Taking To The Trails – How It Will Help You Be A Better Runner
Article by Tait Hearps of Sweat Elite.
Recently the Sweat Elite Podcast has featured ultrarunners Jim Walmsley and Tom Evans, and just this week we sat down and had a chat with the undisputed king of the mountains, Kilian Jornet. These three strong athletes have many things in common, but a standout is that a huge proportion of their training is on trails. They do most of their competitions in the mountains, so that makes sense… but all three of them, along with many other athletes, agree that running on trails offers myriad benefits the road cannot.
Getting off sealed surfaces doesn’t mean you have to immediately direct your focus towards running a mountainous hundred miler, it can form an integral part of training for shorter distances on the road and track. Many athletes who have seen great success in more traditional running have also spent a great deal of time running off road.
The Ethiopian greats Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele have spent hundreds of hours running the uneven, hilly terrain through the forests surrounding Addis Ababa. Many of Kipchoge’s runs are along muddy, rutted roads and paths through the Kenyan countryside. Nick Willis recently wrote the following in an “Advice to my younger self” letter posted on the World Athletics site: “Based as you are in Wellington, you are surrounded by hills and the city is home to several world mountain running champions – so why then are you so terrified of running hills?”
What is it about getting out onto the trails that can be so beneficial? Here we will look at just a few ways that it can help you to reach your running goals and become a more well-rounded athlete in the process.
Strength
Trails often cover terrain that is undulating, with technical terrain underfoot. This means muscle groups are activated in a huge variety of combinations, and force is generated across multiple planes, rather than the more homogenous and repetitive motions involved in running a flat road or track. Traversing steep terrain, with leaps and bounds to get between and over obstacles along the path assist in developing explosive leg strength that is harder to develop on flat terrain, as well as core strength and stability. The burn you’ll feel as you ascend a sustained climb will leave you in no doubt that your muscles are getting a very solid workout.
Proprioception and coordination
Proprioception essentially means awareness of the position or movement of the body in space. Running on uneven, technical surfaces involves a lot of adjustment of your footing and movements. If you try to run flat out along a technical trail without paying attention to where your feet are landing, it won’t end well for you. Trail running therefore results in significant strengthening of foot muscles and ankle ligaments, as an adaptation to protect against spraining. The constant feedback between your movements through space and contact with protruding rocks and logs will also result in improved coordination as you get more attuned to traversing technical terrain (and potentially a few painful miscalculations).
Kilian suggests visualisation as a way to improve running on technical terrain, especially descents, trying to focus on obstacles as they appear in your vision at around twenty metres away, rather than having your eyes locked onto the ground at your feet, which is what he says novices will often be doing when they start running trails. Once you’ve processed the upcoming terrain, lock it in, continue to focus on the unfolding terrain up ahead and try to run without looking straight down.
Reducing impact and injury prevention
Both Jim and Kilian have really condensed racing schedules – often with only a few weeks separating big races – despite the fact that their races are normally at least a marathon distance, and often much, much longer. Why is it that they can race so often, and top marathoners may only have two or three per year? Given the constant variation in gait and impact on joints and muscles, trail running can be much easier to recover from, and can be a great way to do your recovery runs. The trails are also generally a lot softer than sealed surfaces. These factors all contribute to a lower level of impact compared to running on road or track and can help to prevent injuries that occur from repetitive impact and strain.
Another interesting point Kilian raised is that even on a run that produces little impact, staying at low speeds, you can do work approaching your VO2 max from even just a slow shuffle up a very steep incline. This means that if you’re trying to do an easy run staying in, say, zone two, the terrain may dictate that you will have to walk. There’s no shame in that, and it will give you more of a chance to take in the beautiful surroundings.
Nature, exploration and variety
Some of us don’t live next to a trail head providing access to miles of mountainous terrain, so trail running on a daily basis is likely not feasible, or necessarily desirable depending on what you’re preparing for. But taking yourself out into nature and enjoying the improved air quality away from the bustle of urban streets can have huge benefits for your state of mind. You’ll be so focussed on the terrain and the beautiful scenery that you will often forget you’re working hard for the views.
Breaking away from your familiar handful of well-trodden routes and finding some new terrain can be a fun way to explore your local area, or you can make a day trip to an out-of-town nature reserve and explore it with friends. Trail running on hiking trails is also a fun way to cover terrain quickly, and adding variety to your training can be hugely beneficial, helping to break up what can otherwise risk becoming stale and monotonous.
These are just a few examples of how trail running can help to improve your training. It may take a bit of effort to incorporate into your schedule, but the slew of benefits it will yield make it worth it. If you’re interested in the history of trail running and racing in the mountains, Kilian is not just one of the eminent athletes in the field, he is also a scholar and student. In this article on his site, Mountains and Athleticism (which is a treasure trove of information on navigating through the mountains at high speed), he has chronicled the history of the sport and how it developed across the world. An insightful read that will hopefully give some more context and motivation for your foray onto the trails. Enjoy!
