Trail running and ultra tips

Love it: Trail running is all about freedom, adventure, being outdoors and sharing time with friends. Find new trails to explore, run over rocky beaches under Pohutukawa, plunge into a crater or dance through a mossy South Island beech forest. New Zealand has many amazing places to explore in a small area. From the ground up then...

Surprise the body
Strong feet: Many first-time trail runners are afraid they'll roll an ankle or have some other sort of injury on the trails. This may be true if you are a newbie and tackle a gnarly course at top speed. You may wish to start by hiking on the trails to start with. Start by running on slightly easier and less technical trails and take them at a little slower pace. After a few weeks on the trails you will notice that your legs and feet will have become a lot stronger. Tackling more technical terrain at a good pruning speed requires neuromuscular coordination that comes with time and practice.

Legs: Your leg muscles will respond to trail running like nothing else! Running on various types of terrain over rocks, roots, rolling corners, up and down hills makes demands on a wider range of muscles than road running, without the repetition injuries of pounding pavement. Ankles, hips, inner and outer thighs and core muscles are engaged for balance. Trails more fully engage the quads, increasing leg strength.

The core: Strong core muscles are a good thing and they will be engaged while running. But there's a caveat. Your core muscles should be strong to help you maneuver over rocks and twisting, winding trails. However you should keep the core relaxed while engaged (i.e. not holding tension). Holding tension in your body through your shoulders, back and through your core muscles will wear you down in a long run.

Arms and shoulders: Relaxed, loose, but not "hunched forward." Think of "running proud" with your shoulders in a neutral position (not forward or back). Your arms should swing relaxed beside your body - not crossing over the centre line.


Technique and tips

Body position: Find a neutral body position. The "Alexander" neutral position is the body position where your body will naturally fall forward if you lean forward from the ankles.

Quick fast light cadence: Maintain a quick cadence. The quicker your cadence, the faster and lighter (i.e. less impact on the ground) you will go. Think quick-light-feet, quick-light-feet. All of the fastest marathon runners in the world have a cadence of around 92 steps per minute. For trail runners on rocky, uneven or soft ground the benefits of a fast cadence are huge, you can move off the surface quickly and maintain forward momentum.

Uphill Running: Keep your spine tall and lengthened and head in a neutral position. Do not slump back into your pelvis or dump forward. Once of the worst (and most natural) things you can do is slump forward with your nose pointed down towards your feet. This forces your diaphragm up and effectively reduces your lung capacity. Shorten your stride - think like a mountain biker, increase your leg cadence and maintain a slight lean into the hill. Keep your head in the neutral position to prevent slumping forward. Some hills are horrendously long and tough, for example a canyon in Western States may take close to an hour to ascend when you are tired. You do not need to run the entire thing if you begin to feel exhausted. Back off and walk uphill. Make sure you walk those hills with a purpose. It's not supposed to be a Sunday stroll.

See this uphill running video by the US ultrarunning champion - Scott Jurek.



Downhill: You may think this is a no-brainer but proper downhill running technique can be excruciatingly difficult to master. The most important thing is - do not brake! Easier said than done if you find yourself hurtling downhill at breakneck speed. Braking, by landing on your heels is an inefficient use of your forward momentum and will engage your large quad muscles with each step. The end-result of this sometimes after only a very short run is "dead quads" as they will be fatigued and will feel like wobbly jelly (that's jello for you North American Trail Runners). Run light and think that you should always be running over your feet rather than having your feet stretched out in front of you.

You may wish to continue to Ultramarathon run tips...

 

Please feel free to get in touch if you are looking for any training tips, travel plans or just want to talk about a great run you have just had.

Cheers, PC