I don’t live near trail! What can I do on my regular run to improve my off road running

I know how lucky I am to have such a trail running paradise quite literally on my backdoor step. But how can you get better at running offroad if distance, work, family mean you can’t get out to the trails as often as you would like?
 
Take a few moments to think about the last time you ran offroad…..
 
Chances are compared to running on road, your whole body had to constantly adapt to an ever changing surface, your brain had to work harder to be alert for different routes or indeed roots! Chances are you didn’t run in a straight line, you probably jumped over puddles, maybe climbed over a style, found your feet stuck in mud or puffed your way up a hill. Getting the picture. If you want to get better at running trail without running trail, you need to add variety and challenge. Here are a few ideas to shake up your training and get trail ready:

• Play ‘don’t step on the lines’ as you run along a pavement. It will make you move your feet quicker, forces you to change direction spontaneously and  vary stride length.
• Chuck in some hopscotch – remember this from school. Brilliant for improving single leg stability and mimicking finding your way through a rocky path. 
• Find part of the run where you can dart left and right. Perhaps use lampposts etc as markers. Great for challenging your trunk stability.
• Pretend a certain stretch of your run is covered in short grass, long grass, flooded with water (think Baywatch lifeguard going in for a rescue). Great for practising and strengthening that knee lift.
• Jump! Jump both feet forwards using your arms and make sure you ‘stick’ the landing. So have your knees bent, feet about hip width apart and be upright in your body. Easy? – try it off low walls or benches. Great for mimicking the forces experienced when running downhill. 
• Regularly run new routes. Keeps your brain active and your body alert as you have to find your way and you come across new challenges.
• Most of us have heard of ‘fartlek’ training, where you alternate your pace from slow through to sprint. Great for mimicking the gear changes we take up and down hills or through mud, sand. 
• Find a hill and run it, repeat.

 
Could this mean you get a few funny looks when you are next out on the streets? (all relative – I wear a wetsuit when training for swimrun!) Well yes maybe, but you will be safe in the knowledge that you have added some fun and challenge to your running and you will be one hopscotch nearer to being trail ready.

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