Does trail running make me slower?

—Lisa Flores, Washington, D.C.

In a word? Possibly. Trail running, integrated into a careful training plan that also includes speed and strength workouts can add to fitness. The trails ease some of the daily stresses and pounding of the roads, they force you to use many little muscle groups that get ignored when sticking to the roads. Trail runners leap up on rocks, through creeks, dodge trees, deal with uneven ground—it can all lead to a more well-rounded, fit athlete.

On the other hand, I had a coach once that said the secret to running fast…is running fast. If you don’t get the quality, your speed will suffer. And it is very difficult to get true quality while dealing with all the variables of the trails.

Jon Sinclair, one of the top U.S. guys on the roads back in the 80’s, used to come up to a running camp in Western North Carolina and tool away many miles on the trails around Brevard…at what seemed like a stumble pace to me. He once said that he thought the problem most runners faced was going too hard on the easy days and not hard enough on the hard days. After jogging for hours with him on the soft trails, I found out what he meant when we went to the track—6 x 800 meters with a 200 meter jog between each. He started at 2:12 and worked down to 2:02 (that’s just a shade over four-minute mile pace!).

Enjoy the soft trails. But don’t forget the speed.
What’s the best track workout(s) for a marathoner?

—Sarah Price, N.C.

Track workouts are a fantastic way to build both speed and strength, and they are only limited by your imagination and pain threshold. But I have found that the very best marathon-specific workout is mile repeats (and I spit those two words out with all the loathing I can muster). Mile repeats can be the single most mind-numbing activity available to runners…but they work.

Mile repeats build both the body and mind through rote repetition. They teach pace and patience.

Remember, this is a build-up style workout that is integrated into a multi-week training plan. As you build your mileage towards your marathon goal, you add to the number of mile repeats you do at the track each week.

For a seasoned runner with a developed base, you might begin 12 weeks out, on the first week with 6 x one mile at goal marathon pace—with a 400 meter jog between efforts. Each week, add one more mile to the total. If you start 12 weeks out, you should run 15 x one mile at marathon goal pace two weeks prior to race day.
Jay Curwen is an elite adventure racer and owner of Black Dome Mountain Sports in Asheville, N.C.
