Into the Hills is all about getting you where you want to be: running confidently and skilfully on the trails. And naturally we believe the best way to do this is to join one of our courses! But if you would like some tips to get started on your own, in this blog we've covered some of the most common questions from beginner trail runners.
How do you know where you’re going?
You don't need expert navigation skills to plan and run an enjoyable off-road route. There are now multiple tools to help you figure out where to go, and to find your way when you get there.
Our number one planning tool is the Ordnance Survey map. You might be familiar with these as the pink or orange covered huge sheets of paper used in GCSE Geography classes. It now comes in a much handier online/app format – you can have access to every single map in the country for £34.99 a year, and the level of detail is astonishing. The map allows you to plot routes; it will measure the distance and the elevation (the amount of uphill) in the route for you, and give an estimate of how long it will take. The website and app also feature routes plotted by others; use the filter to select running routes. There are now also plenty of other similar apps, such as AllTrails, which allow you to follow routes planned by others.
If you want to plan your own route, a great way to get going would be to look at your home. Chances are, even if you live in a city, there will be some footpaths and trails near you – when you zoom in to the smallest scale of the map, you’re looking for a green line with either short or long dashes (you can also find the map key within the app). As a rule of thumb, the longer dashes (which indicate bridleways, routes on which pedestrians, bicycles and horses are allowed to travel) are more runnable than the short dashes (footpaths – pedestrians only) which tend to be narrower, and are sometimes overgrown. There are also the amusingly named ‘BOAT’s – Byways Open to All Traffic – which appear on the map as a series of green crosses and are often more like gravelly or rocky country roads. This article from the Ordnance Survey covers planning a walk, but it hits all the bases of planning a good run route too.
If you're nervous about getting out alone on your self-planned route, consider asking friends or clubmates if they know any good routes they could show you, or if they’d like to come along on your adventure. There are lots of Facebook groups dedicated to trail running, which can be good places to make friends and find running partners, or join an Into the Hills course to meet likeminded runners.
You've planned a route; how do you follow it?
There are different schools of thought on this! A purist might say that you need to learn to read your map and navigate, using the features you pass along the way, understanding contour lines, and taking bearings using a compass. If you are heading away from popular routes, taking a paper copy of your map and a compass (which you know how to use) is a good idea. But technology has made things much easier for us – if you use the OS app, or other similar apps, you can simply follow the route like you’d do with a Google map, but with the benefit of much more detail.
Many running watches also now have a feature allowing you to upload your route to your watch. This article runs through the process of adding a GPX file (basically a set of route instructions) to your Garmin. If you’re doing this from the OS map app, when you’ve plotted your route you need to click ‘export’ and select Garmin Connect. You can also share your route with your running buddy by email or messenger. Although following the route on your watch doesn’t give you any new navigational skills, it does allow you to run without the faff of constant map checking – and even if we’re learning to navigate 'properly', sometimes that’s what we want from a run.
If you find yourself really enjoying your adventures, and want to run further afield, Into the Hills courses cover basic navigation skills, to help you feel confident that you can get off the beaten track.
What equipment do you need?
Trail running is like everything else in modern life – there’s a marketing industry whose purpose is to convince us that we need six different pairs of shoes, top of the range underpants and a magic hat. In reality, you don’t need anything special or massively expensive to get started.
The first item in your trail running collection should be a good pair of shoes. Check out our beginners' guide to trail running shoes here. You don't necessarily need these straight away. For your first few forays into trail running, particularly in summer when the ground is dry and hard, your road shoes will be perfectly fine.
Running vests and bumbags are popular in the trail running world, and are the first piece of specialist equipment we'd recommend buying after shoes. They usually come with bladders or bottles which allow you to carry more water (and food) than you can hold in your hands or in a waist belt, which means you can travel further afield from the inhabited areas where you’d normally find things like taps, coffee and cake. Having said that, you don’t absolutely need one. If you’re on a short run in a well-walked or busy area, just take what you’d normally take on a run.
If you are running on more remote routes, you should carry some safety equipment. The exact nature of this will change depending on the kind of route you intend to run, and the weather forecast, but broadly you are thinking about what you would need if for some reason you needed to stop running and wait for help to reach you. This means items to stay warm, dry, fuelled and hydrated, and to call for help. On our courses we will introduce you to the full spectrum of safety equipment and help you to build a kit list that's the perfect match for the kind of running you want to do.
How do you stay injury-free when trail running?
Running off-road places different demands on your body. If you've done some trail running already you'll have noticed that you can't maintain your normal road pace at the same effort level. This is completely normal, and you don’t need to worry about it. One of the joys of trail running is letting go of any feeling that you should be running at a certain pace. You will probably also find yourself negotiating obstacles in the form of rocks, tree roots, streams, stiles, and stubborn sheep, as well as running more uphill and downhill than you would normally. This is all part of the fun!
If you are new to trail running, it is sensible to phase it into your running diary slowly. The uneven surface underfoot means that your body has to do a lot more stabilisation when your foot hits the ground – so muscles all the way from your feet and ankles to your bum and back are working harder. All this can certainly mean that you feel new aches and pains, and it is sensible to gradually build up the frequency, intensity and length of your off-road sessions to avoid injury. You could also add some specific strength and conditioning. We like this article – it hits the nail on the head with the types of strength training most useful to trail runners.
Excited to find out more? Into the Hills courses cover all this and more, whether you're a total beginner or are just dipping your toes into trail running.
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