Hi community, in the 1 year I’ve been trail running I’ve experienced three different injuries - a tweaked knee (minor), a skinned up knee in a race (minor) and now an ankle sprain (more serious). I’m starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong or that’s just the inherent risk to the sport.

For more context, the trails in my region tend to be wet and muddy so the risk seems more pronounced. There is no “waiting until it’s dry” around here unfortunately. That definitely contributed to my most recent injury. I hit a slick root and rolled my ankle hard.

Is falling just part of the game? Should I do more strength and agility drills? Maybe I’m not looking at the ground closely enough? I’m starting to get frustrated because I do love the sport but not enough to constantly hurt myself.

I had my first ultra planned this weekend and I’m thinking about attempting it even though I’m still nursing this ankle sprain…

Title says it all. I normally wear La Sportiva Bushido III - they handle the mud and normal technical terrain quite well, but they cost me a tumble on a perfectly flat rocky section that had turned slippery after a night’s rain.

Thanks a bunch in advance for your suggestions.

Just seeking some advice from norda 005 users as to the difference in the footbeds that conewith the shoes.

So far i have only used to ones that came in the shoes and not the ones in the little box.

Did anyone notice any major differences between them?

I’ve been here for several years and im about to move out soon. Recently got into trail running (I was missing out!). I’ve ran a few and hiked plenty, almost all the runs were in the foothills area (between Eldorado springs and Pine Brook Hill).

I’m willing to travel up to 45 minutes for my next one. Any favorites? Ideally around 10 miles, could stretch it to a half marathon. Not too worried about elevation gain as long as it doesn’t exceed a mile in gain. Where would you go?

Hello.
I’d like an opinion about my current trail. Usually i am about 10minutes faster. Yesterday we had 29°C, so not my fastest day 😅
Finally found shoes that fit perfectly to my foot

Thanks for an opinion

I have a 9-mile trail run planned for Sunday, but this past week has been disappointing running. I had my long run Wednesday a week ago, and it was great (17 miles). Since then, almost no running: charged by dogs and aborted run (2miles), 2 unbreathable AQI (0 miles x2), an OK day with 6 road miles, then I did something to a muscle or tendon outer lower leg after 1 mile next day and stoped immediately for another aborted run. Still fell it next day (0 miles). Did a test jog today, better but could feel the pulling and didn’t want to press my luck (0.5 miles). It’s not the worst thing in the world to have an easy week before a tough run, but this is a bit ridiculous. How would you use these next three days to keep from getting creaky without unnecessary strain /difficulty?

Edit to ask: if anyone is willing to enlighten me, I’d love to learn and better understand what is objectionable about my post. I’ve just double checked the rules and not sure what I’ve done. The downvoting is getting me down :( and I’m already not running much this week, so my “therapy” isn’t available :(:( and I’m too old to understand Reddit :(:(:(:(

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I got tired of spending $10-20 on what amounts to sugar goop on my long runs, so I've been playing this summer with a DIY gel recipe. This mix took some tweaking for flavor, but I'm pretty happy with where it's at. This gets you a pretty clean 2:1 glucose-fructose, and for about $0.35 per 100 cal gets you a gel thats nutritionally equal (and very similar recipe wise) to something like Gu.

I've heard people say its too much of a hassle but i can whip up a batch in 15 minutes, and do it in my sink which makes cleanup super quick.

Settling with the following:

(Makes 3x3oz flasks, ~290 cal / ~72g carbs each, ~100mg sodium)

Ingredients:

1 cup maltodextrin

1/4 cup table sugar (sucrose)

1/2 cup fructose

1/8 tsp regular salt

A pinch lite salt

1/2 tsp citric acid

1/4 tsp sodium citrate

1 1/8 cups warm water

A pinch gellan gum

Optional:

Flavor extract

Food coloring

Process:

1) mix dry ingredients in a blender or other container 2) in a small cup, mix a tsp or two of dry ingredients with gellan gum 3) mix 1/2 cup of water with gellan mix in a sauce pan, bring to a simmer 4) mix 5/8 cup of tap-hot water with dry mix in blender 5) pour gellan solution into blender, blend if necessary to smooth out 6) add flavor extract to taste and food coloring 7) pour into flasks while hot 6) cool in fridge

Some notes:

- using a large syringe (like 300-500ml) makes getting this in the flasks way easier

- i also tried a number of versions without table sugar, but its less sweet per tbsp than fructose, and its a little less cloying this way (plus cuts cost slightly)

- the gellan gum adds a little cost and hassle but improves palatability substantially. Careful though, the difference in texture between a small and large pinch is pretty substantial.

- the lite salt isn't necessary, just adds a little potassium.

- these 3oz soft flasks are about $9 for 10 and come with a handy little funnel. I've actually found theyre a lot less hassle and mess than single serve gels

- the food coloring feels a little silly, but without it they look an awful lot like a certain white creamy bodily fluid. Idk maybe youre into that kind of thing

- i played around with adding things like orange extracts for flavor, but they added a sort of strange flowery quality. Maybe worth continuing to experiment with but I'm settling on the nuetral flavor for now.

For 9-12 mile mountainous trail runs. Anything you’d add that’s nice to have? Or simplify?

Urban park trail with great views.

Hand strap broke a few weeks ago. Finally got a chance to fix it. Think I've had this thing a bit over 3 years now. Felt like an opportunity to remind the community of the most important parts of enjoying and honoring our open and wild spaces.

Reduce, recycle, reuse. Leave no trace.

Some running, some walking, about 20 miles all told, 3000 ft of elevation gain.

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).

11 miles with 3200ft up and 5200ft down, in Austria.

I'm looking to take a trip for a week this fall and would like to go somewhere with great trail running. I'm in NC but open to anywhere in the US. I'm thinking of Sedona but not set on that.

I'm not at all interested in a group or tour or race, just wanting a vacation with cool running trails.

Any ideas?

A very hot & humid, afternoon run this afternoon, but the scenery helped to take my mind off it.

(28° in Somerset, UK)

Impossibly idyllic

I’m 5’7” and 78kg, I’d like to lose weight and get down to 70kg. I’ve had injuries in the last form running that have put me out from running for 7 months which makes me cautious about. I want to lose weight safely whilst maintaining my mileage (30 miles a week) ideally I’d like to increase mileage and I introduced some interval and tempo workouts to improve my pace. Does anyone have any experience of losing around 6kg whilst making progress. Should I just maintain and run a mild calorie deficit and reap the improvements from weight loss or is it possible to add some intensity at the same time?