Trail Running

Improving community and personal safety for trail users – what can you do?

Safety on the trails is important to us all. So, what can we do?

Here are some handy hints that have come from trail users themselves.

• Acknowledge other path users early – avoid surprising someone. It can be as simple as a smile, a nod or hello.
• Step off the trail if needed to give extra passing room.
• When approaching from behind advise early “Coming up behind I’ll pass when its safe” or “passing on your right / left”. This works for all trail users including bikes.
• If listening to music, consider using one earpiece or keeping the volume low, so you can hear other trail users approaching.
• Don’t become a ‘creature of habit’, mix up your routes, timing and locations.
• Take note of your surroundings. Listen and look for things that might be out of place.
• If you see something – say something. If you notice something that isn’t quite right advise other trail users and authorities.
• Share your intended route with someone else.
• Turn on your tech if you have it (GPS tracking, crash detection etc). Plan for longer on the trails then you think you’ll be. Take plenty of hydration, food and relevant first aid supplies.
• Join group runs if they are available to you. Consider listing group runs and make them accessible. Running with a group increases all kinds of safety and builds community.
• Keep talking to other runners – ask them what their barriers are and consider if there is anything you can do to potentially address or remove some of those barriers to help them.
• Not all disrespect leads to violence, but all violence starts with disrespect. Runners and Trail Users don’t let disrespect happen around you.

Source:  Trail Running Assocation of Queensland (TRAQ)

Why is stretching important?

4 benefits of stretching for runners 

The benefits of stretching far outweigh skipping your stretch sesh for ice cream. Try these four types of stretches. Then get ice cream.

Let’s be honest: most runners don’t love stretching. And why would they? It’s boring, uncomfortable, and time-consuming! They wonder why their muscles can’t just be limber and flexible on their own and curse their hamstrings for always feeling so darn tight.

But, even though most of us are not huge fans of it, regular stretching is really important for flexibility, joint health, and injury prevention. And you don’t have to spend two agonizing minutes yanking on tight muscles to get these benefits. There is more than one way to stretch a quad, and many benefits to be gained from doing so! Read More

Source
Road Runner Sports

How to prevent chafing

5 tips to avoid this runner’s nightmare

Red and sensitive skin – ugh chafing is the worst! Luckily, you can avoid this awful irritation. Here are 5 tips on how to prevent chafing.

Ah, summer. It’s here. The long days, ice cold drinks, and those group runs with your closest friends. This is the season for running, but it’s also the season for sweat. And where there’s sweat and rubbing there’s the dreaded chafing. This painful irritation is enough to ruin anyone’s day or maybe even week, depending on how bad it gets.

Don’t let chafing get you down this summer. Fortunately, you can prepare for this as long as you know how to prevent chafing this summer.  Read More

Source
Road Runner Sports

Trail Running for Beginners

To put it simply, trail running is little more than off road running. For some, that means hours of gruelling uphills over challenging and sometimes perilous terrain. For others, it’s simply getting off tarmac and onto something that resembles raw earth beneath their feet. But whatever trail running means to the individual, it will take you places that roads and pavements can’t access, and you will almost always be rewarded with a huge sense of accomplishment – and probably some great views too.

Getting off road can also be a great way to stabilise joints, improve reactions and work the core; the constantly changing terrain pushes the body to adapt and react quickly, dealing with whatever challenges come along. Read More

Source
Cool of the Wild

20 trail running tips for beginners

Majell Backhausen  is an Endurance Coach and Elite Athlete for Salomon, Suunto and Compressport, and an advocate for simplicity, patience and longevity in the sport of trail running and outdoor pursuits. Here are some of his top trail running tips for beginners.  Read More

Source
Kathmandu

19 Quick and Dirty Trail Running Tips for Beginners

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Trail Running

You always remember your first. For me, it burst every preconceived notion I had of what was, back then, a fringe pursuit. It was harder, the terrain tougher. I should have trained more. It took longer than it should have and it hurt way more.

But then my first trail event was also much more fun, way more fulfilling and ultimately more addictive than I could ever have imagined it to be … Read More

Source
We are Explorers

Heart Health Benefits of Running

Running is one of the most popular athletic activities for both fitness and fun. Although it can be challenging and exhausting, men and women run every day for a variety of reasons. Some of the most significant benefits of the sport are health-related. Improving heart health is one of the biggest motivators for people who choose to start running. Many people also begin a training program to lose weight and better their mental health.

Running is more potent in creating positive results when there is day to day consistency. Training should build up gradually—depending on an individual’s fitness level—to ensure desired results. Read More

Source
Sarah Gerhrke
Pacific Medical Training

The world’s most beautiful trail runs

Trail running gets you fit whilst you soak in the added benefits of being outdoors and immersed in nature. It is calming yet strangely primal.

Added focus is required to navigate the unfamiliar and unpredictable rugged terrain that keeps you mentally stimulated in a way that road running does not.

If you are an avid trail runner and are looking for an adventure that may require some travel then you need to add these five trail races/locations to your bucket list.

Source: Times Australian

12 Benefits of Trail Running (And Why You Should Try It!)

I’ve always sought out parks and green spaces to go running in … but it wasn’t until I took to the trail out in the countryside that I truly felt and appreciated the multiple benefits of trail running.

Over the years I’ve been drawn to the trail more and more … I gain so much more from trail running than I do from road running. And that’s not just physically. The mental benefits of trail running are, for me, as good as any therapy session, if not better!

I’f you’re totally new to trail running then it’s a good idea to build up to it slowly. Read more in our guide to trail running for beginners. Running on the trail can feel very different to road running; more tough to start with that you might prefer! Work up to it sensibly, however, and you’ll soon find yourself soaring your way to the summit with ease.

So here’s why I tend to avoid road running and why the benefits of trail running outweigh the benefits of road or treadmill running. READ MORE

Source
Cool of the Wild

A runner’s guide to exploring Queensland’s national parks

Olympian and all-round outdoorsman Courtney Atkinson has explored his fair share of national parks. He ran eight trails in seven days in every state and territory around Australia, and has explored Queensland’s beaches, mountains, rainforests and Outback on foot.

Courtney has compiled his top five Queensland trails, from local favourites to a track in the shadows of our tallest peak. Read More

Source: Queensland 

The Hidden Benefits Of Trail Running

Trail running’s heaps of fun, but it’s not just spoonfuls of cardio — running trails is good for you in many interesting ways, from your abs to your brain, and it’s a great way to get a nature fix along with your workout.

With all the recent hype about ultras* and mountain running, it’s easy to look at the peak athletes of the sport and think that you’ll never do something mental like run 100km or trot over the Alps.

Luckily, you don’t have to. Trail running is simply running on a trail. Anyone can do it and gain a shedload of benefits from the get-go. The real reason people start running longer distances isn’t to find some hidden elixir of life — they run a long way because running is actually god damn fun … Read More

Source
We are Explorers