So you’re a runner? You love nothing more than lacing up your trainers, stepping out of the front door and nipping round the block to crack out a mile or two, or maybe more! But could your running routine do with a bit of a shake up? Could you broaden your running horizons? I’m a runner. I’ve been running for around 9 years now and I’ve completed numerous 5k’s, 10k’s, and half-marathons as well as 13 marathons and 4 ultra-marathons. But there’s one thing that 95% of them, and most of my training, have in common, and that’s tarmac! I’m a tarmac-loving road-runner you see, I live in an urban area after all and have become used to simply heading out on my local routes. Even when I venture into the surrounding countryside I wind my way around the maze of lanes. Recently though, I decided it was time to freshen things up. Whilst I love (pretty much!) every run that I do, it was starting to feel like something was missing. I felt I needed more of an experience from my running, more reasons to keep getting out there, more of an adventure perhaps? So I decided the time had come to broaden my running horizons and dip my toe into the world of trail running. I’ll be honest, I was nervous about it! Despite having thousands of running miles in the bank, I still felt like I was venturing into a world of the completely unknown. Where would I run? What should I wear? What do I need to take with me? How would I cope without that familiar solid surface beneath my feet? I had so many questions I felt like a beginner all over again! I won’t lie, trail running is very different to road running, not in a negative way, but in a wonderfully liberating, inspiring and adventure-filled kind of way! So I thought I’d share my ten top reasons to make a move from road to trail. 1. Get close to nature – leave the traffic, exhaust fumes, pavements and buildings behind and breathe in the fresh air of the fields, forests, hills and mountains whilst you enjoy being amongst the trees, flowers, lakes and green open spaces. 2. Push your boundaries & challenge yourself – it’s almost certain that the terrain will be more challenging than what you are used to, the ground will be uneven beneath your feet and there will be obstacles aplenty with tree roots, rocks and even animal burrows to be avoided, but that’s part of the fun and it will challenge you mentally as well as physically while you run! 3. Buy some shiny new running kit – if you really needed an excuse to treat yourself to some great looking new gear, you just found it! Obviously most of your usual kit will be multi-purpose BUT you will need to invest in a pair of trail running shoes. There is a huge choice out there with varying options of grip, toe protection and ‘waterproofing’, so take a bit of time to do your research and visit a specialist trail running shop. Also, as you need to carry items with you for safety such as water, food supplies, a mobile phone and a map, then a hydration vest or small backpack is essential. 4. It’s kind of like a mobile picnic! – take all of your favourite snacks and treats with you and enjoy them as you go! It’s important to keep well-fuelled, as well as well-hydrated, so whether flapjacks, peanut butter wraps or even Percy Pigs (!!) are your thing, it’s all good, just pack them up and take plenty of breaks to enjoy them! 5. It can lead to the most wonderful adventures – when you become more confident you can get off the beaten track and explore new places, both at home and abroad. Trail running can be done the world over in some of the most beautiful destinations, so use it as a way not just to broaden your running horizons but maybe also your travel horizons too. 6. Share your adventures – whilst many of us road runners simply head out alone as we try and fit our run into our hectic work and family lives, trail running is definitely something which should be shared! Run with friends, run with club mates, run with your partner, but don’t run alone. The shared experience is a huge part of the joy! 7. Become a stronger runner – notice I said stronger and not faster! Speed and pace are less important out on the trails. It’s not about how fast you go but where you go and how much fun you have. So leave the GPS behind and just enjoy the experience. And don’t be afraid to walk when necessary! It's also a good idea to work on improving your core strength which in turn will help make you a better balanced runner on the uneven terrain, and ensure you can be out for longer and enjoy more of what your chosen run route has to offer. 8. Helps reduce injury risk – following on from the last point, it’s generally accepted that trail running is much kinder to your joints and soft tissue with a lesser impact than road running. Plus, as the ground is uneven, it’s less repetitive than the flat straight road which will mean your muscles, tendons and joints are challenged in different ways, reducing problems with overuse injuries. 9. So much variety & choice – flat or hilly, forests or fields, mountains or valleys, there is so much variety to enjoy and to keep your adventures fresh and exciting. And the views are often spectacular and breathtaking too! 10. Fun and enjoyment, guaranteed! - I had the most awesome trail running experience with the girls from The Adventure Running Company on their Essential Trails weekend in Chamonix. We made our way across valley pastures, through forest trails and up and down mountain paths. I was a total trail novice and yet they made it such a welcoming, fun and enjoyable experience I felt like I’d been running trails all my life! So if you are thinking about giving trail running a go my advice is just go for it. You won’t regret it and you never know what adventures await... Nikki Chamberlain is a two-time finisher of the South African Comrades ultra-marathon, has just completed the Boston & London marathon double, and is an all-round lovely lady and super-strong runner who doesn't know her own strength.
