Respect to all you trail runners!

[pingle]

It's been freezing here and the art of gritting has not been introduced to our country lanes - result it's far too slippy to risk running on the roads or pavements.

Never mind, I thought, I can run around the fields. I tried this way back when we had a drought and quite liked it but I was only doing intervals then. Then it was a swamp for months so I stuck to the road and just got used to it. I put on week 9 (so as not to be too ambitious y'know) and off I went.

Oh boy - it was seriously hard work! Had to concentrate on where I was putting my feet so as not to fall down a rabbit hole or twist my ankle on a clod so I couldn't get into that nice meditative state when you forget you're even running. There is a lot more resistance too running on grass or earth compared with hard surfaces. In short I had to have a couple of little rests to even finish, I felt completely cream crackered and abandoned my initial idea of doing a few intervals at the end.

You guys who run for miles on trails must be hard (or insane - hard to tell which ). Still never say never again. Who'd have thought I'd be even running this time last year! So I won't be at all surprised if I develop a taste for being ankle deep in mud. Just now though I'm looking around the house to see if we could fit in a treadmill somewhere!

[sfb350 Graduate]

Although I usually run on road, I prefer trails because the impact on joints is less. I also find it more involving - having to avoid tree roots etc As you say though, it can be hard work. I think running round fields is actually harder than trails. The off-road race I did a few weeks ago started off with a stint across fields of cattle, it had been wet so they'd left big holes just from walking round the field and it was hard work having to avoid the holes and the poo, plus lifting my feet higher over the longer grass. When I finished (five miles later) I was shattered - I'd worked lots more muscles than usual. I think it works muscles further up your legs than just running on tarmac, I could certainly feel it in my thighs and glutes.

I do love mud and puddles though !

(have reported the spam)

[Beads Graduate]

Do you have a shed? Treadmills go well in the shed, no kids/tv/other distractions. The only problem is the boredom, but if you can get into your meditative zone you'll overcome that.

In the meantime have fun on your trails.

[givman]

hey there im a trailrunner and find it hard work too. Its sumthing you will get into and I would buy a pair of trail shoes cos they give you that extra support and grip...nike pegasus 29 trails are brill!!