Movember 2012

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The key ingredient for me Dan is to run the lonesome trail out to/ around the power station. I need to come to love those hardest of yards whilst my legs adapt to continuous pounding. You're right though. Too much too soon will simply result in ... sore legs.
And so the wheel turns.
Sigh.

Are you running those tarmac miles in your off-road shoes? That could be an issue.

Another issue could be your technique. Fast road-running requires faster cadence, which is not something I've mastered, but I can tell you for sure that in my case at least, leg soreness comes from over-striding. When your stride length increases, you are relying on your calf and quad muscles for power as you push off the road. When instead you simply turn your legs over faster (with a shorter stride, but more of them), you are using your glutes and core strength because you are picking your legs up and letting gravity move you, rather than pushing off the ground in a power stroke. Big difference!

Something like that, anyhow. It works for me, but then I'm no 3:45 marathoner.

What I'm trying to say is that I don't think tarmac by itself is cauysing your leg soreness. Running downhill (as you do) is far harder on legs than tarmac and concrete.

So maybe try different shoes first, but also read Chi Running. Or the Pose Method. Etc. All of those systems are saying similar things. Cadence and technique, not power.