The difference between jogging and trail running
Jogging is a form of running at a slow or leisurely pace and maintaining a steady level throughout the running time. Nowadays, jogging is one of the simple, moderate and beneficial sports for health or to relieve stress after a tiring day at work.
Trail running is a concept used to refer to the form of running on uneven terrain and close to nature such as mountains and hills. Compared to running on flat roads, trail running requires equipping a good running posture with uphill and downhill skills as well as safety rules to avoid unwanted injuries.
Trail running is running on a trail, an uneven route.
If you are too familiar with flat running routes in the city or gym, you should try trail running. Although it requires a lot of challenges, time and effort, in return, the experiences you discover will be very addictive, especially for those who have "travel" blood in them.
Trail running technique
To ensure both health and minimize the risk of injury, you need to learn some trail running techniques as follows:
Running uphill or downhill requires you to have endurance and technique to avoid injury. To have good trail running technique, you should practice interval running. This method of running is extremely beneficial when running downhill, it will help you maintain confidence at high speed, increasing the running cadence of your legs. Practice this skill gradually to avoid injury.
Running posture
Paying attention to posture when trail running will help the body avoid possible injuries that affect bones, joints, muscles and spine.
Additionally, shortening your stride will help you run faster over obstacles on the road. You can lengthen your stride when necessary to avoid stepping on gravel or mud...
To ensure both health and minimize the risk of injury, you need to learn some trail running techniques.
Eyes always look straight ahead
The whole body forms a straight line from head to toe, do not bend over to avoid damaging the spine and causing hunchback. The way to swing the arms and lift the thighs should be coordinated, relaxed when running.
When running, you should not look around or just stare at your feet because you will not be able to detect obstacles in time. Therefore, you must look straight ahead and slightly down to observe if there is anything blocking your way.
High step rate
The higher the cadence, the shorter the time your foot is in contact with the ground, which means the shorter the time your foot slides on the shoe, and the shorter the time it takes for your knee to stabilize when moving again.
To increase your cadence, you can practice with ladders. Place your feet on the gaps of the ladder on the ground or practice with designed obstacles that are spaced out. Later, when running on different terrain, you will be able to flexibly change your cadence according to the running surface.
Your upper body should be balanced and not moving, but your legs should move quickly. The landing may not be directly under your body, so depending on the surface, control your legs and feet along with your upper body.
Training with obstacles
This means you will practice running over the obstacles until you are comfortable, then run several times where your feet can land between the gaps in the obstacle. Finally, run where you can land wherever you want, but this time as fast as you can. When you have practiced, you can be confident that your feet will handle the obstacles on the track.
What to do before trail running?
First of all, you need to strengthen your knees. Strengthening your knees with some exercises will have a positive impact on your ability to run downhill. If one of your legs slips, having strong knees will help transfer your weight to the other leg and you can continue running instead of falling. Running downhill several times in a row in a race will tire your legs. But having strong knees will help you delay the feeling of trembling when running and going downhill.
If this is your first trail run, you should carefully research the route you are about to run and choose a route that suits your purpose, skills and health.
In addition, when running, the shoes must have good grip to avoid possible accidents. According to the general rule when choosing shoes, the larger the distance between the grooves, the greater the traction provided by the sole.
If the distance is too small, mud and dirt will stick between the grooves, reducing friction and making it slippery when running. If the running terrain is muddy, choosing shoes will be even more important. You just need to put your finger in the groove of the shoe. If your finger can fit into the groove, the shoe can run well on the sticky mud terrain. You can also test by standing on an uneven surface such as tree roots or gravel. If you can stand firmly, the shoe can accompany you.
Proper fueling is also important. The better your technique, the better your body will adapt to running fast and long in the mountains. However, all that skill and technique won’t help you if your body isn’t fueled properly. The average human body has enough reserves to maintain a steady pace without refueling for several hours, but as your energy reserves decrease, so will your speed.
Plan your training carefully to improve both your health and endurance so that your body can be ready for an exciting trail run.
Trail running is considered a perfect combination of sport and tourism. When running on the trail, you will enjoy the feeling of being immersed in nature and breathing fresh air. If for straight-line running, indicators such as distance, speed and heart rate are important, then with trail running, the experience will be the top priority. The routes you take will change constantly along with the surrounding scenery, giving you the feeling of being on a challenging adventure.
Although the natural scenery is beautiful when running on trails, the nature of the trails is still unsafe when compared to flat roads. Therefore, follow the safety rules, stay focused and do not let your guard down to limit unnecessary accidents.
