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The difference between jogging and trail running
Running is a form of exercise performed at a slow or leisurely pace, maintaining a consistent and steady speed throughout the run. Today, running is considered one of the simplest, most manageable, and beneficial forms of exercise for health and stress relief after a tiring workday.
Trail running refers to a form of running on uneven terrain and in natural environments such as mountains and hills. Compared to running on flat roads, trail running requires good running posture, uphill and downhill skills, and safety rules to avoid unwanted injuries.
Trail running is running on trails or uneven routes.
If you're already too familiar with flat running routes in the city or at the gym, try trail running. While it requires a lot of challenge, time, and effort, the experiences you discover will be incredibly addictive, especially for those with a wanderlust spirit.
Trail running techniques
To ensure both your health and minimize the risk of injury, you need to learn some trail running techniques as follows:
Running uphill or downhill requires endurance, flexibility, and technique to avoid injury. For good trail running technique, practice interval running. This method is extremely beneficial when going downhill; it helps you maintain confidence at a high speed and increases your leg pace. Practice this skill gradually to avoid injury.
Running posture
Paying attention to posture while trail running will help your body avoid potential injuries affecting your bones, muscles, and spine.
Additionally, shortening your stride helps you run faster over obstacles on the road. You can lengthen your stride as needed to avoid stepping on things like gravel or mud...
To ensure both your health and minimize the risk of injury, you need to learn some trail running techniques.
Eyes always looking straight ahead.
The entire body forms a straight line from head to toe, avoiding hunching the back to prevent spinal injury and hunchback. The arm movements and thigh lifts should be coordinated and relaxed while running.
When running, you shouldn't look around or just stare at your feet because that will prevent you from spotting obstacles in front of you in time. Therefore, you must look straight ahead and slightly downwards to observe if anything is blocking your path.
High footsteps
The higher the stride, the shorter the time your foot is in contact with the ground, meaning the shorter the time your foot slides in your shoe, and the shorter the time it takes for your knee to stabilize when moving again.
To increase your stride rate, you can practice with ladders. Place your feet in the gaps between the ladder rungs on the ground, or practice by designing spaced-out obstacles. Later, when running on different terrains, you'll be able to flexibly adjust your stride rate depending on the surface.
The upper body should remain balanced and stationary, but the legs should move quickly. The landing may not be directly beneath the body, so depending on the surface, control your legs and feet in conjunction with your upper body.
Training with obstacles
This means you'll practice running on obstacles until you're proficient, then practice running repeatedly in places where your feet can land between the gaps of the obstacles. Finally, you can run in places where you can land anywhere you want, but this time you need to run as fast as possible. Once you've practiced, you can be confident that your feet will handle obstacles well on the running track.
What should I do before a trail run?
First, you need to strengthen your knees. Training your knees with a few exercises will positively impact your ability to run downhill. If one of your legs slips, a strong knee will help shift your weight to the other leg, allowing you to continue running instead of falling. Running downhill several times in a race will tire your legs. But having strong knees will help delay the feeling of shakiness as you continue running downhill.
If this is your first time trail running, thoroughly research the route you plan to run and choose one that suits your goals, skills, and fitness level.
In addition, when running, the shoes must have good grip to prevent accidents. As a general rule when choosing shoes, the larger the distance between the grooves, the greater the traction the sole provides.
If the spacing is too small, mud and dirt will stick between the grooves, reducing friction and causing slippage while running. If the running terrain is muddy, choosing the right shoes becomes even more important. Simply place your finger in the groove; if it fits comfortably, the shoes are suitable for running on sticky mud. You can also test by standing on an uneven surface like tree roots or gravel; if you can stand steadily, the shoes are likely suitable for you.
Furthermore, proper energy replenishment is crucial. The better your technique, the better your body will be able to adapt to fast and long runs on mountain trails. However, all those skills and techniques will be useless if your body isn't properly energized. The average human body has enough reserves to maintain a steady pace without replenishment for several hours, but as those reserves dwindle, your speed will decrease.
Plan your training carefully to improve both your fitness and endurance so your body is ready for an exciting trail run.
Trail running is considered the perfect combination of sport and travel. When trail running, you get to enjoy the feeling of being immersed in nature and breathing fresh air. While in straight-line running, metrics like distance, speed, and heart rate are important, in trail running, the experience is what you want to prioritize. The routes you follow will constantly change along with the surrounding scenery, giving you the feeling of being on a challenging adventure.
Although trail running offers beautiful scenery, the nature of these trails is inherently less safe compared to flat roads. Therefore, adhere to safety guidelines, stay focused, and remain vigilant to minimize the risk of accidents.
