After my last post I took some of the advice and used the fartlek method of interval training.
Yesterday I did my old loop to see if I could beat my old pb, in fact I knocked six minutes off.
Very happy with the training so today I went out for over an hour (at my old pace for a change) exploring new paths through my local woods and countryside.
Just got back and I feel great 😆
So thanks to all who posted keep up the good work.
Rob.

Good man. Well done. Now do some fell running!

I did a week’s road riding in the Alps last summer (15km ascent in 4 days) and came back and broke my PB fell running without even trying – I just went out for a run on my favourite loop, not even running fit, and knocked 10 mins off my PB!

Not sure what the message is there, other than cycling up Galliber 3x in a week and Alpe D’Huez 4x seems to benefit fell running.

Would love a go at fell running but need to lose more weight before I give it a try.
Do you need a fell type shoe or could I use my regular running shoe(asics gel keyano)?

Fartlek? Wah gwan? Is it like Interval training?

Yup 😆

Would love a go at fell running but need to lose more weight before I give it a try.
Do you need a fell type shoe or could I use my regular running shoe(asics gel keyano)?

No need to lose weight – if you can run then you can fell run. Might need to walk up some hills, but then all but the superfit walk up some hills. Yes to special shoes – your normal ones won’t have very good grip, and will also be too high, hence unstable on rough terrain.

I’d recommend some Inov-8s – you don’t need to go for fell specific Mudclaws, the Roclite 315s work on the fells with the advantage of being more versatile. Have to declare my bias, as I got sponsorship from Inov-8 for the last few years, though now I have to pay for them again I will still be spending my money on Inov-8s. There are of course other options out there, but I’ve not really got any idea given I’ve not used anything else recently!

I struggled to get past 12 miles at a decent pace, joined my local running club, went on club runs & it made a hugh difference. Makes it more sociable aswell.

exploring new paths through my local woods and countryside.
Just got back and I feel great

running for fun is fun 😉

I’d love to go fell running too. But I live in Holland 🙁

My running trail involves – run along flat path; turn left; run along another completely flat path; avoid dogs; run along another completely flat path; avoid children left to do what they like; run along another flat path; dogs; children; flat ….. repeat until comatose.

just went for a run, been very lax lately and in a cycling funk, feels so good to get the muscles working! ta muchly this thread really prompted me to put my shoes on

DrJ – you need to find a route with some bridges over canals for the hill training 😀

@ robidoo

Exactly how did you use fartlek on you run? Interested in some real world examples of best ways to implement it.

I’m enjoying my running just now too. Did my first 10k on friday, not a race just a loop around a lake that happens to be 10k, did it in just over an hour so i’ve now got to beat that. I live at the top of a big hill so my local loop (5k) involves running to the bottom and as far up as i can, only ever made it half way back up but my times are getting quicker there too. Not sure it does much for the cycling fitness mind, I feel i’m progressing quicker at the running but still slow as **** riding up on my bike.

Jamie

By its nature it is unstructured. Simply warm up for 10 – 15 minutes at a steady pace then run (depending on fitness) at different speeds over different distances, maybe 400m hard with a minute or so slow jogging followed by maybe a 5 minute race pace effort followed by a hill effort etc. It may depend on the environment as well.
Follow with a 10 min warn down.