#101 Getting started in trail-running

Trail-running is a very interesting discipline for working on your endurance ahead of big mountain outings. This form of running breaks the monotony of the road, lets you see more scenery than hiking does, and prepares the body to absorb long days/climbs/descents. Another big advantage for the mountain athlete: this sport can be practiced all year round, even on snow. Getting started in trail-running must be done progressively; the important thing is not to skip steps, so as to avoid getting injured and getting sick of it. You will not find any shortcuts in this article for running your first 100 km. The discipline demands time and a lot of training. On the other hand, you will find here the fastest path to progress while building good physical health. The rest of this article is aimed at those who can sustain 300 hours of annual training (a little under one hour of training per day). If that is not your case, we invite you to follow this six-month program to get you into the saddle. In the other cases, you will in any event need to set up monitoring of your training to determine whether your body is coping well with the load imposed on it. Monitoring your training

Before diving in

Trail is a fairly expensive sport. Although the training facilities are free (it's called Nature), gear makers have fully grasped that the sport is booming. In the shops you will find a whole heap of gear supposed to help you go further more easily. Without getting into unpicking the marketing, it is true that you need a little bit of gear to train comfortably. To carry out the training program below, you will need:

a pair of shoes: suited to the morphology of your feet, and to the type of terrain you plan to tackle in training. Don't worry at the time of your first purchase: you are going to get it wrong. It is by running that you discover the qualities that matter in a pair of shoes. coming soon
sports clothing: what matters, above all, is that it is not cotton. Gear
a watch with a heart rate strap: the fundamental data are your heart rate during your outing and the running time. Your first watch does not need to be GPS, but it must allow the use of an electrode heart rate strap. Do not count on the optical sensors placed at the wrist; they are of no use for training. coming soon

The absence of GPS can be demotivating at first. If you really need to know the distance and elevation gain covered, you can always go take a look at an online map to retrieve the information (with GeoPortail or Gaia GPS for example). Or use an app (Strava or Gaia GPS for example). Incidentally, it is possible to connect a heart rate strap to your phone and do without a watch. But the advantage of the watch is having real-time feedback on your heart rate. The starting investment is substantial, €300 minimum for a pair of shoes, a simple watch and a simple heart rate strap. But rest assured, this is only the beginning of the slippery slope. If you have no idea about brands and models, a good starting trio can be made up of Helios III shoes from La Sportiva, a POLAR Unite watch and a POLAR H9 heart rate strap.

The training plan

We have designed a 20-week training plan for easing gently into trail. You can download the training plan via this link.

Attached document — available on this page soon.

As you can see, several types of sessions are on the menu:

core routine:
Take the time to properly break down the movements and the exercises. If you manage to do the requested movements with ease, you can use a weight to make the exercise harder.
10 glute bridges: lying on the floor, bend your knees then lift your buttocks to make a nice line between your torso and your thighs. Lower the glutes back down then lift them again, 10 times.
10 Bird Dog: on all fours, you raise one leg, then the opposite arm, and you draw an ellipse with the knee of the raised leg without moving your back;
10 windshield wipers: lie down on the floor, legs raised, make a right angle between thighs and shins, spread your arms to brace yourself on each side, then rotate left and right until your knees touch the floor;
30 s of plank: take the same position as for doing push-ups, look straight ahead of you and count 30 s;
10 push-ups: a classic; you can start by putting your knees on the floor. The elbows must be close to the trunk, but not glued to it;
10 Russian twists: sit on the floor, raise your legs a few centimeters, join your hands and rotate your torso left/right to touch your hands to the floor on each side;
10 flutter kicks: lie down, place your hands under your buttocks, raise your legs, which must stay straight, and make them flutter;
15 s of bridge: reverse all-fours position (torso facing up), head well back, push your belly button up high;
10 s of L-lift: sit on the floor, hands placed at hip level, toes pointing toward you. Press forward through your hands to lift your buttocks up;
30 s of side plank on the right then 30 s of side plank on the left: get down on the floor, on your side, supported on one hand and your feet, body perfectly straight.
strength routine: do as many of the indicated repetitions as you can. If you manage to reach the number of repetitions, use a load to increase the difficulty.
10 Turkish Get Up (5 per arm)
10 push-ups
10 Bulgarian squats
10 dips
10 step-ups
10 pull-ups
10 squats
10 mountain climber per leg
AeT test: this is a test for measuring your aerobic threshold. The test is described at the end of the article on heart rate zones. Heart Rate Zones
run: running session. It indicates the time to spend within each heart rate zone, as well as the total time if the session includes several zones. 1 h (30 min Z1 + 30 min Z1) indicates that the session will last one hour, during which you must run 30 minutes in zone 1 and 30 minutes in zone 2.
AnT test: this is a test for measuring your anaerobic threshold. The test is described at the end of the article on heart rate zones.
muscular development 1:
30 stars jump
10 burpees
5 sets of 4 side box per leg, 4 lunges and 4 push-ups, at 85% of 1RM*, with 4 minutes of rest between sets.
muscular development 2:
core routine
30 stars jump
10 burpees
5 sets of 4 side box per leg, 4 lunges and 4 push-ups, at 85% of 1RM*, with 4 minutes of rest between sets.
intervals 1:
do the accelerations in the middle of the Z1 run
12 repetitions of 30 seconds of all-out acceleration, followed by 45 seconds of jogging
intervals 2:
do the accelerations in the middle of the Z1 run
2 sets of 12 repetitions of 45 seconds of all-out acceleration, followed by 30 seconds of jogging, with 5 minutes of Z1 running between sets.

