08pm, 10 Jan 2013 4,949 posts	0 Bazoaxe Fozzy, I am not in a club so XC league and club trips are out of bounds for me Running is what makes me tick, but I also like to see miles build up and monitor HR/pace....if I ran loads off road I would be slower, with higher HR and cover fewer miles, so the things that motivate me wouldnt be there. That said, if I lived out of town (Edinburgh Centre for me) then I may have a different view as new routes would be open to me. One thing I love on a sunday morning is a loner run off the beaten track....this can take me off road, intothe Penttland hills, along the canal path or down on some coastal areas, so I get a mix of road and other surfaces. My current fave route is a 19 miler that includes road, trail, mud, grass, small beach section, a few fallen trees, some hills then back on the road. sadly due to injury my LSRs are only at 10 miles and this route is not possible for me yet, but I will soom be able to do part of it
Pestomum Jan 2013 1:11pm, 10 Jan 2013 1,562 posts	0 Pestomum Peope are just different. That's a much wider and more profound thing than whether we like dirty running There isn't necessarily a "why" and continued asking for "justification" of a differering rate of enjoyment (it's not even a point of view) can be perceived as somewhat agressive. I got RW this month and was a bit surprised by the "trails are better" tone of some of it. Not better. Just different.