A question for serious road runners: How has trail running affected your road training and race performance?
Many of us enjoy both pavement and dirt. However, moving beyond the popular dictum, “trail running has benefits for road runners,” what are some of the *specific *ways (good/bad) trail running dynamics have influenced your road running and training?
For instance, the technical nature of trails and subsequent pace alteration can often negatively affect the quality of tempo and steady-state road training and race performance. With *specificity *in mind, do you consciously limit your trail running because of things like this?
I´ll jump on this. To have said it - I´m a happy amateur triathlete currently trying to improve my running this winter. Previous years I´ve been running 10-30k (wich would be 6 - 20 miles) pr week. This year Im going way up - currently at 55-60 (35-40 miles) pr week, hoping to get abit higher also. For the last year or so I have mixed in abit of train-running. I should say - the trail-running I´m talking about is alot of up and down (like - + 500m and back down the same altitude for a 1 hr run…). I dont have any evidence of how this affects road running other than my “feel”. What i “feel” is that the trail allows me to push harder to get my engine working, without having to “thrash” the legs as much as on pavement. I also feel the trail is good for strengthening my leg-muscles, the terrain being very uneven compared to the road. If i feel my calves or footsoles are abit sore - a run on the dirt is a nice replacement!
I live near some good, hilly trails where a group runs every Saturday morning for anywhere from 6 to 18 miles. I love running on them but have tripped and “superman-ed” several times. The last time was Jan. when I was training to qualify for Boston in a March race. I landed hard with my bunched-up fist (I was wearing gloves) digging into my rib cage. Ended up either cracking or bruising my ribs which took me out of some serious training for three weeks or so. Missed my BQ chance. This year I’m trying to BQ again so I’m avoiding the trails. I like them, but I guess I’m too clumsy to do well on them.
I used to be a pure marathon runner, now triathlete.
I loved and still love trail running for the beauty and enjoyment. And it can be hard as heck!
But if I were to be dead honest, I suspect that I’d get the ‘best’ training by doing highly structured speed/incline workouts on a treadmill, especially on days with speed and pace targets.
FWIW though, Deena Kastor trained (I think still trains) almost exclusively on trails at altitude yet races mainly road.
this year I was looking for something different so I took the lead of some trail runner friends and trained for a trail ultra. My n=1 was that my turnover suffered, my speed went down, my endurance went up. But my training was also more endurance-biased than it is when I’m training for something like a 13.1.
The key I think is the kind of trails and how you fit them in with overall goals. Where I live most of the trails are MTB trails–twisty, rooty and rocky–so I can’t do anything approaching speed work without serious risk of tripping. Other people of course fly through this stuff but that just shows speed on trails comes with lots of training on the terrain and I’m not there yet… I will add that off-road is excellent recovery, my legs always feel less beat up from a long day on dirt than on concrete and I find trails more mentally engaging. I’ve also found it to be a good complement to road running since the uneven terrain does add stresses you don’t normally get on the roads, mainly from lots of speed and direction changes, that I think help prevent imbalances from just running straight and steady.
The takeaway I suppose is that it’s a great complement to road training; given a choice I’d do endurance work on trail and speed work on road. BUT, if you have access to something like dirt access roads or rail-trail it’s awesome for training for road races; you can do any workout you’d do on the road with a lot less of a beating on your legs.
It has taken away all motivation to run on pavement.
I’ll take trails 10 times out of 10. I have to run on roads for training out of necessity, but I’ve lost interest in road running/racing. Only times I do any racing on the roads is for the occasional triathlon. For some reason, mountain biking did not do that for my road riding. I still love both equally.
Perhaps by ST perspective I wasn’t a serious road runner, but my experience was that I enjoyed running trail more, so I ran more. That’s a good thing, I think?
I’m probably doing this whole amateur sports thing wrong, but isn’t the point to improve your quality of life? Go run!
*By and large, most runners do best (I’m assuming distance running) off loads of miles with a decent amount of tempo thrown in. A few track workouts (or known/fixed distance) to keep you calibrated is all you really need, and the rest of the miles are kind of arbitrary.
Pro Trail:
Enjoyable.
Variable terrain is good for proprioception/stability.
Enjoyable.
Slightly lower impact forces.
Enjoyable
Con Trail:
Variability in terrain may affect pacing
A good number of folk go much easier on trail runs from lack of external feedback
Variable terrain is good for rolling ankles/tripping/etc.
Enjoyable, which I appreciate some folk having anxiety that working out can be fun.
The effects might depend on your goals in terms of road running. For trails for me, the runs are long and slower on terrain with medium technicality and some elevation gains. I have incidentally dropped big marathon PRs coming off of ultra trail training, so the trails and the distance seem to help my endurance. This is also though in the context of running higher overall mileage and lots of back to back (and sometimes back) long runs (20,25,10 for example with just the middle run being on trails, rest road), so there may be other factors in the gain on the road. I think trail running also keeps me from being as beat up as I would with all that mileage pounding on the road. My shorter distance road times tend to be a bit slower when trail/ultra training, but I do see the benefits in the marathon. Not to mention, the mental impact of nicer scenery is helpful.
It has taken away all motivation to run on pavement.
I’ll take trails 10 times out of 10. I have to run on roads for training out of necessity, but I’ve lost interest in road running/racing. Only times I do any racing on the roads is for the occasional triathlon. For some reason, mountain biking did not do that for my road riding. I still love both equally.
yeah, i’m in a similar boat… i wouldn’t say it’s taken away all motivation. but right now, when i look out of my window i see mountains (small ones, granted) and all I can think about is going and running on them. the idea of pounding out an 18-20 mile long run on normal roads really doesn’t appeal to me so much anymore.
