Trail Tested: Mind Over Matter in Every Mile
In my world, January usually means signing up for another spring running clinic. The half marathon is my preferred distance (I ran a full once—enough said), and I’ve set my sights on a race in late May. While road running is my go-to, back in November I joined a six-week trail running group. After thirty years of being a runner, I thought I knew what to expect. Not quite. Running through mud puddles on uneven ground, weaving through the forest for two hours in the pouring rain, was a rude awakening. It felt like trying to do laps in the ocean—unpredictable and untamed—compared to the smooth, controlled ease of swimming in a pool. The wildness of it all had me hooked.
Trail running opens your senses, allowing you to exercise in harmony with the natural environment while enhancing your mental stamina and sharpening your focus. It provides a much more total-body workout than road running, engaging stabilizer muscles (think: glutes and core) and often resulting in the dreaded DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) for first-timers due to the varied biomechanical load. On the plus side, natural running surfaces like dirt, gravel, and grass place less impact on your bones and joints compared to asphalt. It’s no surprise that road runners tend to experience more tendon injuries due to reduced shock absorption.
Trail running offers obvious physical benefits, some similar to road running—for example, improved cardiovascular health, increased energy levels, and enhanced mobility. However, it demands greater mental focus than road running, as you must concentrate and stay present to navigate rocks, roots, fallen trees, and other obstacles. And in the Pacific Northwest, you’d better be ready for the cold and wet—puddles here can reach well past your ankles. In essence, trail running:
Requires mindfulness
You need to be aware of your surroundings and the trail’s changing terrain noting the adjustment in foothold during ascents, alternating walking and running, and descents, landing forefoot to cushion impact.
Activates your mind
The varying movements and immersion in nature activate your mind in a different way than road running. Trail running can increase your perception, working memory capacity, and spatial awareness.
Helps you enter a flow state
You’re focused on the task at hand and not thinking about the past or worrying about the future and the sensory experience of passing through beautiful scenery improves your mood.
In trail running, you run at your own pace. There is no race pace (the time it takes to run a mile expressed in minutes) or competitive goal-based finish time. Trail running is a singular state of mind. It can help decrease anxiety and quiet a racing mind—literally.
Is trail running something you enjoy? Any favorite trails? Let me know in the comments below.
Tamara Clarke – Research Manager
