hence my desire to go run on dirt paths around me. which works for a bit until I feel stupid and go back to the crappy sidewalk. The only recourse is to run in the middle of the road. I run on the road for a while, but the crown/slope is pretty bad and bugs me. Around my neighborhood, there are cracks, swells, trees, and bushes obstructing side walks. Other than that, I just happen to like running n the paths here that are dirt compared to the ones that are concrete.Īnd I also don't care what slope roads are "supposed" to have. If anything I think it is slower and I "feel" faster on race day on hard surfaces. I run on dirt because most paths are not clean smooth hardened paths and there is soft dirt to run on. I run mostly on dirt, and any smooth, hardened dirt path can be just as hard to me as concrete. That there is some measurable difference to the body that translates into a more forgiving surface for the human body to pound itself onto a million times. I can not understand how anyone can think that the soft tissues of the human body will be more protected from running on asphalt over concrete. This was my exact point in my earlier post without mentioning deflection as that should be an obvious point, but maybe that was just obvious to me. Unless you are a 500lb person with size 1 feet who pounds the ground with all his might there will be ZERO physical difference between running on concrete and asphalt and packed dirt. From this experience I would say it makes a difference. Shin Splints no studies general opinion of observations from running in High School with indoor track in a High School without an indoor track. On top of that, the compression of your shoes is probably significantly more, and varies more step to step than the actual compression of the asphalt surface.Īs for the top pretty much fact as you know being a Civil Engineer. 333 seconds (actually far less ) with your measly 150-250 lb body? No discernable amount by the standards of your body's ability to feel. How much do you really think you can compress a surface with a modulus of elasticity of at least 2 MPa in. If a foot was on the ground constantly (which it isn't, you are in the air with no feet on the ground while you are running, but we can ignore that for now ) each foot strike would be 1/3 of a second (60/180 = 1/3 ).
As far as actual deformation of the surface goes lets say you are running at a 180 foot strikes per minute cadence. This doesn't mean one will be more likely to cause injury. just like you can probably tell the difference running on different types of grass. My what a fine collection of facts and opinions that are not correlated! I'm a civil engineer, and you probably can tell the difference about which you're running on. If you increase by 10% a week it shouldn't matter. If I remember correctly the concrete has a higher frequency of causing shin splints when starting. If new to running take a few weeks before doing sprints on Concrete. Different binders are used in the north and south.
In addition, the Cresta surface is commonly used for walkways and pathways as it offers a visually attractive alternative to other forms of gravel and stone chippings.Concrete is cement, water and aggregate making a solid object.Īsphalt is binder and aggregate that is temperature sensitive. In order to maintain the superb Cresta surface it is usually necessary to carry out occasional rolling or brushing.Ĭloburn red granite Cresta is also perfect for running tracks and football pitches as it feels light under foot and has an appealing surface texture. This is because there is more grab and when the ball lands there is a greater amount of friction produced which pushes against the ball’s horizontal path. Typically, when used for tennis courts, the result is that the ball slows down and a higher bounce is produced similar to the clay courts of the French Open.
It’s actually a 4mm down product which produces a permeable surface that maintains the correct level of friction. However, this was a soft material that quickly deteriorated into mud.īy sharp contrast, red granite Cresta™ is produced from granite which means its strong and durable requiring virtually no maintenance. In Scotland, outdoor playing pitches used to be surfaced using burnt colliery waste which was known as “blaes”.