Off-road cardio: enjoy the view as you hit the trails to build strength and burn fat

Men's Fitness, Sept, 2001 by Tom Weede

Maybe you've reached an I-just-can't-take-it-anymore point in your cardio program where you'd rather try to sweat off calories by eating 50 pepperoncinis than thee another run on your local mean streets. Or maybe you've avoided starting an aerobic program altogether, either dreading the pounding your joints will take or the effort you'll have to make to get your body to move in a way it hasn't since last year's Thanksgiving Day Turkey Bowl. Or maybe you simply want a change of scenery while you burn inches off your waist and tone your legs.

Wherever you are in your training program, trail running can give you the inspiration to either stick with your cardio or start a program for the first time. Talk to a guy who trail-runs, and you'll find out why he gladly gave up pummeling his feet on pavement in exchange for jaunts off-road. "Running on the road can be drudgery," says Joe Wolf, who has run trails for five years. "Trail running is almost like running through a dream. It makes your daily jog more of an adventure--you never know what's around the next turn." Adds trail enthusiast John Kane, "You're concentrating so much on your footing, and noticing the scenery as you run by it, all of a sudden you look up and you've just run six miles."

Wolf logged his miles on cement and asphalt until he moved to Colorado and joined up with a training group--the Leukemia Society's Team in Training--and went along for a run in the foothills surrounding Denver. His running hasn't been the same since. "Once I'd been on one or two runs with the Leukemia Society," says the 33-year-old, "I started looking for every opportunity to get out and run the trails."

THE BENEFITS

Aside from tranquil settings, great vistas and a my-how-time-flies workout, what can you get out of trail running? Plenty, says Nancy Hobbs, executive director of the All American Trail Running Association (www.trailrunner.com) and co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running. "In road running, you might be going a little bit quicker," she says, "but with trail running you have the variations of the ascents and descents that usually are much steeper than on the roads. And you've got variable terrain." Which means you'll strengthen your ankles and work more muscles--including important balancing muscles--than you would on the road. "My leg strength has really improved by running the trails," says Wolf.

Another benefit you'll find is that your speed on the flats will also increase--the uphill running motion recruits some of the same muscles used in sprinting. And the power you develop in your legs and hips through uphill running will prepare you for pursuits such as skiing and hiking. While running the downhills will get you hike-ready, a bit of caution is required. "Downhill running can cause microcellular muscle damage, which makes your muscles sore for a couple of days," says Running Times Senior Writer Pete Pfitzinger, an exercise physiologist and a two-time Olympic marathoner. "It's a good idea to take it easy at first if you are not used to running downhills."

Along with added strength and speed comes greater fat-burning potential. Although your heart rate will be high if you push hard up the hills, overall your pace is likely to be slower. "Most trail runners--partly because it's so entertaining and there's so much to look at, and also because you need to exercise a little bit of caution--will go a little bit slower, but for longer," says Ultimate Guide co-author and Trail Running Association President Adam Chase. "Definitely, that's in your fit-burning zone."

And here's a bonus: You don't have to cover the same distance you would on the road to get an equivalent workout. "Go by time as opposed to distance," says Hobbs. "If you run three miles on the roads, you don't necessarily [have to] run three miles on the trails, because your time is very contingent upon the terrain, the elevation gain and loss, the footing." And it's okay to walk the uphills, says Chase, especially if you're just getting started. "If you don't, you're going to burn up."

INJURY PREVENTION

"I was becoming a little bit disenchanted with running roads all the time," says Kane, who's been an off-roader for just a few months. "There are less and less safe areas to run--there's a lot of traffic--and because of the continuous repetitive motion of running on the road, my knees were taking quite a beating. On the trail, thanks to the wide range of joint motion and the softer running surface, my knees feel great, and my legs are getting a better workout." Now Kane, 30, runs almost exclusively on trails near Denver, four to six days a week. "I'm hooked on it."

True, on trails you're more at risk for sprained ankles and twisted knees (if you've done regular leg work in the gym, these problems will be less of a concern). But over the long term, the softer trail surfaces will be easier on your joints than the road would be. "It's a lot easier on your body," says Tim Erickson, a former concrete-pounder who now trail-runs three days a week. "You're constantly changing your foot strike and pace, so you're not as prone to repetitive-stress injuries."