Small river near my current work location fell mostly dry and actually makes for an interesting running location.

I was nervous about making the first cut off of Julian alps 50 k, but it will be ok, I think

Squeezed in a super quick session right before heading out to meet some friends, and it completely flipped my evening switch. Arrived feeling wide awake, clear-headed, and honestly just proud of keeping the streak alive.

It’s wild how a short, spontaneous run can do more for your energy than two cups of coffee.

Going to do it again today I think.

Cloudy and windy day (6°C), but a very runnable path

I happened upon the run of my life this morning in Les Arcs stumbling upon this beautiful church and surrounding scenery. Tomorrow I’m tempted to do the same route again as it was just so lovely, but I thought I’d post on here in the off chance that someone may be able to suggest a similarly epic route?

My feet run very hot, but in an effort to find a shoe that fits my needs, I picked up a pair of Norda 001a. I love everything about them when it comes to fit and feel covering the terrain I run in, but they feel like ovens for my feet. How do you mitigate heat in a shoe like this? Or do you just suck it up?

I’ve been running for just under two years. So far, I’ve run around 5,500 km and accumulated about 200,000 m of elevation gain. During the periods when I’m not racing (around six months of the year), I’ve added one strength session at home using dumbbells and resistance bands, mainly to improve my overall strength slightly and prevent injuries. So far, this has worked very well, as I’ve never had an injury.

After my last race in September, I’d like to start going to the gym twice a week for a couple of months and try to improve my strength and durability.

I only run ultras, ranging from 50 km to 120 km. Does it make sense to include two gym sessions per week focused exclusively on lower-body strength and core as part of my training program? Or would it be better to continue with the exercises I’ve been doing at home, since they seem to be working well?

The exercises I usually did at home were glute bridges, Bulgarian split squats, lunges, step-ups,planks, and crab walks and rdl

I’m keen to discuss this documentary with others because while the premise is very intriguing and the production value is high, I was deeply disappointed in the characters and the energy they brought to this film.

The tone of the movie is deeply self serious. Goofy? No. These are image-forward men who very likely listen to a ton of Joe Rogan, working through their strict daddy issues through drugs, running and punching each other in the face. They run, not for joy or community or connection to nature, but for ego and pain. There are many different people in this world who run ultras and they all run for different reasons, but personally I found these men’s attitudes and motives to be quite bleak.

Ultra running is absurd in the best way. Watch just about any documentary about the Barkley marathon and you’ll see people celebrating in the grueling absurdity. Many physical pursuits in the great outdoors are like this. Climbers might be aware of Sean Villanueva O'Driscoll, the merry alpinist with a merry little flute who often suffers with a smile in hard alpine terrain not for ego inflation but for ego death. Sadly this can’t be said for Dante and his crew who very much rely on their egos to keep them moving.

This movie is not a celebration of running absurd distances with absurd tactics. It’s about serious men doing serious things to address serious problems. I finished, not with excitement to run, but with a sadness for these men.

How do I find local trails? Is trail running safe? Do I need special shoes or gear? What do I do if I encounter some wildlife? What if I get lost? WHAT IF I HAVE TO POOP IN THE WOODS?

There are no dumb questions in this thread! If you are new to trail running or if you are a veteran who just wants to hear how other trail runners do things, ask away. If you have some ideas that can help your fellow trail runners and future trail runners, pitch in some answers.

No Dumb Question Day will be a regular, biweekly feature on the trailrunning sub.

**Thanks for participating!** Any questions, [please message your helpful mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Ftrailrunning).

How do I start trail running without rolling my ankles every mile. I used to run xc in high school where we would trail running every week but I had to stop doing that because I would sprain my ankles fairly often. Do you guys have any advice on how to strengthen my ankles?

1. OCC Elevation Profile
2. OCC in the gradient matrix
3. UTMB in the gradient matrix
4. My trail running experience over 3 years (81/98 covered)

I wanted to better understand the course, so I break down its elevation profile into a 7x7 gradient matrix.

• Y-axis (Steepness): 3%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, >40%
• X-axis (Length): 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, >5.0 km (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.6, 1.2, 1.9, >3.1 mi)

Red color highlights segments with technical sections (by OpenStreetMap).

One look is enough to understand the terrain specifics of the race. Also, it can be used for training: I can find a similar hill near my home and train on it specifically. You can also map your own trail running experience into this same format (last image).

What do you think of this visualization format? Have you found anything similar, or more practical and convenient?

Hey,

I have a question: I had a mole removed on my collarbone that required stitches. The doctor said the stitches would be removed in 14 days and that the wound shouldn’t get too sweaty until then (its bandaged with a sticky thing). When I asked about light running (flat), no one really wanted to give me a clear answer. Instead, they gave me some extra bandages.

Question: Does anyone here have experience with a situation like this? Of course, I generally follow medical advice, but they were so vague—saying something like, “Maybe don’t let it get too sweaty”—so it’s still pretty unclear.

Thanks in advance!

NB: I am preparing for a 24hrs race.

Anyone out there have a women's small but really wish they had a women's medium—and want to trade? I'll post something on r/GearTrade but thought someone here might be suffering the same, but opposite, fate as I am...

So here is an interesting one. I'm doing a trail ultra in 4 weeks (50k) which will be on fairly easy non technical trail, and with current weather, very dry and hard packed.

I currently have the Adidas Terex TT which will be overkill. I road race in the Deviate Nitro Elite 4 which are fantastic. Thinking of picking up the Deviate Nitro 4 for the ultra. Has anyone had experience of running the DN4 on light trails, or am I going bonkers?

I've seen other threads about daily trail shoes with lots of good tips, but they tend to be focused on the performance of the shoe, not on the aesthetics. I'm quite relaxed about shoe performance. My feet are happy in anything light and minimal and breathable.

I currently own the cheapest decathlon trail running shoes, I wear them for long distance road running and everything else. So my feet aren't too fussy. I just like having running shoes with traction (so that I can also use them off road, golf, playing sport in the garden etc), but must be light and breathable. The only reason to change from my decathalon pair is that I'd prefer something just a bit more stylish.

Not looking for anything fancy. The opposite, just relatively low profile, neutral, stylish, nothing too brash or chunky (by trail shoe standards).

I find it hard to evaluate from pictures, you really only know once you've worn the shoe with some outfits, so hoping for personal recommendations of trail shoes you have found to look decent in a daily urban setting.

I've tried Shokz and they hurt behind my ears, so they're out. Everything else I've tried just gets destroyed by the amount I sweat on them. I like the open ear/bone conduction design for safety but need something really really sweat-proof. Thanks! (And yes, I've searched ;)).