1RM means the load needed so that you can do only one repetition. In the example of a push-up, 1RM is the mass of the pack you would have to carry to be able to do only a single push-up before dying. The muscular development routine is to be done with a load (in this example, the pack) whose mass equals 85% of the 1RM mass. Indoor sessions are to be done prioritizing quality of movement over quantity. If a pain that is at all bothersome persists for more than 2 days, take 4 days of rest. This plan is one-size-fits-all, and that must not be forgotten. It may be too hard or too easy for you; it is up to you to adapt it. The 20 weeks are split into blocks of 4. If at the end of the 4th week you are too tired to attack the new block, reduce the volume of the sessions. If it is too easy, you can increase them, but do not exceed a 20% increase. Now, if you want to understand the theory hiding behind it, we invite you to read our page on training 101. Training Finally, let's not kid ourselves, the last blocks are fairly intense. It will be normal to be a bit tired pretty much all the time.

The ideal running technique

Now that you are starting out, it is the perfect time to correct your running posture and rediscover the natural elasticity of the human body. Good running posture starts with good posture in everyday life. So when standing, pay attention to spreading your weight properly over both legs, lifting your chin, puffing out your chest slightly, relaxing your shoulders, and stop reading your phone while walking. When sitting, also pay attention to holding yourself straight and to moving out of your chair at least every hour. As far as running is concerned, posture consists of making yourself tall, puffing out your chest and straightening your head. The foot must strike the ground flat, not heel first. Look far ahead of you, glancing down from time to time to know where you are running. Your cadence must be close to 180 steps per minute (use a metronome to work on your cadence). The bounce in each stride is important, in order to let the legs cycle under your body. The arms must also follow the cadence: arms at 90°, elbows back, they must beat in unison with the opposite leg and the elbow must never pass in front of the torso.

A few statements of the obvious

The terrain suited to trail is ever-changing, whether because of the type of trail or the weather conditions. That is the beauty of this sport. It is therefore difficult to compare yourself from one session to the next, or from one runner to another. If you want to progress, you have to know how to focus on your own performances, and with honesty. There are off days and on days. We do not give enough value to the on days, and too much to the off days. It may be that at the start, running in zone 1 amounts to walking fast. That is normal; it is a rite of passage for those seeking long-term performance. And besides, trail is sometimes a lot of walking. Nature may well be free, but you still have to respect it. Trash goes in the bin, trails are made to be stayed on, and other people do not like your music. The mind is a capacity you work on progressively: avoid nighttime sessions in the rain and cold right at the start of the program. Keep the best things for the end. On long outings of more than two hours, you will have to think about your nutrition. Just as with shoes, you will have to go through a trial-and-error phase to find your own good strategy. Nevertheless, having an energy bar on you just in case is a very good idea.