Train On The Same Surface You Will Race On

A question that I often see from newer ultrarunners  preparing to do some trail race is "Should I get some trail running in prior to this trail race?"

The answer is absolutely yes!  If you don't you could be and for a rude awakening on race day. 

Different surfaces use different types of muscles and if you're training on pavement or the sidewalk every day and then go try to run a tough trail race there's a good chance that you won't get the results you are looking for.  Different terrain like rocks, sand, and hills impacts your running.

Even if you don't live close to the course you will be racing on you can almost always find a little bit of something suitable to run on.  When training for the 100% trail Lake 2 Ocean 100K that is full of mud, water, and sand, I found a park close to my house that had an 8 mile trail loop with enough sand to make things interesting.  It was not exactly like the course but it got me ready.  I did several hard workouts on the trail and made a point to get there at least once a week.

It paid off because I ended up placing 5th and getting the best time I've had at the race!

The same thing applies if you're training for road.  Trails are fun, but they don't help you get fast for road races. After the trail 100K, I switched focus to the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and the Daytona 100 the back half of the year.  Most of my runs were on road and at a faster pace than they would be for trail race.  There are different physical challenges on the roads.  While a road 100 mile might be easier theoretically than a trail marathon, the surface is much harder and there's a lot more pounding so you have different things to worry about more along the lines of repetitive use injuries.  The amount of cushion in my shoes made a huge difference in the back half of the Daytona 100.

I got PRs in both road races as well, 3:29 at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon and 20:54 at Daytona100.

I would still run trails occasionally but on an easy or recovery day just to get away from the pounding but most of my runs and hard workouts were on the same surface that I would be racing.  

Let me know what you are racing and and where, it's a small community it would be great to see you all out at some of the races!