Not dean wrote:
Oh Please wrote:
Appreciate the comments Sage. There are some jealous hatin' assed people on here. No doubt that with their "scary track or road speed" that they could clean up on the "weak trail scene." I guess an easy $10,000 just isn't worth it for 6 hours of "easy running."
Probably all from one guy. LRC needs to implement something that shows publicly posts from the same IP address.
The trails are more relaxing
If small is beautiful, you are on to a loser with a city marathon, as small scale simply doesn’t exist. Big city marathons now routinely attract 20,000 runners and more than 100,000 spectators. Yes, that lends them a certain grandeur, but it also makes them overwhelming. The trails, by contrast, are remote, relaxing and far less congested. I know where I’d rather be.
The trails are better looking
Without wanting to name names, there are many major British conurbations that are not renowned for their scenery. Yet running a road marathon seems to provide everyone with rose-tinted spectacles, through which grey asphalt and 1970s architecture become things of rare beauty. I know a regular marathon runner who described the Amsterdam Marathon as “like running round a supermarket car park”, yet she’s run the race three times. Deny yourself no longer: head to the hills for some proper scenery.
Road running is brutal on the body
If you compare the recovery time for a road marathon with that of an off-road marathon, the difference is startling. While you may be a bit sore for a few days after a trail marathon, the chances are you’d be ready for another within a month. Road marathoners, by contrast, are lucky if they can fit in two a year.
The reason for this is well documented: the impact and stress on the joints is considerably greater on road than it is on trail.
The trails offer freedom
I am not belittling people who run road marathons; Paula Ratcliffe and Charlie Spedding are among my all-time athletic heroes. For me, though, it’s not the most nourishing form of running.
Part of the problem is that data monitoring – beloved of road marathoners the world over – has allowed us all to become amateur analysts obsessed with statistics.
Running should be an art, as well as a science. Practising dumb, repetitive movements on hard surfaces may be a form of training. But it is not a skill. You need to engage your body to complete a trail marathon, which means your core, agility and even upper-body strength get worked.
So true.