Running as a sport is steadily growing in popularity here in the Northeast and throughout the United States. While the ultra-endurance events are still somewhat underground, shorter trail races and lots of trail running combos zap left and right.
Trail running offers several advantages over road training, which is what attracts most newcomers to the sport.
Some of these advantages include:
- Less impact on the body in the trails…
- Running down the trail is more fun than the roads…
- Recovering on the trails is much easier than on the roads…
- There tend to be fewer overuse injuries from running trails…
- Running down the trail is more fun than the roads…
- The air on the trails tends to be cleaner with more trees and less traffic…
- You use more muscle groups when running trails…
- Running down the trail is more fun than the roads…
Technical tracks versus non-technical tracks
The first thing a trail runner wants to know about a new trail is whether it’s technical or not.
Non-technical tracks They are basically soft methods. They are well maintained, tend to be spacious enough for two or more people to run side by side, and don’t have too many obstacles in your way while running. Southern Maine’s best non-technical trails are found at New Gloucester’s Pineland Farms, which has more than 15 miles of trails and is home to the Pineland Farms Race Festival each spring that includes races such as the barefoot 5k and 5k on Saturday and the 25k, 50k and 50k on Sunday.
Technical corridors They tend to be singletrack trails, meaning only one person can progress along the trail at a time. There will be many obstacles, including but not limited to rocks, roots, and rivers. You need to stay focused in order to run safely along a technical path. The trails at Bradbury Mountain State Park in Pownal are a fine example of technical trails and are easily accessible from Portland. They are also the site of the Bradbury Mountain Trail racing series throughout the summer.
single-track tracks It’s usually technical but not always as well, but it’s not wide enough for people to run next to each other so you’ll need to stay in single file when running in a group.
Double track tracks wider than a single track and can accommodate at least 2 people running side by side, if not 3 or 4. Double lane lanes tend to be easier to navigate, and may or may not be technical in nature.