Trail Running Populism
Trail Running Populism
Lvl 1: Finding Trailheads and How to Use Them
The metaphor of trail running is not lost on me.
Ascending in elevation, you leave the real world behind, even if just for a few hundred feet of incline or a mile of empty woods.
Completing your ascent and peering down from the ridge you just conquered makes you feel immortal among the hills and mountains. Many down below won’t know the feeling and how addictive it is. Too many stuck in their cubicles, glued to the news, latest Netflix show, or hottest quick workout & diet fad.
Down below you’re worried about making it, climbing the corporate ladder, who’s going to be President, or what tragedy is currently unfolding. All noble and meaningful worries, but worries that must be sidelined every once in a while.
Up here, we’re worried if that storm cloud is going to break or slam into this ridge. How deep is this river I’m about to trek through? Did I pack enough calories for the long haul?
Much like the ocean, being away from the woods makes you long for it, once you’ve had the true taste for it. For most the woods is a scary place, the thought of being alone under your under devices. Yet we thrive in it.
When a well marked trail becomes a poorly marked trail is where we do our best. For us it’s peaceful, being alone is what we’re after, this is meditation by movement. But my few hours of zero responsibilities are up. Selfishly, I want to keep going and stay in my own world, yet selfishly still, I need to get back to all those ‘down below’ worries we chase.
Making my descent towards the trailhead and back to reality, there’s only one thing on my mind: Chasing that freedom we have up here.
This is Trail Running Populism.
Tools for Finding Trailheads:
There are probably more trailheads around you than you know of.
Also, there are a ton of (mostly free) open source app/sites for finding trail heads near you:
Most of these apps will provide a GPX file you can download right onto your compatible smartwatch/Garmin. The entire route will be pre-loaded with mapping features, so you’re not running blind.
*FTK is GREAT, because you can get a sense of the relative difficulty by looking at the logged times for that route, also a fun way to test yourself*
Vertical Gain
Running miles is all good & well, but vertical gain is where the men are separated from the boys, and women from the girls.
Just as you train for a fixed distance road race (5k-26miles) and need to log a certain amount of weekly mileage to be able to physically run that distance, the same applies for vertical gain on the trail.
You can take a sub 3 marathoner and stick them on the trail for a 30mile haul with 5k elevation gain and they will be eviscerated by much slower runners who have more well-developed leg muscles better suited for climbing.
The problem isn’t speed or distance, it’s conditioning the body and muscles for vertical gain. If you’re training for a race with ~10,000 feet in elevation gain, you will want to be able to hold your weekly elevation gain at 10k total (strava will do this for you). I suggest peaking with a 1.5x-2x net weekly elevation gain as compared to the race.
Also note: decouple from pace when attacking vert, strava will know you’re on a trail and give you a “Gap pace”. What this does is tell you what the pace you’re moving at would be if you were on flat ground. You’re probably moving faster than you think so if you’re on a time crunch and only have 60 minutes don’t stress out on total mileage.
Shoes
If you will be frequently running trails you will need a proper, purpose built, pair of trail running shoes.
The catalog of shoes on the market has never been better for trail runners, with MANY major brands entering the arena or stepping their game up.
To name a few:
Nike Wildhorse 8
New Balance More Trail v2
Salomon Pulsar Trail
Hoka Speedgoat 5
Altra Lone Peak
Short and sweet, welcome to the Trail Running Populism Party.