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Balance, it terrifies me. No other word is comparable in the deep dread it provokes, other than perhaps ‘contentment’ and ‘celery’ (a bitter aberration of the plant family). Work-life balance; emotional balance; personal balance – I’ve never wanted any of it, and the more time that passes, the more compelled I feel to run, stumble, and face-plant with ever-greater vigor in the opposite direction. Endurance running for me is a textbook illustration of that constant tension. Life is at turns complex, confusing, over-whelming, mystifying. Running is the simple part. It helps to bring order to an inherently disordered world. But the trade-off with order is comfort, familiarity, that dreaded…balance. It is human nature, a biological imperative, to find the path of least resistance, to preserve body and flesh. But running into discomfort, unfamiliarity, feeling constantly unbalanced, that moment of total physical and mental exhausted-ness - that is the sweet-spot I keep chasing. That is why I suspect I discovered an affinity (if no real talent) for ultra-running, but we all find it in different places. Years ago, my mum told me, out of maternal concern undoubtedly, that I would give up all this running malarkey when I found a proper job. I found a job and the malarkey continued, if anything it intensified, amplified by the passivity of a day spent sat a desk, staring into a screen. No matter how interesting the words on that page, or supportive my colleagues, or the satisfaction of nailing a sharp tie and suit combination, it can never be enough. So why not pack it all up, grab some trainers and depart for a life that is anything but ‘corporate’? An old university rowing friend spent several years, shortly after graduating, as a semi-pro triathlete. Reflecting on his experience years later he spoke about how challenging he found it but not for the reasons he necessarily expected. The hard grind was the easy part, sweating came naturally. He spoke about life having four pillars: a hobby, a career/job, friends, and family. What he had not appreciated was how vulnerable he would feel when three of those pillars were stacked into one. As a paid athlete his hobby was his career and comprised of most of his friends as well. When results weren’t going his way, through injury or form or just sheer bad luck, everything was left teetering on one pillar – family. It was a precarious dynamic and one that many semi/pro athletes will struggle and persevere with daily. Do I use that reflection as an excuse not to chase some aspirant dream? Not quite, I am about as talented as a disorientated snail and care too much for Ben n’ Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream than I do podium finishes. Instead, it’s always served to me as an instructive lesson in that elusive ‘work-life’ balance and how comforting, how desirous it seems. But I don’t run for balance or contentment. I run for the discomfort, and the hurt, and the aches. I run for the magic of the memories and the incredible people you meet along the way. I run for the catharsis, and the simplicity of the moment. I run for the beauty of my surroundings but mostly the peanut-butter pretzels at the next aid station. I don’t crave a balanced life. I desire a life bursting at the seams with extraordinary moments and I intend to be exhausted by the end of it all. Chris McCarthy was a fellow TransRockies Runner in 2015, completed the Grand to Grand Ultra in 2017, is a fantastic runner, great friend and is very modest about his achievements!
1. Get outside Sure there are great things inside, warm things, social things and of course the lovers but what’s outside? Endless possibilities and a place to explore. 2. Don't give a shit You are not the best and even if you are there will be someone else that will become better than you. But you can always be the best you can be.. always. So don’t give a shit if you loose or if you had a bad day and just didn’t want to go out. It’s ok.. life will still turn up tomorrow and give you another chance. That being said........ 3. Time will run out We are not on an endless loop here. Life has a way of stopping for us all. So get on with the things that you really want to do. You wont be lying there on your last day saying .. Gee I wish I had done less. It certainly is not a race to the finish but there is a finish line for us all. Don’t leave it too late. 4. Learn from others Society has a way of ignoring the young and the old and squeezes the middle age groups to produce and protect the others. The children of today have so many talents and are our future. They deserve to be heard and the same goes for the ageing. With decades of knowledge and a network of information they need to be respected and absorbed. We can all learn new skills from all generations and with this exist respectfully no matter your age. 5. Give back something Be kind and thoughtful. This planet is bursting with confidence but is shrouded by communities failing to support each other. This is a widening trend and one that slowly frays the fabric of society. But we all collectively can do a little more to help. If you love this world, it’s time to act. Congratulations! You are now on your way to being awesome, so what’s your next move? Writer Douglas Simpson Douglas is a mountain runner & founder of Full Course Trails You can find out more about Douglas and his work @ Blog http://fullcoursetrails.com/fct-blog/ FB https://www.facebook.com/fullcoursetrails/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fullcoursetrails/ Twitter https://twitter.com/FCTrails Following on from Charley's previous post, now is a key time to get some solid workouts in. We're ahead of the summer season, but still with enough time to make a real impact on your strength. And for those of you that hate the gym, this can be done anywhere. So no excuses! Running is hard on your body, there is no doubt, and your body needs to develop the strength and resistance for the miles you put it through. However, running too many miles without the relative strength, stability and mobility opens you up for injury and, potentially, missing your race. Here is the workout Charley did with the AR Collective crew out here in Chamonix. A simple yet effective all-round workout for runners. Warm up - mobility First, I like to move all body parts; perform each for 15-30 seconds:
Warm up - heart rate & movement Now to start raising the heart rate and priming the movements we will be training. Between each movement, perform 10 Pop & Stops.
