So, you'd like to take your running off-road and onto the trails? It's a lot less complicated and intimidating than you might think. While trail running is natural and intuitive-it's something humans have been doing for millennia-there are tips and tricks to help make it easier to start.
Trail running is simply running on any unpaved surface, and it combines the physical act of running with the enjoyment of your natural surroundings. As a former road runner, I was drawn to trails nearly 30 years ago because while I really liked to run, I liked getting out in the woods and enjoying nature's beauty just as much. When you're running trails, you're forced to be agile. Navigating around and bouncing past rocks and roots is less repetitive than road running, but you still get in a great workout.
If you're new to the sport, find yourself a pair of trail shoes that fit your feet and match your anticipated conditions (for a few recommendations from our gear team, see this issue's shoe guide on p. 61). I began trail running before there were trail running-specific shoes, and lacing up my highly cushioned road shoes often resulted in a sprained ankle. When I finally found a good pair of low-profile trail shoes with less cushion, allowing me to feel the ground, I found my stride and flew down the trails with abandon. Trail-running shoes have larger lugs for improved grip, toe bumpers for when you inevitably kick a rock, and sometimes a rock plate to protect against sharp pokes underfoot. It's important to find a shoe that can lock your foot into place with a solid lacing system or grippier footbed. This increases your agility while keeping your toes from smashing into the front of your shoe on downhills.
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TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE
THE SUN IS rising from the east, and the waves of the Pacific crash below to the west.
LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY
BEFORE I FELL for running, I thought the hardest thing about the sport was the fast stuff: the speedwork, the sprints, and the intervals.
WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES
Those are just a few of the titles entered into my training log for the second run of a day.
FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON
I SIGNED UP for my first marathon while sobbing in the back of a rideshare, on my way to the airport to fly to my uncle's funeral.
FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT
AS AN ULTRARUNNER, I'm all too familiar with the saying that long-distance running is an \"eating contest with a running component.\"
AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME
I SAT IN the fertility doctor's office white walls, bare wooden desk, opaque window-alone.
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY
AT 15, DARLENE STUBBS WALKED AWAY FROM A POLYGAMOUS CULT-THEN DISCOVERED A NEW LIFE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH RUNNING.
RUNNING WITH HANK
How my daughter's rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.
WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.
I checked the pins on my bib, shimmied my spandex shorts into place, and teed up the stopwatch on my wrist.
A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep
Nike rocked the running world in 2018 when it released the Vaporfly 4%, claiming that the shoe could boost a runner's efficiency by that amount.
