Trail Running Is A Whole Different Story
My little brother was in town these days and he invited me for some trail running in a nearby forest. Just to be clear: I live in an area that geographically is flat like a pancake. But running on forest trails is something I might still consider trail running. So why do I want to share this?
Well, at the time I’m writing this blog post I am still a newbie to running. I just started around 1 month ago. I’m obviously very slow, but I am pleased with the journey I had till now. My pace is improving, I can run faster and for longer compared to when I started. I also had already a 10km run under my belt and 5km runs are somehow my norm. So, trail running through a flat forest shouldn’t be a big deal, isn’t it? Well to my surprise, I learned that trail running is a whole different story.
Watch Your Steps!
The first thing I noticed after about 1.5km was that my heart rate increased way faster than on my regular runs on tarmac for a very similar pace. I found this to be very strange, but in the end it makes sense. Even if the terrain is mostly flat, there were a lot of branches on the trails, tree roots coming out of the trail, fallen trees we needed to jump over. Add this to the fact that I have problems with my sight and the result is that my body is much more stressed than on a usual run. That might explain increasing heart rate.
My legs, on the other hand, felt fairly okay for the first 5km. I think that trail running might be less demaging for joints and muscles. However, after 5, 6 km my legs started to feel tired and heavier. The result was that I needed to be even more careful and watch my steps on the trail.
No Matter How Flat, There Will Be A Hill To Climb
Here comes the funny part! As mentioned, geographically the area here is flat. That’s probably the poing when geographers should consult runners when they decide something is flat or not. At around 6km into the trail run, I noticed the road going uphill. Don’t really imagine an Alp d’Huez climb. It was maybe a 200m long stretch wtih an incline that I’m sure didn’t go above 3%. Probably even less!
But, boy, That felt like Mount Everest to me! Within the first few steps on that stretch and my heart rate reached 180 bpm. A few steps more and it reached 190 bpm, while that portion didn’t seem to end. At some point I made it to the top and I felt like I’m disintegrating.
Obviously, I stopped running and continued to walk while my little brother was running around me. By the way, he is a balley dancer and you can imagine he’s in a pretty good physical condition compared to me. I walked probably for around 200 m waiting for my heart rate to go down and then I started to run again. But I constantly felt very tired from that point on till the end.
A 10k Is a 10k In The End!
The good part is that our trail run lasted for 10.01 km. A 10k is a 10k in the end! But do you want to know what’s even more interesting? I actually managed to beat the previous 10k run and set a PR. We completed the run in 1:14:38, which was around 4 minutes faster than my previous 10k.
Some key learning points for me are that trail running is a whole different monster. But I like it! I definitely need to do more trail runs and also run in areas where there are uphill portions. My goal is to become an overall better athlete and a better version of myself. Therefore, just running on flat tarmac won’t help me achieve this.
Before you click away, I want to also share a video we’ve made during this trail run. Please also let me know what do you think about trail running? Do you also feel it’s harder than regular runs, or am I the only one who perceives it this way?
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