Workout - part 2 Core integrity is crucial to running form and so we finished off with a short but challenging core drill. The movement is front leaning rest (FLR), or, to most, press up position. With short sets, the aim is to generate as much tension in the body as possible, pulling the heels of your hands towards your toes, forcing you to fully engage your core and rest of your body. For 5 rounds, perform:
Workout - part 1 The main part of the workout is a strength and stability superset combining the Bulgarian split squat with single leg deadlift. For 5 rounds, perform:
Stretching - Moving through the whole body, I like to spend a good 5 – 10 minutes stretching at the end of a session.
Good luck! Charley Radcliffe is a Personal Trainer and Community Manager for The North Face, based in Chamonix, France. People often ask me why I run. Running for me is friendship, freedom and adventure! It has brought me so many opportunities and given me so much, but before I go into all of that I’ll tell you where I started. 13 years ago, I signed myself up to a local half marathon. All went fine, I completed it and then stopped running. The race had passed and my motivation was gone too. A few years later I saw my friend Laura getting involved in obstacle races and I thought “I wonder if I could do those?” They looked so challenging and I hadn’t run in a few years. It seemed so unachievable. One day I went along to support her, planning to take my camera and see what this obstacle racing malarkey was all about. I did just that, running through fields, trying to track her and see where she was going next. I must have run miles and miles that day, but I didn’t notice it at all, I was having so much fun. I decided to commit and sign myself up for an obstacle race, picking Laura’s brains on every detail, how to train? What shoes to wear? What clothes to wear? She helped me train and gave advice; she was my Mr Miyagi of obstacle racing! I discovered running in the mountains on a recent trip to the Altas mountains in Morocco. This came about from a series of tweets and me being impulsive. I’d been running the trails where I lived and my distance had increased significantly from the parkruns I started out with, but I’d never been running in the mountains before at high altitude and doing multiple days of longer distances. Maybe I had bitten off more than I could chew? But it turned out to be the trip that made me fall in love with the mountains. I’d never seen anything like it in my life and I never thought for a second I’d be running through such amazing places. The trip opened my eyes to the fact that there are so many beautiful places to explore and what better way to do so than to run around them. The friendships I made on that trip that will stay with me for life. I kept in touch with the people I met on that trip, went on a running trip to Chamonix and caught up with many of them. So when I was asked to join them on a trip to Gran Canaria, it was an easy “yes”. And so I found myself running my first trail marathon. There is something about running, especially trail running, that seems to bring people together. I can’t explain what it is - maybe it’s an appreciation and love of the same thing? Getting out on the trails, seeing those epic views, having low moments where a complete stranger helps pick you up and keep you on track, you go through the highs and the lows together. Those moments where you find yourself in the most breathtakingly beautiful of places, feeling completely and utterly free. Free from the stresses of life, with a feeling of belonging. Running has built my confidence and changed my life on so many levels.
So what are you waiting for? Grab those trainers, get out on those trails and make some memories! Karina is a Hoka One One Flyer https://www.instagram.com/grimes77/ External validation, has it become proof of the fact? How is it possible to achieve something, yet not feel a sense of accomplishment until it’s recorded on a remote database or posted to an activity feed for all the world to see? Recently I was 34km into a Sunday Long Run when my watch battery died. I stopped in my tracks. Then I headed home. There was no point continuing, no reason at all. If I continued running for the final 6km, to make up the planned 40km, it wouldn't be real. Does this make sense? No, it doesn’t! It defies all logic. Yet, this was the nonsense going through my head, the predicament I faced. I actually thought it would be better for my training if I stopped, recharged my GPS and went out in the evening for the remaining 6km. The reality is that it would not have been better; splitting my long run would have totally negated the training stimulus I was trying to achieve. This was a training stimulus I had built towards over the past six weeks, steadily increasing my long run, week on week, safely approaching a longer distance. Yet here I was, stopped dead on the trail, not wanting to run any further if I couldn’t record my distance, time or elevation. How would anyone know it happened? How would I be able to look back with pride and affirm I did the hard yards? The answer is - it wouldn’t be possible. And I’ve come to realise that this is totally fine. In the ‘Real World’, where blood, sweat and tears are shed upon the trails, if it happened, it happened regardless of whether it’s recorded on your watch or phone. What matters is you physically went out and trained. The real evidence of training - and the only evidence that matters - is your performance on race day and your ability to live with a healthy body and mind.
