Fell running at night

[Pinchy]

Anyone any idea as to how much your normal running pace is affected when fellrunning at night???

A route I often do which takes about 30mins in daylight took me over an hour last night!

C'mon you regular night owls - what's your experience on this subject???

[Sarah]

I guess it depends on how cautious you are, how much light your head torch gives, how clear or rocky the paths are, the weather etc..

I'm very slow anyway even in day light and plod along at my own pace, but i'm probably that bit slower at night on uneven paths or ones that i don't know very well.

[Full Moon Addict]

depends on the ground, but I find (not unsurprisingly)that I always go slower at night because of the mental siderather than the physical. The night sort of lulls you in to a slower pace however easy it is to see. If its really misty or the ground is broken and you're going downhill or on the flat, its far slower - pretty much walking pace if its really bad. Other than that, I reckon on adding say 25% going down or on the flat.

[IainR]

Definately a lot slower. Up and down the Llanberis path took me almost 2:30 hrs last month, it would normally take under 1:40, nearer 1:30ish I'd guess, we got up in not much over an hour but due to thick fog and rain took almost as long to get back down again.

Depending on the terrain obviously but as much as a 25%-50% as much time again is about right in my experience. Grassy terrain and ascending tends to be about the same, just a slight bit longer. Obviously running over something like Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach would take far longer.

Holding the torch lower does give you a bit more visibility, but I also find I'm just more careful at night. In the Day I'll let myself maybe get a bit too cold as I can be down pretty quickly but I'm careful at night not to get too cold or cold hands etc.

I'm also stricter on Navigation, just double checking I am where I think I am, just in case.

[Stevie]

I think it depends almost entirely on how good your head torch is. We do a lot of night running in our club and the people with really good torches are able to run at almost full pace. We use 20W halogen head torches which give a superb light level.

You do get a certain lack of shading with head torches, as the light source is very close to your eyes, and this is perhaps the main drawback with head torches, because it's harder to make out the shapes on the ground without shadows - tree roots are our biggest problem but I imagine it's the same on rock.

Practice is the other thing, you need to get used to it, but once you're in the groove you can really fly at night and it feels great

[detritus21]

I do alot of my training at night off road and don't find too much variation in my pace. The only time I struggle is if I'm running through wooded areas as the trees sometimes play tricks with your vision.

[IainR]

I use the Myo XP which is a nice enough Torch, but another runner has one of the Silva ones, which is a lot better, but costs a bit more. It does make a big difference though.

I also use rechargeable batteries just for financial reasons, but I don't think its as bright as with newly bought batteries. On good trails there won't be a massive difference, but even on the llanberis path (mainly to and from Clogwyn Station), I was far slower in the dark.

[RichT]

I also use rechargeable batteries just for financial reasons, but I don't think its as bright as with newly bought batteries.

Iain. How old are your rechargeables. I've bought some 2500 mAh batteries (£16 with charger from Tesco). They are at least as bright as Duracells from the start and stay brighter for longer in my Princeton Apex head torch. The instructions with the torch say that rechargeables have a better discharge curve, giving a higher voltage for longer.

Speed wise, it also depends who you're trying to keep up with! GeoffB, Leo and some of the other Pennine Thursday night darkness crew take no prisoners in the dark. I love it!

Bad weather does slow you down more than in daylight though.

[david]

Bad weather does slow you down more than in daylight though.

I'll agree with that but in general I find very little difference, maybe a couple of minutes over a typical hour's run. I run over roughish Pennine moorland which is probably easier in the dark than the rockier terrain in the Lakes or North Wales.

[NotOnUrHelly]

I tend to move onto the roads in Winter, pace being the very reason. Although I love fell running in summer and winter weekends. I would rather spend my winter evening running on the hilly roads around Darwen. I have a great loop that gets me 1800ft of ascent in 10 miles. I find this is done much faster than on the fells with a head torch. So in my personal opinion, Im getting a better workout.