Trail Run Essentials

Okay, so after my fifth trail run and my second trail race I feel like I finally have my packing list down. Here are the things that I have found to be essential:

Trail Shoes duh. I'm so glad that I run in these. I can't imagine running in non-trail shoes. I think I would have wiped out a million times.

Wool Socks (I have yet to experience a trail run where the course does not go through running water. This week it was an honest to goodness river...like 10-15 feet across and NO ROCKS to jump on!)
Wool may not keep your feet dry, but it does keep your feet from freezing off.

Dry Socks and Shoes for afterwards. The worst feeling was being done with my first snowy trail race and then having to drive 45 minutes in wet socks.

Plastic Bags also for afterwards...after all, you need something to put those wet shoes and socks in so that you don't muck up your new car, right? You would have thought that I would have thought of this.

Written Directions provided by coach/race coordinator etc Google maps and GPS do not cut it when you are running in some of these parks that are impossible to find and way out there. Plus, when the parks are THAT big you want to make sure you go to the right entrance.

Phone and charger I have heard horror stories from Coach Mary...but she reminded us that sometimes you don't get reception anyway. And it is not uncommon to want to take pictures (to prove that yes, it was that rainy, or yes, I did just see a herd of bison while running :).

Ziploc Bags for your phone. Did I mention all of the rain/snow/water involved in trail running?

More clothes than for road running you can always unlayer. I don't know why but trail running seems a LOT colder than road running. Going slower? Running in the woods? Who knows.

Water you can carry I just got a Camelbak Aurora for Christmas that I am dying to try out...but running in 5 mile winter races where there are water stops has yet to allow me to do this without feeling silly.

Toilet paper lest you have to use your precious wool socks? Just saying...

Antibacterial gel see above

Sunscreen because you should just wear it all the time anyway

Kitty litter/Sand/Some Traction because when you show up less than 60 minutes early for a race (which I am still not used to) you have to park in the mud and then when your little Ford Focus gets stuck you have to get the guy with the truck and the Marine and Ironman bumper stickers to pull you out of the muck while you feel embarrassed.

And these are some nice to haves:

Bug Spray I imagine...I mean all the bugs are pretty dead right now.

Bandaids/first aid You will probably fall down. I finally ran my first trail run where I didn't this weekend!

Gels If you are going out for awhile

Trail Map So that when you don't pay attention to the blades and trail markers you don't freak out

Park Ranger's phone number So that when you are lost and still have cell reception someone can find you.

Headlamp if you are running at night (I mean, I guess this is a must have if you are running at night, but it's a nice to have for me because I haven't started running at night. Yet.)

Extra clothes in your car or wherever if you don't want to drive home muddy or wet. I guess also wipes would fall in this same category.


What you do NOT need:

Garmin you will probably not be able to get a signal, and even if you do, all of the elevation changes will screw up your mileage. Or so I've heard. I haven't tried to run with it in the woods.

Mace/Pepper Spray Coach Mary says unless you have a lot of practice it's not a good idea...especially since you really have to aim it at the attacking animal's nose, not their eyes.

I think you also need a sense of adventure, a willingness to get dirty and the ability to change plans/course/go with the flow.

Also...I have found that I have started talking to people about WHEN I will run an ultra, not IF.

And...I did much better pace wise (11:56) on my race in Big Bone Lick State Park this weekend, despite the fact that the course was MUCH tougher. Although, I think because I am still talking about pace I am still making the transition from road runner to trail runner.

And...I am starting marathon training this weekend with the Roncker group again! YAY! It will be interesting to see how I balance this with trail running.

Trail Running at East Fork

LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG post ahead! (It's only because I'm excited though).

 Soooo...Let me just say: trail racing is an ENTIRELY different sport from road racing.

As it is in most of the rest of the country, the Cincinnati area got covered with a ton of snow and ice and freezing rain on Friday. I was bummed because my first trail race was on Saturday. I had also just got my new Brooks True Grit trail shoes and was dying to try them out. But from my, well, about 2 hours total, experience talking to other trail runners I somehow knew the race would not be cancelled. Sure enough, the message on the race site said not to fear, trail races are never cancelled due to weather. My only worry was if I was actually going to be able to make it there.

And that's the FIRST difference. Because if this was a road race, there would have been an email from the coach, an email from the race organizers, Facebook posts etc saying that the whole thing was a "wait and see". Then, after all the schools and activities were closed and cancelled that night, the race would have been too.

But no, as I made my way into the "parking lot" (read: large, snow covered hill) at East Fork 15 minutes before the race I saw that 1.The race was definitely on. 2. I may have been considered late. 3. The hundred or so people that had signed up for the race were there. (And not acting like it was any sort of big deal either).

Also, the race coordinator's brief of the course was something like this: "Go out and have fun! Oh yeah, there's a bridge crossing where the bridge is kind of out. I was kind of scared to go across it so I made a little go-around, but I don't know...that might be more dangerous than the bridge, so just use your judgement! Oh and we don't have water everywhere because it was just too cold to have a bunch of cups sitting out there. So, you're on your own for that. I do have mile markers out. Ok, I think that's it. Ready....GO!" (I can just imagine Peter Ciaccia going over a winter road racing course, after Mary Wittenburg gave everyone props for coming out in the cold: "Okay people, it is REALLY cold out there. Take it easy. And remember to drink some water even if you don't feel like you need it. Look out for ice and slippery patches that you may not see right away. All of the course markers will be on your right, and please try to stay on the course. There will be water and aid stations around every mile. Please try to stay warm. Do I have clearance on the course? All right, runners take your mark...")