External validation has gained far too much importance in today’s society. It’s a downside to the power of technology. More and more people are feeling a sense of illusion if they don’t document and externally validate something they have done. Yet this defies logic and it’s simply ridiculous. GPS watches, smartphones and social media can help you train better by monitoring heart rates etc. However, in themselves, they have not contributed to faster times and/ or better fitness. Only the real work, the hard yards and “getting it done” results in greater performances and improvements. So, what did I do at 34km of my long run? I got to the front door and thought: “This is rubbish. If I did the work but it’s not on Strava, it still bloody happened.” Then I turned around and finished the run. Keep Healthy, Injury Free and Train Like You Want It. Tally Ho!! Majell Backhausen is an athlete and coach. www.majellbackhausen.com Running is hard on your body, there is no doubt, and your body needs to develop the strength and resistance for the miles you put it through. However, running too many miles without the relative strength, stability and mobility opens you up for injury and, potentially, missing your race. Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of meeting a number of top flight runners, climbers, and cyclists passing through or living in my home town of Chamonix. As I prepare for my trail running season and work with others on their preparations too, I have put together a basic strength workout that will not just make you run faster, but also prevent injury and allow you to enjoy longer days in the mountains - well that is the plan, at least! My top 3 strength, stability & mobility exercises for trail running There is so much that could go here but I wanted to highlight 3 exercises that I feel have had the biggest benefit to my body when it comes to long days in the hills, be them spent running, hiking, or climbing. 1) Prying squats - a mobility exercise The prying squat is one of the first movements I teach personal training clients and it is a great and simple test to see range of motion and core strength. People often struggle with the concept of how low you are meant to go with this movement but, with a little encouragement, everyone can get down to the bottom. The prying squat is a deep squat with you butt as close to the floor as possible then prying your knees apart, opening up your hips.
2) Single leg deadlifts - a stability exercise Single leg deadlifts are a superb way to assess the imbalances that most of us have between our left and right legs. By working on our single leg balance and then building on the strength, we build up the stability in the foot, ankle, knee and hip.
3) Bulgarian split squats - a strength exercise
Whether you have weights or not, the Bulgarian split squat is an awesome movement to make your quads work hard. By only using one leg but using the other for balance, you test and build the strength of the major muscles - your quads - and build on the stability on your feet, ankles, and knees.
Charley Radcliffe is a Personal Trainer and Community Manager for The North Face, based in Chamonix, France. One of the most frequent questions I am asked as a runner moonlighting as a researcher in high altitude exercise physiology, is how to train for a race at altitude while living close to sea level. Imagine you live in London and found yourself winning a place at the CCC. After your initial excitement, you panic realizing you only have one week of annual leave remaining and cannot spend much time getting yourself acclimatized to the higher altitude trails of Chamonix. Are you doomed to fail? Certainly not! There are some intricate changes that happen in the body to adapt to the changing partial pressure of oxygen at altitudes greater than 1800m. Within 24 hours of arrival at altitude, you can expect a faster heart rate and breathing rate, increased urination, a decrease in VO2 max, and increased EPO production (yep, EPO- which gained a lot of attention thanks to a certain cyclist!). These complex interactions may help in explaining the symptoms that may arise from exposure to altitudes above 2000m- such as orthostatic hypotension, hypertension, headache, and acute mountain sickness (AMS). 75% of people will experience some form of AMS within 24-72 hours of ascent to altitude over 1800m. So how can you get ready for this adventure? 4-8 Weeks before race
Chantelle has a Bachelor of Science degree and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in High Altitude Exercise Physiology.
