It may seem like I am just about only interested in running the trails. That is largely the truth. I thoroughly enjoy all the time that I can spend on the trails.
I don’t mean for a moment that I don’t run on the road and that I haven’t raced on the road. In fact, just last year I raced the entire road season that’s about a dozen races over 6 months.
Fear Of Trails
While traveling around to all the different races that I raced on the road during last season I used the opportunity to speak to many other runners who were also obviously racing on the road.
What was interesting to me was that many of them were afraid of running on trails.
Their fears ranged between falling, getting lost, and even encounters with wild animals. Some joked about being afraid of bumping into an axe murderer or something of the like.
There was this one guy even told me that the reason why he doesn’t head out into the trails is from watching too many murder mystery series on television. For some reason, Hollywood always makes it that a trail runner is the one that finds the dead body out in the woods.
Slows You Down
Trail running is great when you’re needing to run slowly for your recovery days.
It is also very effective at giving you an idea of how it feels to run by your rate of perceived exertion because it is impossible to run by pace on technical trails. I’ve tried that before and failed dismally I have the x-rays of my ribs to prove it.
So here is my strategy for slowing down on the trails. Instead of being fixated on completing seven miles within a 60-minute time frame, I’ll head out for an hour-long trail run and pay no heed to the distance.
Even though I am easily around 1 to 2 minutes per mile slower on the trails compared to the road, I have a similar calorie per hour burn rate.
Softer Surface
Generally, trails are much softer under-foot.
This means that there is much less impact on your joints and muscles. Lower impact equals a quicker recovery from your run. When you have recovered better, you will be able to get a whole lot more benefit from your next training session.
Trails Make You Pay Attention
When I tell people how much time I spend running on trails I often get a response about how pretty it must be to be out in nature all the time.
While it is very pretty to be out in nature, one lesson that I have learned along the way is if I keep looking at the pretty nature the whole time then I better get used to picking myself back up after tripping over something. Add to that I will be improving my skills of cleaning dirt from my grazed knees.
Another unique skill that I learned from running on the trails is to pick up my feet much more. That is because my normal road shuffle style of running doesn’t work.
The bad habit of shuffling that I got from triathlon and running on exhausted legs had me tripping over everything on the trail.
Learning to pick my feet up properly again improved my running form on the road.
Get Faster
Running on the trails means I’m running up and down hills constantly. When you run up and down so many hills as a training session it will build power.
Once you have built power you can use it as a base to get fast by incorporating speed specific training sessions. The combination of these will make you a faster runner.
Works More Muscles
I know that it might not seem that way at first, but road running is on the whole a mono-direction movement.
All of your muscle movements are designed to drive your body forward in as near to a straight line as possible.
Trails are full of obstacles that you need to get over or around. That means a constant change of direction as well as accelerations and decelerations. All of these act as a type of overloading plyometric exercise on your muscles to make you stronger.
Better Ankle Strength
The lateral movement that I experience while running on the trails taxes my ankle area. This helps to strengthen my ankle joint as well as the tendons around my ankle.
Back when I ran cross country at high school, we did most of our training on level, even surfaces like the track for speed and out on paved roads for endurance.
However, there would be some of our races that would include some very uneven trails and I rolled my ankle badly at a number of races. Doing two or three miles as a limping walk hardly able to weight my foot was motivating to try and find a better way to train my ankles.
No Traffic
Sometimes running on the road can feel like running some sort of gauntlet in a video game.
For me, running in a bigger city with a lot of traffic around feels like I need eyes in the back of my head and be constantly ready to jump out of the way.
Here in Spain for instance, cyclists have a 5ft safety zone. In other words, no cars are permitted to pass a cyclist within 5ft. In Andorra that safety zone expands to six and a half feet. This makes Spain and Andorra popular training bases for professional cyclists.
However, runners get no such protected buffer zone from traffic. As long as the motorist doesn’t flee the scene after knocking you over and is not intoxicated then they are in the clear. The only incentive not to run you over will be their own moral conviction and the damage to their car.
Another bonus of being able to avoid traffic out on the trails is you don’t have to breathe in any of those horrible exhaust fumes.
Good For The Soul
Getting out into the fresh air is wonderful to be able to help recharge your inner batteries.
Just this morning out on the trails I got to listen to the sounds of a stream and the chirping of birds just as the sun was rising. Near the end of my run as the summer day was heating up those sounds gave way to the screaming of cicadas.
Another very important factor of why trail running is good for you is that it puts you in nature and that means green spaces. Green plants not only give you more oxygen but the color green is has a calming effect on the human psyche.
Good For Gut Health Too
Summertime on the trails where I live also means an abundance of wild-growing fruit. A couple of weeks ago I could pick wild berries beside the trails. This morning my trail-side snack was a handful of soft, juicy, purple figs. In another week it will be the wild cherries ready for picking.
Variety
Using trails to train for your road races is a great way of increasing the enjoyment that you get from each run that you do.
Get out onto the trails and give mind, body, and soul some much-needed stimulus. You will likely find that you start to feel more motivated for your next training session.
Share in the comments below how trail running has helped you prepare for races on the road.