I love grass.
Let me rephrase that.
I love running on grass. In fact, since running in the Harrisburg Marathon last Nov. 12 approximately 75 percent of my runs have taken place on the grassy and relatively flat Baker Field just beyond my front door.
The reason is simple: grass is easier on my legs than the roads or sidewalks. Though I have no poof to the contrary, I imagine that running circles around the grass field (three loops equals 5 miles) helps my recovery from day to day than if I ran on the roads day in and out.
My theory is based on the golf ball test that I read on some running web site that escapes me at the moment. Anyway, the idea is if one bounces a golf ball on a road or sidewalk, it will bounce like crazy, thus indicating how hard the surface is. However, drop a golf ball on a grass field and it probably won’t bounce all that much.
So just imagine what the pounding of running on a road as opposed to grass does to one’s legs.
On top of that – and again, I have no scientific proof – running on grass is generally slower with more resistance. It should make a runner stronger, especially if the grass hasn’t been mowed in a little while.
What I like about running on my grass field is that I know the distance and what time I should be running for a particular workout. Though it can be a little monotonous, it’s fun keeping track of my splits. Sometimes it helps give me incentive to run a workout faster than the last one.
Today, however, wasn’t one of those days. Actually, I tried to take it easy today after running 20 miles on Monday and 14 with a few 5:30 mile loops on Tuesday. I was definitely dragging through the first five miles in 33, but somehow I ran the next five in 32:17. I pushed the pace a bit for a kilometer so that’s probably where the speedier split comes from, but it dipped back down when I ran the last five on the field in 33:23.
A loop through the neighborhood adjacent to F&M gave me 17 miles in 1:52:21.
That’s not too bad, and I recall struggling to do 17-milers in 2-hours back when I came out of retirement, but now my hamstrings are a little achy. Perhaps some light yoga will iron out those kinks?
Anyway, this week’s helpful tip is to get off the roads. Go run on the grass, especially if you want to be running when you get old.