Ultimate Guide to Trail Running: Everything You Need To Know About Equipment * Finding Trails * Nutrition * Hill Strategy * Racing * Avoiding Injury * Training * Weather * Safety

275 Pages·2010·4.68 MB·English

by  Adam Chase

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”No runners are more qualifi ed to coauthor this book than Nancy
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Hobbs and Adam Chase. Period. This book will take you farther
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and to more beautiful places than you can imagine.”
—from the Foreword by Andrew R. Hersam l
tim Everything You Need to Know About
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spiritual renewal from a day spent communing with nature. No

wonder it has become one of the world’s most popular fi tness G
activities. Whether you’re a complete beginner or have been
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hitting the trails for years, The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running
i
provides all the essential information needed, including fi nding d
trails and getting started; managing ascents and descents with e
ease; maneuvering off-road obstacles; strength, stretching, and
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cross-training exercises; selecting proper shoes, clothing, and
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accessories; safety on the trail; and racing and other trail events.
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r
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Adam W. Chase is an accomplished ultrarunner, snowshoe
i
racer, and adventure athlete, and president of the All American l

Trail Running Association. He is the trail editor of Running Times R
and has contributed to Trail Runner, Ultrarunning, Outside,
u
Marathon & Beyond, Competitor, and Runner’s World. He lives
n
in Boulder, Colorado. Nancy Hobbs has been running trails
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and directing running events since the mid-1980s, and her
i
articles and photographs have been published in Trail Runner n
and Runner’s World. The founder and executive director of the g
All American Trail Running Association, she lives in Colorado
Springs, Colorado.
Cover design by Bret Kerr | Front cover photo © gripmastertrails.com
US $19.95/CAN $24.95
falcon.com
falcon.com
FalconGuides is an imprint
of Globe Pequot Press
Printed in the United States of America
Outfit Your Mind® Adam W. Chase | Nancy Hobbs
Second Edition
Ultimate Guide
The

