Words By: Trace Rogers, Coach and Founder of SuperTRI
Running, but it’s different. As road runners, we spend countless hours performing thousands of repetitions of the same movement patterns. This allows for an easy and early adaption to muscle stress and therefore minimises muscular strength gains. However, when you hit the trails, you are exposed to different surfaces and running angles. Your legs need to load and your muscles need to fire in a different way to keep you moving forward. This allows for new training gains and strength and fitness gains.
The core of the matter. Unlike tarmac, trail running happens on an unstable surface. This means that in order to remain stable you have to rely on the deep muscle groups close to the spine to keep you upright. Learning to run whilst engaging the core muscles will reduce running injuries.
Running with awareness. If you have been there, you have seen it. The runner who after numerous kilometres wears the “thousand mile stare.” There are different reasons for this which include incorrect fuelling and/or exhaustion. Another cause however, could be that the endless repetition of running on long flat roads allows us to turn on the autopilot and plod on. Running like this can interfere with performance as you are no longer paying attention to pace or form.
This is impossible to do when out on the trails. You are constantly checking for feedback from your surroundings as you choose the best way forward.
A change is as good as a holiday. Given that it is not always easy to get out of town to go for a run, I organised a training “event” for my triathlon group. Although the running was tougher than any workout that we usually do, we all loved it and came back feeling happy with our performance. I believe this was not only because of the beautiful scenery but also because it was a complete change to the normal grind. Whether you are looking to improve your running performance or just fall in love with running all over again. Take it to the trails.
Hot tip: for an absolutely awesome run that can be turned into a great social event, visit Hatta Fort Hotel. They have a short trail within the hotel grounds which can be extended by taking your run out into the area surrounding the hotel. It’s hilly and it’s challenging. Afterwards you have the opportunity to shower and sit down to a well-deserved breakfast before heading back to town.
