Other/Mixed Rucking v. Jogging and why I started to prefer the former

[Pasibrzuch]

This topic is at no point a case against jogging.
Quite the contrary - I love jogging. Easy-pace runs get me into the flow state. As a person suffering from anxiety I must admit it calms me down tremendously.
However, after the run I feel extremely exhausted. Even though I stay in the aerobic zone (120-140 @27yo), after jogging for an hour or so I feel totally wore down. I cannot focus, have no motivation to do anything but chilling the rest of the day. I only hypothesize where it comes from, I will mention it later.
Three weeks ago I broke my small toe. I had to resign from every toe-sensitive activities, i.e. Muay Thai and a weekly long jog. My cardio is, well, not the best, so I really don't want to limit myself only to Q&D and OAPushUp GTG work.

Rucking seemed the only plausible choice. I was very skeptical of it. The idea of walking with a heavy backpack did not seem spine-friendly to me. However being left with no alternative (well, I could do stationary box step ups, but that would be boring as hell) I tried rucking.
I took my rucksack and put some books I'm not going to read in the foreseeable future, and left to a nearby forest. The first thing I noticed is that I reached ~130bpm with perceptibly smaller effort than during a jog.
But the biggest surprise was the fact that after a ~50min ruck I experienced no tiredness whatsoever. I had a very busy day which needed a lot of cognitive resources and I definitely pulled it off.

My hypothesis is that during jogging you hit the ground harder (bigger intensity) and you cover a bigger distance (bigger volume=number of steps) which is harder on you CNS. Conversely, rucking enables you to cover smaller distance in longer time in the same HR zone with less steps and with a smaller instensity of heating the ground. Do you think it might be the reason why I experience no exhaustion after a ruck?

Does anyone experience extreme exhaustion after their LSD runs and lack thereof after some other "slow cardio" activity?

 

[Al Ciampa]

If you can ruck without bothering the toe, but easy jogging does, you need to work on your technique and footstrike. Also indicated by how you feel after a jog. You also might simply be jogging for a longer duration than you’re adapted to.

 

[offwidth]

@Pasibrzuch
I agree with @Al Ciampa ... in that you are probably feeling beat up on your LED running, because you are not adapted to it.
This is one of the reasons I prefer to use the the term LED as opposed to LSD. 'E' standing for Easy...

You self admitted that your "cardio is not the best". LED will help fix that. But it's not an overnight fix. You might just be biting off too much to chew. Ease into it.....

 

[Kettlebelephant]

However, after the run I feel extremely exhausted. Even though I stay in the aerobic zone (120-140 @27yo), after jogging for an hour or so I feel totally wore down. I cannot focus, have no motivation to do anything but chilling the rest of the day. I only hypothesize where it comes from, I will mention it later.

How much do you weigh?
I'm north of 200lbs and had to really ease into running. Even though I had great endurance on things like the rower, when I started running again it was really exhausting. Running is high impact and the heavier you are the harder it is, that's why you need to carefully ramp up the volume (total and for single sessions). At least that's what I think.

 

[Pasibrzuch]

Thank you for your comments!
@Al Ciampa , I'm going to re-read your article on running technique and try to implement it better. Still, rucking serves me great, I'm definitely going to keep it in my regimen.
@Kettlebelephant , I'm at 81kgs at the moment. Still, my technique may be faulty as mentioned before.

 

[Steve Freides]

took my rucksack and put some books I'm not going to read in the foreseeable future, and left to a nearby forest. The first thing I noticed is that I reached ~130bpm with perceptibly smaller effort than during a jog.

I can easily hit 125-130 bpm walking when I'm short on time (read: walking a bit briskly). I don't think your experience is unusual in this regard.

I hate jogging and do it as little as possible. (I love to sprint, and enjoy Q&D style outings where I do a "series" of short sprints, and repeat another time or two.) If walking in some form suits your purposes, you don't need to run, in my opinion.

-S-

 

[Starlord]

If you can ruck without bothering the toe, but easy jogging does, you need to work on your technique and footstrike. Also indicated by how you feel after a jog. You also might simply be jogging for a longer duration than you’re adapted to.

100% agree. I am 173cm and approx 90kg, I do not notice any mental fatigue after my morning easy runs.

However when I was younger and lighter I did have that problems. As well as eventually 2 stress factors and a bilateral knee injury.

Technique is HUGE.

However while you are injured do use rucking as a viable alternative.