My running background has basically always been in the realm of running off-road. I started out with high school cross-country and progressed from there on to trails.
Back in high school, I did a fair amount of track and field as well. However, I always detested running on the road simply because from my perspective it was just dull as hell.
It always took me a massive amount of effort just to get my head around the mind-numbing monotony of running on the same looking piece of black asphalt when trails offered so much more variety.
The truth is that I left a lot of learning opportunities about running out on the proverbial tarmac so to speak.
So let’s take a closer look at what we as trail runners can learn from the realm of road running and maybe improve not only our performance but our ability to keep injuries at bay as well.
Consistency Of Pacing
When you run on the road can have absolute precision when it comes to your pacing.
This is very useful as far as having a yardstick to measure against your rate of perceived effort. In other words, when you get back out on the trail you will be more used to holding a specific constant effort.
I find that when running on the trails my pace tends to fluctuate based on the terrain and that over time my perceived effort also starts to fluctuate as well.
By taking the time to run on the road from time to time I am able to hone the skill of holding a perceived level of effort that matches a constant pace on the road.
This has translated into holding a constant effort level for much longer when I return to the trails.
Variety Of Workouts
Obviously running on the trail will create variety in and of itself.
Every run out on the trail will have a variety within it. You’ve got stream crossings, you’ve got roots and rocks to jump over. Some trails that wind uphill while others wind downhill.
Trail surfaces can vary from super sketchy and technical to smooth and fast flowing.
However, when it comes to the types of workouts you do on trails it tends to be limited to long runs and hills.
Training sessions on the road allow for the inclusion of speed sessions, tempo runs, and pick-ups.
These road-specific workouts will help to make you a better trail runner. In addition, incorporating some of these other types of workouts adds variety to your training days.
Look at what Jim Walmsley has been able to do on the ultra-trail running circuit by incorporating speed work into his training. He managed to get himself so quick that he was even able to qualify to run in the US Olympic trials.
Mentality and psychology
Obviously road running is a lot more strict and structured around pace and distance than what trail running is. This is a key difference between road running and trail running.
What I’ve managed to find in my own life is that by incorporating these stricter constrictions of the road running style of training has managed to spread out into other aspects of my life as well. It has created a certain higher level of planning and structure in my life.
One spin-off from that structured planning is this blog that you’re reading at the moment. For me, that structure that comes from scheduling time has greatly increased my productivity.
The outcome is certainly better than continuing with the happy-go-lucky trail runner attitude to life that I have had for a large number of years.
Structure
I remember my coach talking about this structured aspect of road running training and the strucured nature of the training plans. You have to make your easy days very very easy. That is so that you are rested enough to make those specific hard speed/power sessions hard enough to be able to get the maximum benefit.
By comparison, my years of trail running has largely been at a constant level of output. That level is harder than what would qualify as a proper easy day and way easier than a hard interval workout.
Road running and training has taught me how to run much easier on my easy days in order to be able to push it so much harder on my hard days and do less of what my coach likes to call junk miles.
The Technical Side Of Things
The one major thing that road running has over trail running is road running is very much data-driven.
You get to collect reams and reams of really good data at the end of every single run that you can analyze and tweak. That enables you to make micro improvements to your training and pace. This enables improvements in your road running races going forward.
Another aspect that I’ve noticed from my time doing some road running training that I never used to do back when I was trail running is that my road running training sessions would have a laser-sharp focus. That includes a very structured warm-up before a specific workout and also having a structured warm down at the end of each workout.
Another factor that I never used to do when trail running but I have started to do now that I’ve incorporated road running into my routine and that is doing run-specific training drills things like high-knees, back kicks, sidewinders, and high skips to my routine.
These are the drills that have helped to improve my form and that has translated into a better trail running experience.
Even though I used to occasionally use a foam roller when I was only trail running, it was not until I started road running again that it became an almost daily part of my recovery regime.
The impact on my muscles and joints and ligaments was so much more compared to trail running. I made a conscious effort of doing a lot more foam rolling to aid my recovery between runs.
Strength Training
Here is something else that I started incorporating a lot more when I started road running and that is doing a couple of strength training sessions in the gym as part of my overall training program.
That helped me improve my muscle strength between run sessions. Becoming stronger in my legs is something that has definitely transferred over to my trail running. It has helped me get up hills a whole lot easier than before I was doing any strength training in the gym.
Elites Do Both
One of the things that you will notice that elite runners like for example Jim Walmsley do and that is the incorporate all aspects of running into your training program.
If you look closely at the programs that most elite athletes follow you will see that most of their volume work is done out on the trail. However, they will also run on the road to be able to get the specific pacing training and they will also run on the track for their speed work sessions.
All of these combined together make elites even stronger trail runners and gives them the ability to win more races and earn their living.
So if an elite runner can incorporate all three aspects of running into their training and thereby become better trail Runners, so can the rest of us.