I’m currently focused on Olympic and 70.3 distances. Earlier this year, I decided to try a trail run, despite having no prior experience. Finding a race that didn’t conflict with my triathlon schedule was challenging, but I eventually discovered the 7 Sisters Trail Race (12 miles) in Western Massachusetts. Unfortunately, it was sold out, so I joined the waitlist. That’s why I didn’t end up training for this type of race (trail + high elevation).
Last week, I received an email confirming my registration—exciting news!
However, while my triathlon training (10 to 15 hours per week across swimming, biking, and running) keeps me fit, I live in a flat area. As a result, I’m not prepared for the race’s 3,500-foot elevation gain.
Currently, I run about 30 miles per week (long runs at this stage is 10 to 13 miles). The race is in six weeks. Based on reviews, it seems there’s a lot of walking and hiking on the steep sections, which might be a good thing for me.
My question is, should I do anything else besides incorporating more hills into my training? Thoughts? Suggestions?
One thing I experienced in my first trail run, and others thereafter, which I had zero experience with - and you can NOT adequately train for - was falling down
I fall off my skateboard all the time (onto concrete or the street), but falling down on dirt, rocks, roots, sticks, etc., was “oh! THIS is unexpected! Kinda fun, actually; though let’s try NOT to do that again”
Hills are sprints in disguise, so sprints/interval work must be hills in disguise, right? If you can’t find hills to run, incorporate hard intervals into your run training.
Don’t be afraid to power hike the steep uphills. Sometimes you can power hike as fast as you can run with less physiologic strain.
Don’t be afraid to bomb the downhills. Letting your body flow down the hills is super fun.
Watch out for the roots! Like RandMart said: you are likely to trip and go down at least once. Maybe more.
Running trails refreshes the soul. It is just so much fun.
I don’t run off the streets much, anymore, but I often find myself looking off the side of the road while driving and thinking 'that looks like a nice place for a little ‘scramble’"
Kinda like the way a surfer might look at a beach and say, ‘I wonder if this spot gets good, anytime?’
I loaded the gpx into Alltrails. That’s a serious trail run. Unlike the mapmyrun official link, All trails gives a much more accurate elevation gain of 3100 ft. Worst cast grade is ~25% at the start and finish (because its and out-and-back). This 25% section is basically 1/2 mile, and a gain/loss of ~550 ft. Its a relentless way to start/end a race. Ugh.
The route climbs up onto a ridge, and then traverses from one end to the other. Mostly undulating from one “peak” to the next". Its not too bad in this main section, until you get to the descent at the turnaround, and then climb back up top the top again. By, not to bad, I mean there are numerous short climbs of ~10-15% or so, 1/4-1/3 mile in length…maybe 5 or so each direction.
Here’s the full elevation profile from alltrails, with a marker on the climb back up from the turnaround.
Given the severity of the grade…stairs may be your best bet for training the climb/descent. The nice thing about stairs, is that the will also give you some footwork training. That looks like heavily wooded terrain, and I’m gonna guess lots of uneven ground and tree roots. Trail running on that kind of terrain has as much lateral movement as it does forward movement. Lots of energy goes into avoiding the roots, rocks, ruts, and moving side-to-side. ANYTHING you can do to get some practice running on rough terrain would be good. You need to learn to look down the trail, pick your path, and keep your feet up—no grazing the ground as you pass your standing foot (that’s how you catch your toe and find yourself on the ground).
Running down steeps grades is tricky, much more so that up. I just ran up Namsan Mountain in Seoul, Korea. That was a wide paved road, its 10% grade for a mile each way. Even on a paved, even surface, if you aren’t careful it can be very difficult to slow down if you let your momentum get away from you. Add in rough terrain, and double the grade, I think that’s a walk/hike/climb…not a run.
I would expect to take at least 4 min off your flat ground easy pace, and it will still be a threshold-ish effort. Eg, if you run easy at 8:30 in z2, I’d expect a 12:30 race pace, as a low/mid-z4 effort. All the lateral movement, and keeping your feet high to avoid roots uses a lot more energy…and if you aren’t used to using those stabilizers…they will catch up with you long before your general fitness becomes a factor.
Once they get tired, you will get sloppy with knee lift, and foot placement…catching toes, and hitting the ground.
Here’s a couple more views to give some perspective:
Do you have any tiny hills in your area? My suggestion is to use all opportunities to get some up- and downhill miles into your training, even if it requires to run dozens of loops or forth/back. If there is nothing at all, maybe a bridge? Also consider to take stairs instead of elevators in the next weeks.
As others already mentioned, trail running is quite technical on the downhills. If you are not used to it, i would be a bit more conservative to avoid falls. Remember, you probably want to finish with grace / without injuries and not to get on the podium!
12 miles isn’t too far, even for a new discipline. You’ll do great, and probably have enough training to fake it pretty good, especially if this is all new and exciting for you. 6 weeks is a while to adapt. I suggest:
x2 on the smaller muscles/tissues/joints development – run on trails (or grass, as someone else said, in a park or on the side of the road) as much as you can. Your knees hips, feet, etc. will thank you for being introduced to a new kind of running.
x2 on parking garage or stairs – as someone from central Illinois this is a really good hack.
Wear longer socks. Wear 2 pairs of socks(? – experiment) see below about friction.
Figure out what you shoes and feet do when there’s more friction, which will probably happen since you aren’t running on even terrain and in a straight line (especially on downhills). I don’t personally think extreme (or even new) shoes are worth it for trail running, but you might discover some new hot spots as you train. If you do get new shoes, get 'em now and train in them.
I think you should find an excuse to wear gloves. (If they come for me with pitchforks about this idea, I am just joking and I cannot do the markup for pink font.) I might just be an old guy used to his comforts, but I wear my MTB gloves when I think I’ll probably fall or have to scramble on all fours up a steep slope or grab trees and rocks a lot.
When we first moved in to our house here in South Jersey, one of our new neighbors noticed that I had a MTB. (I miss riding my MTB. We had some nice trails through the woods around here, but they’ve all been bulldozed & developed over)
He invited me to go riding with him and some of his friends in an informal club, with the following rules:
First one to use the brakes buys the beer
First one to put a foot down buys the rum (or vodka, or tequila, buyer’s choice)
First one to walk buys dinner
A decent crash could set you back $100, before medical and bike repairs
I believe there were bonuses or offsets, like if you helped someone with a mechanical, or something like that, or outperformed another rider on a post-ride physical challenge of some sort - like ‘who could do the most curls of their bike?’
@Tom_hampton thank you for your detailed response. I was aware of the +3,000 ft of elevation gain, but after reviewing the elevation profile and the routes you shared, the challenge ahead is much clearer.
While I initially mentioned that I live in a flat area (Boston), I forgot about Middlesex Fells Reservation, a state park not too far away. There’s a specific trail there, Skyline, that can be quite rugged and technical in some sections. I went yesterday and ran 8 miles with about 1,500 ft of elevation gain.
I’ll keep training there at least once a week for the next six weeks to get accustomed to trail running—rocks, roots, and all—along with the elevation. That should be enough to prepare me for the race. And I’ll just have to accept that plenty of hiking will be involved!
FWIW, I also looked up finishing times for 7 sisters. Only the top 10% finished with an average pace better than 14:00 / mile. So, yes…I think a lot of power-hiking is a good expectation.