I think it depends on what road racing you’re talking about 10Ks and under or trying to PR a marathon? In my experience, my strength and toughness for marathon running has improved if I start throwing in 2-3 hour cruise trail runs. However, I lose almost all of my 10K speed. I’m just not fast enough technically to keep any sort of 10K speed when adding trails to my weekly stuff.
If you hit up Dave Roche, he probably could point out some key trail workouts that do benefit at the 10K road distance. I think even in the last few trail articles he’s written he had one on speed workouts for the trails.
Thus far, when evaluating trail running’s influence on road performance, it seems most folks find their 5K-10K road paces are most compromised, while inversely, half/full marathon performances may be enhanced. This make sense logically, due to the necessary reduction in pace that *technical *trail running often imposes (with more time spent in the ‘endurance’ training zones, etc.).
A question for serious road runners: How has trail running affected your road training and race performance?
Many of us enjoy both pavement and dirt. However, moving beyond the popular dictum, “trail running has benefits for road runners,” what are some of the *specific *ways (good/bad) trail running dynamics have influenced your road running and training?
For instance, the technical nature of trails and subsequent pace alteration can often negatively affect the quality of tempo and steady-state road training and race performance. With *specificity *in mind, do you consciously limit your trail running because of things like this?
What has been your experience?
My wife’s very first trail run resulted in a severely sprained ankle and 6 months of training lost (she was trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon).
I would agree with this. If you are trying to hammer a 5k/10k than running a technical trail is probably not going to be beneficial. As many have stated if you can run fire roads or rails to trails then you can run all the “trails” you want. Most on here are triathletes that are probably more focused on 13.1 and 26.2 in which case I think technical trails are great. I like to mix in a trail run as a long run. As a lot of have stated there are a lot of benefits: 1) it’s fun! 2) doesn’t seem to beat your body up like road miles 3) strengthens other leg muscles 4) variety, and 5) it’s fun, again.
Seconding what others have said - it depends on the type of trails!
There’s a ton of twisty, rootsy, single track where I live, with a ton of vertical. They’re MTB trails. When I run on them a lot, my longer distance strength improves. My 10mile and under speed decreases. I just lose the “getup and go” that roads give me. I think it would depend on goals. Right now I do a good mixture, with some fast road stuff and fast hills, as well as long easy runs on trails.
Best of both worlds is a good dirt road. If you find one, use the hell out of it!! I have one that’s 3mi out and 3 back. Great for long runs (do multiple loops), tempo runs, anything you can imagine!
Most serious runners, right on up to world class runners spend a great deal of time, running off road, off paved surfaces, on some form of “trail”.
Depending on the time of year, it could be 80% or more of their running is done on surfaces like this.
I was gonna ask this. I do almost all of my mileage on “trails”, but that term can vary greatly… anything from a smooth dirt path, to a hilly forest road, to steep, rocky single track up the side of a mountain.
I would tend to separate the two (road & trail) more by profile. I run my intervals and tempo runs on a flat, dirt trail… then when I can, run easy on as much hilly stuff as I can find. It just depends what part of town I’m running in.
If I could run 100% of my training runs (I’m an obsessed road racer) on trails, I would, simply due to the lower impact and generally speaking, more peace and quiet. Just make sure to have some flatter stuff for anything that requires a specific pace. Otherwise, bring on the hilly trails for everything else. An occasional run on pavement is a good idea if you plan to race on it, just because it can be quite a shocker to the system to go from months of soft trails to suddenly hard pavement in a race.
Couple years ago I signed up for a local 50k to be run on a very difficult course in terms of roots, rocks, elevation changes, etc. Had probably 40+ road marathons under my belt including Boston. Trained for two to three months on trails, mainly doing 45-60 minute tempo runs during the week and doing a long slow trail run on the weekends (2-4 hours). Was also cycling 4x a week.
No speedwork, no concern for paces at all, and not really looking at my watch except to run for time. Enjoyed not having the grind of a road marathon buildup where every run is done at a certain pace with tempo at 10k or LT runs of an hour, or MP runs, etc. Also loved not having to worry about cars.
Did the trail race, was about the hardest thing I’ve ever done. One week before the race a buddy asked me to do a road 5k with him, and I ran a huge PR in that race. Two weeks after the 50k a local running store gave me a free entry to our local road marathon and I also came close to a PR that day too.
I believe the trails helped to shorten my stride, build up ankle strength and foot strength, and my lower body and core became more durable. I also found running on the roads after my trail buildup to be more fun and exciting because I wasn’t as concerned about falling. Unfortunately, at least once a long trail run I drag my feet and down I go, sometimes hard. Now, at almost 50, I’m a bit more cautious when trail running because my ribs seem to bear the brunt of most falls which causes me to lose training time nursing them back to health. All that said, I’m a firm believer that the road runner can pull in some trail runs to make them a better runner.
What do you mean by “trail”?
Good question, I should define more clearly…
By “trail”, I mean *technical *trails that may feature rocks, roots, turns & switchbacks, punchy climbs, occasional mud & loose terrain…(not groomed dirt roads, woodchipped paths, crushed gravel, etc.).
I run all my training off road, but nothing on what you define as a “trail”. Guess maybe I could try to find some, but I like my nice close cross country runs with hills which I guess is a road up to a house
on top of the hill.
