Rucksack training

2 watchers

faithfulred Apr 2013 2:44pm, 26 Apr 2013 383 posts	0 faithfulred Unfortunately, most of my runs over the past few months have been with a rucksack, as most of my runs have been commutes due to time constraints. This has meant that most of my running has been at an easy pace. I'm going to be training for a couple of marathons in the autumn, as well as some shorter distances in the summer, and I'd like to put a bit of structure into my training - not just easy running all the time. BUT, is it OK to run faster sessions (eg a tempo run) wearing a rucksack? Am I risking injury? or could it actually be beneficial? I'd obviously have to base the run on effort rather than speed, as the weight will slow me down - would this make the session less effective? My commutes are usually around 10K and I'm usually carrying about 3-5kg.
Gobi Apr 2013 5:46pm, 26 Apr 2013 51,048 posts	0 Gobi Just buy a good rucksack with waist straps and you can do most sessions
AngusClydesdale Apr 2013 6:46pm, 26 Apr 2013 4,874 posts	0 AngusClydesdale What Gobi said. 8½ thousand Royal Marines can't be wrong!
FenlandRunner Apr 2013 6:50pm, 26 Apr 2013 15,873 posts	0 FenlandRunner What Gobi said. I've an Inov-8 and unless it is fully loaded barely notice it.
hellen Apr 2013 10:39pm, 26 Apr 2013 14,293 posts	0 hellen I've done intervals and tempo With rucksack
faithfulred Apr 2013 11:17pm, 26 Apr 2013 384 posts	0 faithfulred Well that's good to know - it'll certainly make my training runs a bit more interesting. Hellen, how did you pace the intervals? Was it by feel or heart rate?
hellen Apr 2013 7:07am, 27 Apr 2013 14,294 posts	0 hellen I ditched the hr monitor ages ago so just same effort level as without rucksack