Are you ready to reap the physiological and psychological rewards of swapping tarmac for trees?

Words Damian Hall

Off -road therapy

There are several things in life, which, once you’ve tried them, make it very hard to return to the old way of doing things. Using a Mac instead of a PC, for example. Running on trails rather than tarmac or treadmill. Nut butter in general. However, as this isn’t Women’s Nut Butter Monthly (yet), let’s concentrate on trail running for now.

What exactly is trail running? Ironically it doesn’t always involve trails. It’s an umbrella term that takes in fell running (which can be totally off -piste), hill running, mountain running, cross country, most (but not all) ultra-running races and challenges, skyrunning, obstacle racing, some parkruns and any other off -road running. A ‘trail’ can be grass, mud, rocks, a footpath, a canal towpath, sand, snow, an unpaved track, basically running on any surface that’s not tarmac, track or treadmill. In fact, if you ever run – through choice or necessity – through your local park, then you’re already part-trail runner. You can certainly be a trail runner in a city.

Why should I trail run?

We’ll get to the psychological stuff shortly, but the first thing to know about trail running is that it’s simply better for you physically; it’s not just less likely to cause injury in the long-term, but it also helps to injury-proof your body for future running, on all terrains.

“Th e amount of force on your body is significantly more on tarmac, rather than generally soft er trails,” says Dr Andy Walling, physiotherapist, former Welsh international track and cross country runner and coach who’s worked with numerous elite athletes such as Paula Radcliff e. “Trail running on varying terrain, angles, gradients and surfaces means we recruit and strengthen a larger number of muscles and ligaments,” he says.

“Trail running definitely helps build a more balanced body than other types of running,” says GB trail runner and coach Sophie Grant. “You are using a huge range of motion to stabilise yourself. Some of my trail runs are full body workouts – and that’s before you add in scrambling over rocks and fallen trees, bum sliding down snow and dancing over tree roots.”

Going off -road develops strength and responsiveness in joints and muscles, especially lateral muscles, such as the peroneal (outside of the ankle) and adductors (inside of the thigh), which combine to take stress away from your Achilles, ankles and knees.

It may sound like mud, grass and hills require more eff ort to run on, but I find my body, especially my knees, hurt more aft er a road run, where every joint is getting repetitively stressed in oft en the exact same way. On a trail run, or at least a run where the terrain is varied (most of my runs are a mix of trail and tarmac, but more of the former), the diversity of terrain means a more varied workout and less repetitive stress on joints, tendons and muscles.