Three differences between trail running and running around the city

 Three differences between trail running and running around the city

If you are a regular city runner and you are thinking of switching to trail running, be very careful about changing "hard". And it is that running on asphalt and running through the mountains have little to do; the difference is even greater if we are used to running on a treadmill. Today we explain some differences between trail running and running around the city: viton, mountain or asphalt?

- Three differences between trail running and running around the city and products

Different training, different preparation
In the case of mountain races, be clear that they are much harder than those you can do in the city. The orography of the terrain usually has many ascents and descents, it is one of the factors with which we measure the hardness of a trail. Be very careful with races considered "leg-breakers": those that involve making a considerable ascent and then descending and repeating this process several times.
Preparation for trail races usually takes longer than those for a race on asphalt, and always after having run on the flat. It will be important that in our weekly workouts we always include fartlek sessions, characterized by changes of pace. In addition, in trail training, lower body strength work is very important, either with our own body weight or in the gym.

Work on proprioception thoroughly
Especially the ankles. The terrain on which we are going to move in a trail race is unstable and uneven. We are no longer talking about more or less steep slopes or slopes, but rather that on our way we can find stones, mud or even sloping terrain.

To deal with these unforeseen events, it is best to work on proprioception or the ability to know where each segment of our body is at all times. This will help us to prevent possible injuries (the most frequent are sprains or ligament injuries). You can see some exercises to work ankle proprioception here or here.

Choose the right footwear
Just as we do not use lifting shoes to go running, we must also take care of the choice of our shoes when going out to the mountains. Trail running shoes are characterized above all by having a type of sole with better grip than traditional running shoes. The type of sole to choose will depend on the terrain on which we are going to move: it is not the same to run on stones than on grass, and we will need a different grip.

In any case, trail running shoes have a studded sole and a lot of pattern to effectively grip the ground without slipping or falling. In addition, its materials must be specific to protect us from inclement weather (rain, lower temperatures, mud ...).

Taking these three factors into account, we encourage you to start preparing to run on a different terrain, how about trying trail running as a challenge for 2015?