Foto: LOWA/Matthias Paintner

Trail running is an acquired skill. By learning the correct technique, you'll have a clear advantage.

Accomplished trail runners actively place their feet on the ground and use their arms for balance. A dynamic and powerful push-off from the ankle supports a sweeping leg movement. This requires excellent interaction between the muscles responsible for movement, strong feet and leg muscles, plus good core strength.

Top tips for improving your technique:

• Foot exercises strengthen ‘stunted’ muscles. Strong foot muscles promote fast, agile running and prevent injury. You can find exercise suggestions here.
• Skipping increases the power and push-off in the forefoot. Just a few minutes a day is all it takes. You can find exercise suggestions here.
• Barefoot running in a field, on a natural running track or on sand during the holidays strengthens all running-related muscles in a natural way.
• Running jumps are automatically required off-road. You can also practice your push-off and landing at home with lateral single-leg hops on the spot (potentially even with your eyes closed) or general hopping (keep a straight leg axis).
• Core strength: a strong core is essential for trail running. Core muscles are optimally trained using your own body weight (two sets of 6-8 exercises, approx. 8-15 repetitions each).
• Running technique: you can improve your general running technique using various running-specific exercises such as skipping, butt kicks, sideways running, cross overs, hopping jumps, etc.

This improves muscle strength as well as endurance. It’s not so easy to control your heart rate when trail running. The terrain itself already challenges the runner in completely different ways, and a constant change in speed and thus intensity is inevitable. Certain forms of training such as running slowly to focus on the basics, or running at a consistent speed should therefore be carried out on flat terrain. Alternatively, pay attention to your heart rate while running gently on hilly terrain and walk if it gets too high.

The most important training tips

• Trail running exercises all the muscles. Your calves, Achilles heel, buttocks, back, arm and shoulder muscles have to work harder than when running on flat terrain. You should therefore introduce this slowly and regularly stretch your 'trail-running muscles’.
• Your heart rate is often unusually high, even though you're running at a much slower pace than on the flat. Working to a set pace per kilometre thus makes little sense.
• A large part of the training session (50-70%) should take place in the basic endurance range. Even trail runners primarily train on flat terrain to increase their basic endurance.
• Trail running-specific training includes:
  • Fartleks on hilly terrain: 30-60 minutes of alternating speed, intensive uphill sections.
  • Uphill speed runs: multiple runs of 500-1000m with a moderate ascent (4-8%).
  • Hill sprints: runs of 30-45 seconds with a steep ascent (8-15%).
  • Trail running drills: exercises to improve running technique and coordination such as knee raises and running lunges.

If you don’t have any hills nearby, you can opt for alternatives such as treadmill training on an incline or running up stairs.