OFF THE PATH, ON THE TRAIL: Everything Trail Running Has To Offer

When you have to decide between hitting the pavement or heading into the woods, it might be worth it to get a little off the beaten path. Here's why! 


TRAIL RUN­NING WORKS A WIDER RANGE OF MUS­CLES
A trail is innately more bumpy than the perfectly-flat road and it's commonly spot­ted with tree roots and rocks, so you’ve got to watch your step. More sig­nif­i­cantly, you’ve got to bal­ance your body as you run over and around these obsta­cles, caus­ing you to use all of those smaller, quick reflex mus­cles in your legs (as well as core and arms). While the ter­rain of any trail can dif­fer, most often the sur­face of the trail is sig­nif­i­cantly softer than con­crete or asphalt, mean­ing that your step depresses a bit each time, requir­ing you to lift your leg and use more mus­cle each time you take a stride. 

YOUR JOINTS WILL TAKE LESS OF A HIT ON THE TRAIL
Run­ning on the trail will give your body a relief from the hard, unfor­giv­ing pave­ment. Trails take away a lot of stress from the impact that you’d nor­mally get run­ning on harder sur­faces. Some of the forces that would nor­mally be trans­mit­ted from the pave­ment up to the ankles, knees, shins, and hips are dis­si­pated when the foot hits the ground on the trails, because there’s some give there.

THE FRESH AIR IS GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR LUNGS
One of the best rea­sons to run on the trail is to get some fresh air—literally. Road run­ners in rural areas may have less traf­fic to grap­ple with than those who run on urban ter­ri­tory, but for both groups, get­ting out into the woods for a run is bet­ter for the lungs.

YOU CAN’T ZONE OUT, BUT YOU CAN GET IN THE ZONE
Trail run­ning requires intense focus. Even if you’ve hit the same six-mile path for years on end, it ’s going to require that you watch where you’re going care­fully. This kind of focus is exhil­a­rat­ing and ener­giz­ing. What’s more, the trail doesn’t have all of the road­blocks, stop lights and cars to watch out for, mak­ing it eas­ier to get in the zone and enjoy a more stream­lined run. You may even hit a new PR. 

BEING IN NATURE IS GOOD FOR YOU
Trail run­ning takes us up the moun­tain, over the river and through the woods, and that often gives us a much more scenic view than we could ever hope for on an urban jaunt on the road. And if the scenery isn’t enough to sway you to the side of trail run­ners, per­haps the fact that nature is good for the emo­tional and men­tal well being of all humans will be. Stud­ies have shown that just five min­utes of green exer­cise resulted in improve­ments in self-esteem and mood.

IT’S QUI­ETER AND CALMER
Get­ting exer­cise is not only good for your heart, it pro­duces nat­ural endor­phins that leave you feel­ing hap­pier and calmer. But the calm of a good run can eas­ily be snuffed out by the stress you feel in dodg­ing cars or hear­ing the jar­ring sounds of con­struc­tion. Trail run­ning offers unmatched reprieve for those seek­ing asy­lum from the every­day urban sounds. 

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