Why Road Runners Should Run on Trails

Max King explains how and why to leave the roads behind

June 1, 2010

If you're not going to be racing on a trail, why would you train on a trail?

That's the first question a lot of runners preparing for a road, track or cross country race will ask. Based on my experiences and those of other runners who frequently run off-road, there are huge upsides to tackling some of your training on trails.

One of the biggest benefits regularly ascribed to running on trails is that the softer surfaces will reduce the impact on your body. This is true. But to me, the benefit to running trails is simple: They will slow you down. Most of you already know, take your easy days easy, and your hard days hard, but the more people I coach and the more I observe, the more I see runners continuing to push a pace that isn't necessary on their easy recovery days, and they aren't allowing their body the full benefit of an active recovery.

Active recovery is an integral part of any training program for any distance. It aids in muscle memory, building your aerobic system, muscle endurance and obviously, recovery from a hard workout. Running an easy-intermediate technical trail–meaning a little curvy, rocky or rooty–forces you to slow down and take your time, putting a lighter training load on your system. "On roads I tend to be very conscious of my pacing and sometimes push harder than I should," says Michael Spence, the 2009 U.S. 10K trail running champion and an 8:30 steeplechaser. "The hills and turns of the trail force me to focus more on how my body feels and less on my watch."

Of course, there's more to it than that. Trails have the benefit of changing your running gait, getting you up on your toes and shortening your stride through a technical section, and working on your balance through a winding section. Although we work for years to minimize side-to-side and up-and-down movement and we're often focused on going straight ahead as fast as we can, trail running can help activate and condition the ancillary muscle groups in our legs and core that provide stabilization and take the load off the main muscle groups used for forward motion. If we neglect those other muscles, our bigger muscle groups wind up compensating and overworking, and that can lead to injury or poor running economy.

Picking an intermediate trail with some hills and technical sections that force some of those movements is a great way to keep muscles activated. You can use these types of trails for long runs, slow recovery runs and fartleks, as long as you're aware that some of the hill sections can raise your heart rate enough to put you into another heart training zone. Think of it as crosstraining while still getting a run in.

For more advanced runners and racers, selecting a difficult trail that is hilly and/or highly technical can be a great workout for leg strength and power (similar to doing hill repeats on a road) and a plyometric workout rolled into one. Depending on the trail, this requires a developed sense of foot-eye coordination to avoid rolling a foot or spraining an ankle. But it can be beneficial to racing in which sudden pace changes are occurring, on hilly road courses, and in cross country races where good foot-eye coordination through a technical section can be a 3-second difference. It's especially beneficial for a steeplechaser on the track, Spence says. "I find trail running an essential component of training," he says. "It teaches you to deal with constant changes and adapt your running stride accordingly, and it prevents you from becoming a 'plodder.'"

As in all training, your trail training should fit the race you're preparing for, and too much of any good thing can end up being a not-so-good thing. The proportion of your weekly training that is trail running should depend on your next goal race. Generally speaking, the shorter the race distance the more easy mileage can be done on trails.

For a cross country race, a majority of your easy running/recovery time and even your increased-intensity efforts may be on a soft surface or trail as it closely simulates the conditions of the race. Training for a marathon should be significantly shifted toward a road surface to develop fatigue resistance, with some recovery days on trails giving your legs a needed break from the rigors of the asphalt.

Timing matters, too. Ben Bruce, U.S. cross country team member and a top American steeplechaser, does most of his trail running in the fall and winter as he starts rebuilding for the following spring. "Mainly just because I am running higher mileage and it works as a way to change things up a bit," he says. "Fully submerged in my track season I do very few runs on hilly, twisty, bad footing trails–first for safety and secondly to help with recovery."

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