S3 Challenge-Week 1-Time On Your Feet

     So, why is time on your feet so important when it comes to training and not necessarily miles? Well, as an article from running.competitor.com explains, “you can’t really measure yourself at a certain minute-per-mile pace, and even power meters on a bike are somewhat obsolete when it comes to off-road racing. There’s a bit of creativity involved out on the trails and with that comes a very relaxed nature and you really have to go with the flow, even though you still might be running hard”. Furthermore, “you can never really get a consistent measure of how far you’re running; especially when you compare that to how far you might run on roads. I measure my running by time on my feet, not by pace or even distance. Pace is mostly irrelevant on the trails. In 2 hours, you might only cover 10 miles, but boy it sure is a hard 2 hours”. (Read more at http://running.competitor.com/2013/10/training/trail-running-tips-from-lesley-paterson_86763#CUemegCZbdipzC4e.99)

     My experience with trail running is minimal compared to some but I can definitely relate. The first time I ran in a trail event was the Menan Butte 12k (now known as The Spitfire Ultra Trail Challenge). Since then, I have also ran the Yellowstone Half Marathon (10 miles of it trail), as well as a few more years with the Spitfire race. I was very surprised my first year how much longer it took me to complete the same distance on the trail as it did on the road. Below is an example of the Spitfire Ultra Trail Challenge 5k earlier this year (April 2016) compared to a 4-mile training run just last week (July 2016). As you can see, over 3.5 miles, my average pace for the trail run was 12:34 min/mile, with the fastest speed being 7:21 min/mile and my slowest being 15:12 min/mile. Compared to my road run of 4 miles, my average pace was 8:57 min/mile with the fastest speed being 8:37 min/ mile and my slowest speed being 9:37 min/mile.

                                                           


                                                           

     As you can assume, “running on trails is completely different than running on roads or any flat surface. When you’re training and racing on trails, your movement and your gait are varied all the time. You have to have strong ankles, a strong pivot point, a strong core, and strong hips to be able to navigate rocks and bound off of them and dance around obstacles so you don’t get injured, but also not to take too much energy from your body”. (Read more at http://running.competitor.com/2013/10/training/trail-running-tips-from-lesley-paterson_86763#CUemegCZbdipzC4e.99)

     Want to learn more and get prepared for the Stinkin’ Springs Sidewinder Trail Event in September? Come join me, Hayley Earley, at Community Park in Idaho Falls, Wednesday July 20, at 6:30pm for my work out of the week spending “time on my feet”. Look forward to seeing you all there! If you haven’t already, “like “ us on Facebook to get all the event invites through this challenge as well as what else is going on at the Health & Fitness Academy.

Until next time,
Hayley Earley, BS, CSCS, Pn1
hearley@mvhospital.net