What is a faster running surface?
What is a faster running surface?
Ask yourself 'Where are most races held?' and you have your answer.
Dirt trails are almost always faster on a downhill compared to running uphill on roads.
Roads are faster. Most trails are much more difficult - this is why road races vastly outnumber trail races.
Roads are faster due to the traction.
Trails are better for training, as they are much easier on the legs.
Because its raining out and the trails might be muddy so I am wondering if I should just do my tempo on the roads (roads make my legs sore )
This depends on how muddy it is.
Maybe a combination would suffice.
As to hard surfaces, I prefer smooth ones, prefering smooth sidewalks to rough roads.
The harder the surface, the greater the energy return with each stride. Harder surfaces equal faster times.
Imagine a rubber ball thrown down against a concrete surface and the bounce that it makes.
Now throw the same ball with the same force down on a bed mattress. It certainly will not go as high. Softer surfaces absorb not only "shock" but energy as well. Runs on softer surfaces become slower because you have less energy to transfer from stride to stride, much of it is absorbed.
As far as running in the rain on road surfaces, I like to run in the quarter-inch rain run-off on the edge of the roads. The thin layer of water cushions your footfalls a bit and you still get good "bounce" from the asphalt.
it's all about energy. concrete absorbs 0%, so you have alot of energy pushed back into you. Asphalt absorbs some, and dirt more.
Since dirt surfaces tend to be uneven and absorb more energy than concrete and asphalt, I'll say asphalt would be best overall since it does not cause as much pain as concrete and does not lose as much energy as dirt and is not as uneven as dirt trails tend to be.