I’ve got it figured out now…

…but it sure took me long enough. Running on asphalt is way more stressful on your bones and muscles than running on soft trail dirt. It’s good for building up your tolerance and endurance for long distance running, as long as you don’t over do it by increasing your distance or decreasing your time per unit distance too fast.

I’ve been running all winter on asphalt. The roads I run on have absolutely no hills. Now that I can run on trails again, I am re-discovering an interesting fact. Hills hurt a lot. Even small ones like the ones I am now tackling. Also the trail surface is not flat and smooth like the roads. Even on a seemingly flat woodland path, your ankles and muscles you don’t normally use running on roads are working very hard adjusting to balancing on small irregularities. Even tiny elevation differences of 1/2 inch under the area covered by your foot fall causes you to use muscles you never knew you had in order to keep your balance. Your ankles are constantly twisting in new directions with every footfall, often in directions other than the one you want to go in. I know I am becoming intimately aware of muscles I never knew I had.

So my runs are now 8.5 km on asphalt plus 2.5 km on trails. That totals 11 km. If I want to do more like the 17 km I did last Sunday, I just do three trail loops for a total of 7.5 trail km out of the 17 total. One loop consists of 0.5 km asphalt and 2.5 km of trail. Anyway I am conditioned to run 17 km as my weekly long run, but all of it was previously done on asphalt. Last Sunday when I did three trail loops I had no problem bounding up the few small hills there, and I was a bit sore from the uneven trail surface compared to running on asphalt. But the next day my hamstrings and a number of other muscles I had unconsciously used to keep my balance were sore to the breaking point. I ran 11 km that Tuesday and really hobbled along, fearing I would pull a muscle that’s how sore I was. So I did not run again until today where I did one loop for a total of 11 km. I am still sore but much better than I was.

I am very impressed by the quality of trail running as opposed to road running. One reason is that the shock is less running on trails as opposed to harder artificial surfaces. Another reason is that I am developing my other muscles that are never used in flat out smooth running. And I can’t say enough about the scenery too! I also feel I am in a perfect area because I can run to the trail on asphalt, then do as many trail loops as I want and thus get the benefits of both running surfaces.

My other option is to run in the North Saskatchewan River Valley trails in Devon but I have to drive there. I can easily do between 7 and 14 or more km by doing one or more loops, none of which are asphalt. All trails.

And so my strategy and yes, my pleasure, will be to run as much as possible on trails and develop my hill running skills at the same time. I have the best of both worlds.

Now I am a little worried because I know how difficult trail running is. I have to be really careful not to overdo it and hurt my upcoming 14 km Enduro trail race May 12th. This means I will not be as trained as I want to be, not even close. But I figure by the time of my third race this summer I should do very well indeed.