Taking your training to the trails is my favorite way to train for a long season of hunting. Trail Running will prepare you if you do it right. I wanted to go over a little on how I like to approach a training session on the trails.
Not all trails are equal as we all know. There are the long straight lazy trails that someone in my area of the Midwest may be used to and then there are the Western and Eastern trails on and around mountains of different sizes. I haven’t had the pleasure of running a mountainous trail like out west or east, so I have to make do with ditches and ravines that we have here. So to increase the benefit I get out of a trail run, I incorporate interval style running. Interval Running is a mix of high intensity and rest. Normally you would run as hard as you can for a certain time and then walk some. A common segment would be sprint for 30 seconds, walk for 60 and repeat. So I will adapt this to trail running and try to maximize the trails to benefit my goals.
What are your goals? For me it’s everything. I want endurance, strength and of course burning a few pounds of fat is always a bonus. This style training will do it all.
In most people’s mind, they think endurance is running down the road for 20 miles. But coming from a hunter’s mindset, it’s how easy I can walk to my stand in the morning with all my gear or it’s how far I can drag that 200 pound deer up that hill. That’s what endurance means to me as a hunter. You throw added strength on top of that endurance, and you’re a deer dragging machine.
So, how do I attack these trails with all this in mind? I want to work these trails in a interval run that will boost my strength and endurance. Any of you older football fans will remember Walter Payton training on a steep rock pile. Well, this is the same mindset. I will run as hard as I can during the hardest parts of the trail and rest on the easy spots. I know that’s not what we really want to do. I would rather just walk up the hills and run on the easy stuff. But to get our best bang for the buck, this is the best way to trail run for hunting.
Why not train like the best so we can be the best. Be Like Sweetness
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