There are many benefits of trail running. Some of these benefits you can get from regular road running, but incorporating trail running in your training regimen will help push your training to new heights!

From physical health to mental health, here are 5 reasons to hit the trails!

1. Trail Running Helps Improve your Cardiovascular Health

                While you can improve your cardiovascular system through regular road running, there are many other benefits of hitting the trails.

I have loved eating healthy and hitting the gym for the past 20 years (I am to this day a dedicated gym rat!), but I have never really enjoyed cardio. Sure I have had my phases of different forms of cardio like beach body workouts, elliptical machines, CrossFit and even the occasional road running, cardio was never a passion until I discovered trail running. Now I am hooked.

If you enjoy running but need a change of scenery, trail running is a great way to change things up and ensure you keep on doing what you love while also improving your health.

If you’re like I used to be and don’t enjoy running, trail running may be your solution to ensuring that you get to live a healthy, active life! Try it out and you just might be surprised!

2. Trail Running is Easier on your Joints than Road Running

                The soft dirt and sand that you will find on the trails is easier on your body than the hard impact of your feet on concrete.

                Last year, I spent 6 weeks in Sacramento, California. During my time away from the Owyhee Mountains, I had to take up running along the bike path overlooking the American River. I quickly realized that I could not run as many miles on that hard path as I could out on the trails. While I was able to run faster, I couldn’t sustain more than 5 miles per day because of the pain in my feet due to the impact on the bike path. I quickly learned that the trails are so much easier on your body than concrete.

3. Trail Running Strengthens your Muscles

There are so many differences between road running and trail running. The mostly even and sure footed sidewalks you run on are beneficial for helping you to log miles quickly and are as accessible as your front door.

In contrast, running on the trails is not as easy and will slow you down. There are roots and rocks and all manners of uneven terrain you will have to avoid, either by jumping over or hopping around the obstacle.

Whether the obstacle is a rock, uneven terrain in the path or even a small rock slide in the middle of the trail, you will use your muscles in ways that are different than anything you will encounter on the pavement. After 5 miles or more of this done regularly, you will soon start to see changes in your muscle tone that you will not get from road running or even from strength training in the gym.

4. Improves your Mental Health

Trail running is a great way to get away from the world for a little bit and enjoy not only the great outdoors without the noise of the city, but to do something for your physical and mental health as well. Even if it’s just occasionally, it will help you to rejuvenate and get back to hitting the streets if that is your passion.

5. It Is Fun!

Ok, so maybe I’m a little biased on this one. After growing up on a farm way up in the coastal mountains of Oregon, I have always enjoyed being outdoors and exploring the world around me.

There is just something about being away from the hustle and bustle of the city that brings me back to those carefree days as a child, playing in the creek or climbing the mountain above my dad’s back 40. Those days may be gone forever, but trail running brings it all back, even if it’s just for a little while.

What activities bring back those carefree days for you?