Quote Originally Posted by VenusdeVelo
Maybe someone out there not only cycles but runs too -- I want to do my first duathlon next year and so, I am learning how to run. Have ran now about 7-8 times, try to run 2x per week on a 1.2 mile course. My problem is lower leg pain, esp shins. Have a new pair of Asics, thinking of having someone analyze my stride in my shoe, not sure if that is contributing to it. I just can't get over this hump where your legs feel like lead, esp lower half. Also thinking about doing treadmill runs only for the winter to get used to it...right now I am on cement. Not the best but the easiest for my to get out on. Cycling is like floating on air in comparison......

Any tips?
Venus--When you started out, were you running the whole course, or did you start by alternating between running and walking (or wogging, as I call it)? I am a cyclist, and in November I decided I would start running this winter, and my goal was to be able to do the 5k course here on campus. I have never enjoyed running, but I wanted to be able to do something to keep me active in the winter when I can't ride as often. (I am also concerned about bone density, but I'm pretty sure that's another thread--your bones need the impact that they don't get through cycling.) Anyway, I got fitted with running shoes at a reputable running shop (owned by a woman )--you are right, shoe fit is very important. Then I asked my friend (triathlete) in the Health and Exercise Science dept. here where I work for a 5k training plan, specifically so that I wouldn't hurt myself. It started very slowly, something like: 10 minutes walking, 2 min. run + 2 min. walk, 3 times, 10 min. cool-down walk. I did that 3 times in one week. Then the next week, it was a little harder, like 10-walk, 2 run + 1 walk (3 times), 10-walk. Every week increased the running slightly and decreased the walking, and, as you said, the running is never on two consecutive days. I think that for cyclists, the problem is that your legs can't keep up with your lungs--you have the aerobic base to be able to run much more at the beginning, but you have to train your legs to run, to take the beating. I know all about the lead feeling in the legs, and it has gradually gotten much better. After wogging for about two months, I can actually run a whole 5k now (yea!), and I still do a 5-min. warm-up and cool-down walk. I still do not love running, but I have not had any pain. I hope you can figure out how to get rid of yours. If you'd like to see the training plan I used, let me know. The HES dept. here does lots of research on running and training; they know what they are doing.

By the way, I really admire all you runners out there. I don't know how anyone runs a half-marathon, much less a marathon.