Take to the Trails

Heading off-road for some trail running adventure may seem like kryptonite to your average roadie, but runners who do a road-to-trail-rethink swear by its healing properties for body, mind, and, in some cases, road race results upon returning to level ground. “When you’re running on trails, time flies and you’re not looking at your watch wondering your pace or distance or when the run will be over,” says Russell, who as a former diehard roadie, confessed she typically tapped out mentally around the two-hour mark of a road run. “I also think that’s the best way to stay injury-free.” Despite taking her focus off of pace and distance while she runs trails, Russell ultimately revisited road racing feeling keen and refreshed, setting new PBs across the board, all on the heels of some of her biggest trail-ultra victories. In 2016, Russell was the female winner of the Lost Souls Ultra 100K in Lethbridge, Alta., before going on to represent Canada at the 2016 Women’s 100K road race championships in Spain. Most recently, Russell set a new course record at the 2017 Canadian 50K Trail Championships, and less than a month later was the women’s winner of the Okanagan Half-Marathon, placing only a few seconds behind the male winner. “I try to alternate road and trail runs and it seems to work out great for me,” Russell says. “That way I can keep up my leg turnover and speed on the road which also helps me to run faster on the trails.”

Roadies should proceed slowly and cautiously, however, as they transition to trail running, says Spafford. “If you’ve never run on trails before, then doing a run on a crushed stone surface or an old rail bed is a good start. Then doing some runs where you may do a regular road run, but include several short segments through parks or soccer fields where you’re running on grass.” Spafford also recommends prepping for the inevitable elevation changes of most trails with a few weeks of consistent hill repeats (shorter, more gradual hill repeats on the roads at first) before finally switching to more technical trails with rocks, roots, and longer, steeper elevation changes. Oh, and most importantly, roadies need to be prepared to check their speed egos at the trailhead. “One of the biggest mistakes that road runners make is that they can’t accept the change in speed when running trails compared to roads,” Spafford says. “They think that because they can run X pace per kilometre on the roads that they should be able to run similar paces on trail. Most trails will certainly not allow this to be a possibility. And, they may not want their road running friends on Strava to see that they are running that slowly on trails.”