So, running in the snow, in the woods...

Well, first of all the trail is maybe a foot wide because, it's been covered with snow (duh). This is NARROW. I mean, there were places right away where I was thinking 'If I lost my footing I would slide right down this gigantic ledge to whatever is at the end of that 30' drop.'

The super narrow "trail"

It IS a lot less slippery than you think, unless you actually have worn away all of the snow because underneath is a lot of slippery mud. I assumed this meant there would be a lot of falling on my part. I was wrong though. If there are people in front of you (the rule is apparently to keep them about 8' in front of you, in case you do fall) you can kind of judge the terrain by what they do, which makes it easier. It's a good think too, because the scenery is BREATHTAKING.

Around the lake (about mile 3)

I mean honestly, the pictures don't even do it justice. And it's so quiet. And I think that trail runners are a lot less chatty than road runners. This is probably because it takes an immense amount of concentration to run in the woods. I mean, you are scanning for roots, mud, etc, trying to see the overall picture of the course, looking for trail markers, trying not to run into the person in front of you or any large animals, balance and rebalance, all while doing all of the normal runner things.

Luckily, trail runners are also super friendly. They are always checking on you to make sure you're okay or you don't want to pass them. They don't leave anyone behind. And I don't mean like how marathon runners see someone down and all slow down, possibly turning back mid run and say "Are you okay?" before figuring out the downed runner is okay and then moving on. I mean like seriously "No man left behind."

Example: I was getting all into this trail running, feeling like I was doing great. I could see about 3 people in front of me. Then all of the sudden there were like 8 people stopped ahead. We had come to this muddy clifflike area. At the bottom of about an 8 foot drop there was a little river/creek (it was about 12 feet across and a foot deep?). To the right was a bridge. I guess this was the infamous scary bridge because it seriously just dropped out. And someone had put a plank from the other side to the remaining part of the bridge. (I need to mention that no one was saying much about any of this at all. They were just kind of looking between the two ways to go and then choosing one.) I think the people who were crossing the "bridge" were trying to keep from crossing the river, which was a sure way to get your feet wet before the first mile marker. I chose the other way.

As I slid myself down the embankment slowly and carefully, some girl slipped off of the plank and was hanging on with one hand. The guys in front of her, luckily helped her. So, I make it across the river (the ICY river I must say, as now my new wool socks were soaked...did I mention it was around 30 degrees 17 degrees out?) and I get to the other side and then...yeah, how am I supposed to get back up on the other side? Well, one of the guys running ahead of us saw that there were three of us behind him. He made his way up the muddy side/hill/cliff, braced himself against a tree and pulled each of us up one at a time. He also didn't make any sort of deal about it. That's what I mean by super friendly.

I think now is actually a good time to point out that my NEW shoes (worn for the first time that day) were now filled with muddy river water, snow, mud and ice. They looked gross. I just kept remembering all of those runs in Central Park where either me or one of my friends would wear their shoes for the first time and get some dirt on them. The general reaction was always "D*MNIT! I JUST wore these shoes for the FIRST TIME today!!!" I don't think trail runners even think that way.

Anyway, the whole getting the shoes wet wasn't a huge deal, because you know what? We had about 4 more river crossings during that 5 mile race. And at every single one there was no avoiding getting your feet wet (once again, it was COLD out). I was so glad that Coach Marie had told us at her Trails Clinic about wearing wool socks.

My frozen and muddy new shoes (and my muddy tights)

The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. I fell down 3 times, but I think that was because I ended up being first in the little pack I was in for awhile (so I couldn't watch what other people did). It's funny because Coach Marie is going to hold a clinic where we can practice falling. This sort of kind of scared me, but no more! I mean, falling on a trail while running is really no big deal - especially in the super soft snow. Plus, then I had mud streaks up my running tights which I (probably stupidly) thought made me look more hard core. I guess I've always kind of enjoyed playing in the mud and had this aspiration to be hard core and outdoorsy.

Also, one more point about trail runners...

Times matter only so much. This is weird coming from my GPS-obsessed road running background. Trail runners don't even use GPS because all of the changes in the elevations screw up the readings. Coach Marie said the average pace for a trail runner is about 16 minutes a mile, because you can just never tell what the terrain is going to throw at you. There is no shame in walking parts because really, if you didn't you would just be stupid and pass out. 

It DOES kind of suck going that slow. I had an option of 5 or 10 miles for the race and I decided I would see how I felt (seeing as that I feel trail racing is more taxing). Well, I totally could have done another 5 mile loop after my first 5 (fitness-wise), but no thank you. I was out there for what felt like forever.

(It turns out I averaged a 14 minute mile).

So I guess I can understand (a little) why people would do ultras (which are mostly trail runs I think?). These trail runners have a different mindset. Its about being strong enough to do it, not about being fast.

Bill says he gives me three months before I talk about doing an ultra.