Trail Running
to

Everything You Need to Know About
Equipment • Finding Trails • Nutrition • Hill Strategy •
Racing • Avoiding Injury • Training • Weather • Safety
Adam W. Chase and Nancy Hobbs
UG2TrailRunning_4pp 1 11/11/09 10:52:12 AM
Copyright © 2010 by Adam W. Chase and Nancy Hobbs
Previously published in 2001 by Lyons Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for
permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Deoartment, P.O.
Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.
Falcon, FalconGuides, and Outfit Your Mind are registered trademarks of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.
Project editor: David Legere
Text design: Sheryl P. Kober
Layout artist: Mary Ballachino
Illustrations on pages 102–7 and 109 are excerpted from Running Stretches poster, booklet, and hand-
out sheet by Bob Anderson, illustrations by Jean Anderson, revised edition © 1997 Stretching Inc., and
the revised edition of the book Stretching by Bob and Jean Anderson © 2000 Shelter Publications. Con-
tact Stretching Inc. at P.O. Box 767, Palmer Lake, CO 80133-0767, www.stretching.com, or 1-800-333-
1307 for a free catalog of Stretching Inc. publications/products.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
ISBN 978-0-7627-5537-0
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The authors and Globe Pequot Press assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sus-
tained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.
UG2TrailRunning_3pp 2 11/9/09 4:50:36 PM
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our thanks to Noah and David Chase, Dr. James Hobbs, Peggy
Whitney Hobbs, and Garry Harrington. We additionally thank
those who contributed to the making of this text and to those
who helped and inspired us in the writing of this book.
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UG2TrailRunning_3pp 4 11/9/09 4:50:36 PM
CONTENTS
Foreword by Andrew R. Hersam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
Preface by Ian Torrence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
CHAPTER 1: Trail Running: Past, Present, and Future . . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER 2: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
CHAPTER 3: Trail Running Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
CHAPTER 4: Trail Training at Every Distance. . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
CHAPTER 5: Strength Training for the Trail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
CHAPTER 6: Stretching for the Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
CHAPTER 7: Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
CHAPTER 8: Nutrition On and Off the Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
CHAPTER 9: Injuries and Injury Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
CHAPTER 10: Hazards of the Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
CHAPTER 11: Running Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
CHAPTER 12: Caring for the Trail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
CHAPTER 13: Racing and Directing a Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Appendix: Competing at the International Level. . . . . . . . . . 235
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
UG2TrailRunning_3pp 5 11/9/09 4:50:36 PM
FOrEWOrD
“Stuck in Laguna Beach and need a long run. Where would you go to put
in 20 miles?” That was the e-mail I sent to Charlie Nickell. Snowstorms in
New York were preventing me from getting home to Connecticut. I had
been traveling on business as publisher of Runner’s World and Running
Times with the editors in chief of both magazines, David Willey and Jona-
than Beverly. Following a meeting with Gary Slayton of Asics, we got the
news that we were not going to make it home that night. Outstanding! I
was training for Boston that winter, and now here I was in Southern Cali-
fornia and could do my long run without freezing. But where?
I had met Charlie over the phone just weeks earlier. Charlie had been
a successful but overweight executive who decided his type-A business
regime would put him in an early grave. So he sold his business and went
for a run. Being the overachiever, he went for a very, very long run, turn-
ing himself into a solid ultramarathoner and using his gift for writing to
pen a regular blog (therundown.net) on his ultra exploits. Charlie had
contacted me to see if he could submit a story to RW.
“I got a great run for you. Meet me at the corner of Santiago Road
and Live Oak Canyon. Park in the lot next to the biker bar. 7 a.m. tomor-
row. I’ll bring bars, gels, and a hydration pack for you. Cool 16-mile trail
run. If you need more, we’ll give it to you!” This guy’s good, I thought. But
who is “we”? “See you then,” I replied.
When I showed up, there were fifteen people waiting for me. But like
Charlie, these weren’t fifteen “normal” people. They were all members of
the Orange County Trail Runners and all were accomplished trail runners
and ultramarathoners. I was in big trouble. Charlie had sent an e-mail
to the membership of the OCTR that “they had the chance to run with
‘Running Royalty,’ the publisher of RW is in town and wants to run with
us!” Flattering maybe, but from that description it would seem like I was
world class, fast and strong. Hardly. I would describe myself as a solid
midpack runner. My running industry “friends” would describe me as a
solid back of the packer. Maybe even a “penguin.” As we all shook hands
and then gathered for a pre-run photo, I couldn’t help but notice how
vi
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Foreword
ripped and toned these guys and women were and how doughy that
made me feel.
I was introduced to Michelle Barton. We chatted the kind of chat
you have in a race corral. The difference, it turned out, is that I would
be fifteen corrals behind Michelle. I learned from our little chat that she
was the overall winner of the Twin Peaks 50K, got second in the Way Too
Cool 50K and won the Javelina 100-Miler. Gulp. If I’m “running royalty,”
I’m their court jester. Michelle pointed up to the top of Santiago Peak—
5,600 feet above where we stood. “We’re going up there.” Oh my. Can I
bail out now?
Wow. I couldn’t imagine. Here I was trucking up a trail with fifteen
amazing athletes, most of whom had trail runs over 100 miles under their
belts. Twenty-two miles later and 11,200 feet gained and lost, we had
experienced more than a long run. We came across an area where cattle
rustlers in the 1800s hid out and watered their newly stolen property.
Ironically, 10 miles later we ran out of water, a huge no-no, but because
of my running partners’ local knowledge, we found a trickling high-
altitude aquifer (another trail running no-no as you’ll find as you read
on). We ran into other ultrarunners, the most impressive being sixty-six-
year-old 100-miler veteran Hwa Ja Andrade, training solo by trekking
28 miles to the top of Santiago Peak and back! Otherworldly. All of us
bonked at one point, but we all worked together to keep on. We saw
amazing wildlife and incredible vistas high above the cloud layer all the
way to the Pacific. Instead of running 16 miles, we were all so pumped
we finished at the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary having run 22.
That run embodied all that is great and tricky about trail running.
While my experience with the OCTR was more than extreme, being on
the trail is always an adventure regardless of how far you go. It’s a full
sensory experience. The sights, sounds, and smells are always amazing.
There’s no match for the camaraderie forged by the common experience
of trail running. My regular run now is along the Del Mar Trail north to
Torrey Pines State Park in California. It’s pure bliss.
No runners are more qualified to co-author this book than Nancy
Hobbs and Adam Chase. Period. Yes, they are a couple of the sport’s best
athletes with years and many miles of trails under their feet. But more so,
vii
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Foreword
it’s their passion, enthusiasm, and unparalleled expertise for the sport
and activity. They are trail running, and they will do all they can to get
more people to safely experience what they have the privilege of doing
every day.
I didn’t think I could run with the likes of the OCTR. But like that
adventure, this book will take you farther and to more beautiful places
than you can imagine. Enjoy this book and the adventures it will open up
to you. I hope you, too, have the misfortune of getting stuck in Laguna.
Don’t forget to call Charlie. You’ll get more than you’d ever hoped for.
Andrew R. Hersam
Executive Vice President—Media
The Competitor Group
Former Publishing Director for Runner’s World and Running Times
Running USA Board of Directors
viii
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PrEFACE
I’ve been on all sorts of trails: long and short ones, mountain and desert,
eastern to western, north to south, flat, steep, rocky, muddy, even paved
trails. If a trail is not named, I’ll give it one. I can recall trail names and their
descriptions better than I can remember my PIN number. If I’m in one loca-
tion long enough, I will cover all the trails in that area. If I’m driving and
see a path meandering along, I wonder what it does when it twists out of
view. I want to see where the trail goes, get to its highest point, and come
back a different way. I like traveling light. I like to do in a single morning
or afternoon what takes most people days. I love descending switchbacks
on rocky scree fields and the feeling of my burning legs and lungs after a
long climb. These things make me who I am. I am a trail runner.
On a recent run my breathing had become labored. I’d randomly
decided that this was as far as I was going to go: 11,600 feet and relent-
less snowfields had brought me to a halt. I needed to dump the glacial
till from my shoes, eat, and sip some water. The high sun would be upon
me soon, and there were parts of me that were exposed and ripe for a
burn. I stood in one of the many expansive cirques in the John Muir Wil-
derness Area on the eastern slope of the Sierras of California. I had left
my truck two hours before and headed up the trail knowing only that
retracing my steps would bring me back to my starting point. I hadn’t
seen another soul: Footprints from the last traveler had been washed
away by the previous day’s rain. This was what I was looking for.
Do you insist you don’t sweat the small stuff: the traffic jams, the
cranky bosses, the broken appliances, the neighbor’s leaf blower, the
plane overhead, a ringing cell phone, the bills to pay, a backlog of must-
get-to e-mails, or even remembering where you last set your sunglasses?
Each day you extend yourself. As you move through life you often dismiss
day-to-day tribulations as minor. You feel you’ve grown accustomed to
the small stressors. Any of these events by itself may not be so devastat-
ing, but their accumulation certainly is.
The human spirit and body perform in unison. The two are a pack-
age, one depending on the other. The healthiest individuals function
ix
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