Quote Originally Posted by Rob Furness View Post
You can't hide on the roads. Pace is high all the time and if you blow up that's it. On the fells you get checkpoints, stiles, gates, walking climbs etc. which all can give an opportunity to recover that you don't get on the road. Basically the intensity is higher for longer periods.
Can't say I agree Rob. Up until mid February 2011 I had been a road runner for 30 years. I started training for the BG and did London late April 2011. Ran 3.16 with last 2 miles at 6.11 miling, best I have ever felt in the marathon and could have kept going quite happily. Only reason a ran so slowly overall was that I assumed that as this was after 10 weeks of running no more than 2 miles without walking, I wouldn't be able to handle 26 miles non stop running.

As a coach I have since tried to instil into all my athletes the benefits of fell training compared to the 'easy' option of running on the roads.