Training for Trails - S&C
When training for trails the first thing to consider is your running mechanics and technique. Your running style will differ somewhat from road running, with changes to surfaces and the undulating terrain. A good analogy of running on trails would be comparing road and offroad vehicles. If a non-offroad vehicle drives over difficult, uneven tracks then there is a good chance it may breakdown. This is the same for running on trails, if the body is not conditioned to run on trails then there is an increased chance of getting injured.
Running on trails involves striking the foot on more uneven surfaces with potentially steeper, more technical ascents and descents than normal road running. Striking the foot on even surfaces, increasing movement within your feet and joints in order to control it, thereby increasing the strain placed on them. Steep ascents creates a greater demand on your aerobic and muscular systems. This is as a result of an increased cadence and decreases stride length in-order maintain the same speed. Steeper descents create a greater demand on your muscular system in order to control the body against gravity.
Building a good, general strength and conditioning foundation can provide a number benefits to your trail running. It can help improve posture, mobility, movement patterns, reduced risk of injury and develop a greater tolerance to exercise. These aspects will aid you in becoming conditioned to trail running.
Have a look at the first part of my webinar with Arc’Teryx on “Training for Trails” below.
Training for Trails - S&C:
Principles of training
Training for trails simply comes down to progressively and consistently stressing the body enough to invoke physical adaptations that are needed for trail running. As mentioned in my last blog “Conditioned to Run”, just like for any training we do, we have to apply the principles of training. These are the principles that we need to apply when training for trail running:
Specific - the training that we do needs to be specific to trail running. The body is very good at adapting to stress however this stress needs to be specific to what we want to achieve. This means we need to have elements of our training, running on trails or exercises that are on uneven surfaces. Distance and attitude gain are also elements that need to be considered when training for trail running. There are however a number of exercises that are not directly related to the movements of trail running but will still be important to build that general strength and conditioning foundation.
Progressive - the body needs time to develop and adapt. When training, your body is becoming weaker; when recovering, your body is becoming stronger. Your body will become weaker and weaker if you don’t give it enough time to recovery. If you have never ran on trails then you need to progressively build up to running on trails. If you have never done any strength and conditioning exercises before then you need to progressively build up to these exercises. The secret to a good training program is getting the right balance between stressing the body and letting the body recover. Recovery time can vary from a number of different factors but the three main factors are sleep, nutrition and previous conditioning.
Overload - the body needs to be put under enough stress in order for it to develop. This can be achieved by; going on longer runs, increasing attitude gains, running on different surfaces or lifting heavier weights. It is important however not to overtrain, again it comes down to getting the right balance between stress and recovery.
Reversibility - consistency is very important, it is like the old saying “if you don’t use it, you will lose it”. Just like the body adapting to stress placed on it, the body will also quickly adapt to inactivity and you will lose all your training gains. If you are unable to access any trails or a gym then road running and bodyweight exercises will still help maintain that general strength and conditioning foundation.
Tedium - keeping motivated and not getting bored with your training is also very important. This ties in with the reversibility principle, because if you become bored and unmotivated to train then your training will reduce along with the positive effects of that training. One of the great things about trail running is that it is a lot more interesting than road running however it is still good to set goals and vary training stimulus to maintain motivation.
Have a look at the second part of my webinar with Arc’Teryx below.
Training for Trails - S&C:
Conditioning the body
Just like with road running there are five areas to consider to get the body conditioned to run on trails. I like you use the analogy of throwing eggs against the wall. If you were to throw a bunch of eggs against the wall must of them would brake, however if you were to boil the eggs before throwing them against the wall then less of them would brake. This is the same for conditioning the body for trails, if the body is conditioned in these areas then it is less likely to get injured. These areas will fundamentally be very similar to road running however they will change slightly to be more specific to trail running. These areas consist of conditioning the following areas:
Mobility
Core
Foot
Aerobic
Muscular
Mobility Conditioning
Mobility is the ability to move freely and easily. Having good mobility can make running feel more effortless. Having poor mobility can affect your running mechanics and increase the risk of getting injured. The three main areas to address are your back, hip and ankle mobility. Mobility is probably more important for trail running than it is for road running. This is because the body will go through a greater range of movement when running over rocks or boulders.
Mobility exercises - Click here
Core Conditioning
When talking about core strength, must people only think about their abdominal muscles, however your ‘core’ actually refers to all the muscles around the centre of your body. These include your glutes (bum muscles), hip flexors, back muscles as well as your abdominals. It involves creating midline stability (reducing excessive movement through your back). Exercises that you do for your core will be no different to trail running or road running.
Core exercises - Click here
Foot Conditioning
When running, your feet bear the full impact of the body from each strike. Your feet absorb up to three times your body weight on each strike. Therefore they need to be able to consistently cope with the impact of landing. If your feet are unable to cope with this stress then there is an increased risk of getting injured. The ligaments in the arches of our feet need to be strong enough to prevent them from collapsing. The foot will need to be conditioned to run on uneven surfaces for trail running. This means that our feet need to be even more stronger and rousted to run on trails than on roads.
Foot exercises - Click here
Aerobic Conditioning
We produce energy with oxygen (aerobic) and without oxygen (anaerobic). Producing energy anaerobically is very inefficient and only lasts for about a minute. Whereas the aerobic system is what we use all the time and is very efficient. Aerobic conditioning consists of training the body to optimise the use of oxygen as an energy system. It involves increasing the supply of oxygen to the working muscles so that they are able to work at a higher intensity and still be using the aerobic energy system. There is a greater demand for the aerobic system when going uphill. The two values to consider with aerobic conditioning, which are VO2 max and anaerobic threshold.
VO2 max - This is the total amount of oxygen your body can consume.
Anaerobic threshold - This is the intensity at which you can work at before switching to your anaerobic energy system. Elite marathon runners anaerobic threshold is very close to their VO2 max because their bodies are so efficient at using oxygen. This is why they are able to run at such a high intensity for a long period of time.
Running on trails will create a greater demand on your aerobic system. This is because of undulating terrain and uneven surfaces, making running less efficient. Your anaerobic threshold is likely to be at a lower intensity when running on trails.
Aerobic exercises - Click here
Muscular Conditioning
Muscular conditioning involves addressing the three elements of strength, which are maximum strength, muscular power and muscular endurance. All three elements work closely with each other. There is a greater need for muscular control coming downhill.
Maximum strength - can be defined as the maximum load you can lift or push. It probably has the most crossover to the other elements. An increase in your maximum strength will improve your muscular endurance and muscular power. Maximum strength training will also improve muscular activation so that more muscle fibres are recruited for specific movements.
Muscular power - can be defined by moving a great load over a short period of time (Power = Work / Time). Muscular power is something we need to generate muscular elasticity for when our foot comes into contact with the ground. This muscular elasticity can be considered as free energy, as it requires less muscular work.
Muscular endurance - can be defined by muscles’ repetitive contracting against a force over an extended period of time. This is important to avoid your muscles fatiguing. Muscular endurance becomes even more important for longer distances and hilly or mountainous sections.
When running on trails all elements of muscular conditioning are informant for the same reasons they are for road running. However there is probably a greater importance of muscular endurance as running on trails is more likely to increase the rate of fatigue.
Muscular exercises - Click here
Have a look at the third part of my webinar with Arc’Teryx below.
Training for Trails - S&C:
Summary
When training for trails the first thing to consider is your running mechanics then it is to apply the principles of training. These are making your training: specific, progressive, overloading the body, consistent and interesting. Your body will become physically robust enough to cope with the stains of trail running by applying these principles to training your mobility, core, feet, aerobic system and muscular system.