Lover of mountains and all things outdoors. Sometimes I can be a real pain. Just as sometimes, I can be scatty, forget where I have put something, forget to buy more bin bags etc. Often, I can worry too much, over-think and over-analyze. Sometimes, I can be moody and answer in mono-syllables. It's a bad day if you meet me when all of this is happening. We all have our quirks for sure. So what does this have to do with running? Obviously, these traits are not me at my optimum, but I find when I need a bit of ‘me time’, it is running that brings me back. Running on trails is, for me, a bit like a time machine. The day stops, and it is all about the moment on the path. My worries mean nothing to a trail outstretched. Life’s concerns or angsts are inconsequential. I got into trail running without any intention to, in my early twenties, and the love for it hit me like a ton of bricks. Specifically trail running on mountains, I just had a thing for those trails at altitude. My first ultra was in 2014, which spanned from Switzerland back to Chamonix, and it went pretty well. After this, I have continued to run in many different cool and diverse places, from the rugged Lake District to the peaceful and very beautiful Imlil Valley in Morocco. Running is the most intuitive of movements and yet it brought me such a feeling of just being “me”. What is great about it, is that it becomes a really subjective sport. Whether you want to work out something on your mind, whether you want to glide down big valleys or whether you want to go slow and just trundle along to your ipod – there is not official book about how to do it. You just do it your way. It is all about you, that moment, the mountains and that trail. Maybe in some ways it is why the sport can help celebrate my less than perfect bits too. Trails are “scatty” with rocks and roots, but that makes it interesting underfoot. “Overanalysing" can be quite useful when considering that race profile. Being a bit moody on occasion? Well, I often fun a bit faster when I’ve got a bee in my bonnet. I run because it feels great. Trails are fundamentally, roads of adventure. I don’t really think there is such a concept as being ‘good’ or ‘’bad’ at the sport because it accommodates every place, every person and everything. We all have our good and bad moments on the trail, just like in life, yet even these are determined by your experience and relationship with trail running. A sport objectively brilliant but subjectively interpreted.
If you want to try it, or perhaps to take your running in a new direction, it just requires a thrill for the adventure, and a good pair of trail shoes. The rest, is just about you. Milly x It's a common question among runners. Why do you run? Some people think it’s some weird fitness obsession and it ends there. Many have memories of cold, muddy school cross country lessons or have slogged around a local city road race. I always ran as a kid but discovered trail running after moving to the Alps for a winter ski season. It was the perfect antidote to my unhealthy seasonnaire’s lifestyle and I soon found myself running further and enjoying it. I met Nikki supporting friends during a race several years ago. We were both running the Mont-Blanc marathon and said we should hook up for a run sometime. I remember being nervous as I was so used to running alone, but before you knew it we were training together as often as our busy schedules permitted, spending weekends in the mountains and planning future races. We seemed to want the same things from running, to explore new routes and to push ourselves in terms of distance. Ultra-distances and mountain trails appealed to us both, probably as a result of living in Chamonix, the home of the Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc and where running a marathon is not considered an extraordinary thing to do. It hasn’t always been plain sailing though and our relationship with running and with each other has been tested. Like when I got severe, drug-resistant double pneumonia that landed me in intensive care and hospital for 3 weeks and took a ridiculously long time to recover from. Nikki was always there for me, bringing me running films to watch in hospital, new races to consider and a card signed by Kilian Jornet! However it totally destroyed the uphill power I used to enjoy and it also meant that, as we tried to resume training together, I just couldn’t keep up. Not only had I gotten slower, but Nikki had worked hard to get faster and the gap kept on widening. It was tough to come to terms with these changes, but now we appreciate and understand that we have different abilities and needs from the sport, which sometimes are in line with each other and sometimes are not. Nikki also suffered a major injury which took her out of the running game for the best part of a year. This was another difficult period as Nikki had to sit on the sidelines and miss out on races and adventures that had been planned for a long time. I really missed my running buddy, fully understanding what it felt like to have to take a forced break and miss out on all the fun. When we planned our first overseas trip together with a group of friends, we didn’t start small. We went in, all guns blazing, to the Everest Marathon, which involved flying to Nepal, a two week trek to Everest Base Camp and running a marathon back to Namche Bazaar. Weather conditions were challenging and made the whole experience tough at times, but we took a lot away from that trip and it was the beginning of our plan for this venture. Since then we’ve been to the USA for the 6-day Transrockies Run and have arranged other trips for the Tour du Mont Blanc, the GR5, the Trans Gran Canaria and the Haute Route. Running is something we both used to pursue separately, but doing it together really has changed our lives. Not only does it give us the confidence to be adventurous, but running as part of a group is safer and enables us to explore more. We travel all over the world with our running pals, making more friends and adding to our merry band in the process. We share ideas about kit, routes, races, off-load work stress and have a flipping good giggle. I really couldn’t imagine life without running, or without Nikki of course! I really hope you can join us to share our passion. Sam x
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