Characteristics of a good trail runner? How to improve as a trail runner?

What distances do you want to run?

Angry Willy wrote:

What distances do you want to run?

Most likely half marathon. I think as far as roads go that would be my best distance. Obviously some 5ks and 10ks would also be fun. But i think the half is where I'd be the most competitive.

One of the characteristics of a good trail runner is not being afraid of dogs you may find on the trail.

You have to have strong thighs and ankles

Black squirrel wrote:

You have to have strong thighs and ankles

I do a bit of biking. Mainly to and from work, with a few casual rides. I also do a few leg exercises. One leg squats, lunges tk the side, straight forward, hamstring curls, deadlift. I also swim and lift my upper body too.

Bump

Not to be obvious, but... Run more trails. :-)

I'm a fairly skilled trail runner, especially given how relatively poor my road results are. My main pointers are:

1) Hills. Walk them. There's always this testosterone-fueled HR-pegging pace up the hills in shorter trail runs, and it's dumb. Wear a HR monitor and time yourself on a steep (20%) hill. You will have a lower HR and easier breathing at the SAME PACE if you hike it. Don't give up and walk easy; learn how to power-hike smoothly with loooong strides.

2) Watch the trail. It takes a lot of practice, but you need to be able to keep your eyes up on the trail well ahead of you, and not stare at your feet. Your body will process the data and put your feet in the right places. This goes double on...

3) Descents. Blast them. Learn to let the legs spin and freewheel down safe stuff, and use full-contact descending on rougher stuff. You need really fast feet, moving from good footing to good footing, and hands that aren't afraid to grab trees or roots.

Like anything, these skills are learned over time. Spend as much time as possible hiking and jogging easy on real rough terrain, while focusing on being smooth and efficient. Picture yourself flowing like water over the trail. Too many people react to hard terrain with explosive bounds and slamming feet - that will just kill your legs and expend energy. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

Finally, buy super-sticky trail shoes. LaSportiva rules - I suggest the Bushido or Mutant. Having total trust in your foot placements is imperative!

Also, where are you located? This is good general info, but centered on my northeast experience. Front Range or Florida trail running brings different challenges.

There are several recent books on the topic of trail running with conditioning, etc. Compared to road/track running or XC races on golf courses (or similar), you'll want to develop more functional strength for your joints (ankles, knees, hips and combinations of muscles) for uneven terrain. Weight lifting and drills can help with this. You'll also want to get better at running up and down hills. This isn't common knowledge, but running down hills can be very hard on the knees, so you want to ease into this. Train for the distance you plan to race and consider that a trail marathon (etc.) is a lot more demanding than a road marathon.

Stop agonizing over technique and just run trails

Follow the advice of autoxfil, first, especially about flowing like water. Also the bit about running more trails.

Add in balance. Always stay in balance with not just your body but with the terrain. If you want to get macho, expect to pay a penalty to the trail gods in blood. Actually, expect to do a little bleeding, anyway. Expect to fall, learn to manage it.

Also add in joint flexibility. Not the kind popular here in the Evergreen State. The kind that lets you roll with a wicked rock hidden by vegetation that will snap your whole body over in an instant or a stick that grabs your right foot in the mid-point of your stride and stops it dead. Reacting to surprises as a whole body exercise will limit the stitches and casts. Harder than it sounds.

Trust the trail, and take what it offers.

Except Max or Sage I see this profile

-be slow

-invest in a fanny pack

-buy Hoka's

-have a crew (it's like a posse)

-vegan

-enter road marathon and run it 2x

1. Walk the hills? I feel like you'd attack a hill the same way as in a cross country race? Why would you walk it? Thatd give away a lot of time in a race, even with the idea that youd have more energy later, right?

2. I feel like this is almost messing with me. You have to see what's in front of you such as sticks, big rocks, holes.....

3. I always heard easier on the downhills..

I'm from Michigan

Wat.

Get up. Get up and fight for the job you are meant to do. I can go pro internally but I couldn’t do your job right now. I’d need a year to learn a small fraction of what you know. Everyone is in the position they need to play. We complement each other.

You are tough to pitch to. I’ve worked with gifted kids. You know, it’s not the end of the world if you can’t prince charm me at my front door. What absolutely won’t happen though, is for our company to waste your brainpower.

You are not being intellectually challenged and it’s dropping your motivation to do this job. That is why you are bored. So you figure it out. How can the company gain the most from your mind? It needs to be to a point where you are intellectually exhausted at the end of the day.

Nobody walks uphills in trail races unless it´s an ultra.

well,. wrote:

Nobody walks uphills in trail races unless it´s an ultra.

Wrong. Even the best runners walk on steep and difficult climbs.

Carl Spackler wrote:

There are several recent books on the topic of trail running with conditioning, etc. Compared to road/track running or XC races on golf courses (or similar), you'll want to develop more functional strength for your joints (ankles, knees, hips and combinations of muscles) for uneven terrain. Weight lifting and drills can help with this. You'll also want to get better at running up and down hills. This isn't common knowledge, but running down hills can be very hard on the knees, so you want to ease into this. Train for the distance you plan to race and consider that a trail marathon (etc.) is a lot more demanding than a road marathon.

Thank you for this very informative post. What are the usual distances of trail races? What makes a trail demanding more demanding than a road marathon? Is fueling also an issue? What is the book called?

Ollie Fold wrote:

Except Max or Sage I see this profile

-be slow

-invest in a fanny pack

-buy Hoka's

-have a crew (it's like a posse)

-vegan

-enter road marathon and run it 2x

Thankfully I'm already a vegan, didn't i tell u? ;)

Just kidding I'm not. I do have a pretty healthy diet though.

fell runner wrote:

well,. wrote:

Nobody walks uphills in trail races unless it´s an ultra.

Wrong. Even the best runners walk on steep and difficult climbs.

I know what fell running is. That was not what we discussed. Nor were we talking about mountain running.

yourmove wrote:

We have a new program that needs to be built, but it won’t challenge the minds of the team. So we need to figure out how to add that element given our new direction. If we don’t, in a year it will feel like you are doing more work, not better work.

Only two thoughts have been coming to my mind:

1. The new program will allow us influence and reach to the world’s startups.

2. A hazy vision of what the team could be: a fellowship of great thinkers who play chess with the world’s hardest problems.

?