TRAIL RUNNING IS BEST OR ROAD RUNNING?

Trail running vs Road running which is best? well totally depends on you whether you like running on steeps or plain and even surfaces. If you like steep surfaces and bit of adventure then Trail running is for you and if you like even surface then you will suit road running.

We all know that the present atmosphere is being demolished and the environment is also becoming polluted day by day. In our day to day busy life, our body needs some refreshment. But in this un-natural atmosphere, we are not getting natural refreshment. In my opinion, many of us plan for a refreshing camp or a vacation. While these camps and vacations we go for morning walks or joggings to enjoy nature.

Are you aware of the benefits of Walking Barefoot: check this

Here in this article, I am giving my opinion about running on a trail is better or on the road. First of all, we should talk about the benefits of running.

We all know that running is a great way to get in shape.

The other benefits of running are mentioned below

• Running makes our body stronger and metabolizes to maintain a healthy body.
• Running improves our health. Research shows that running can raise the levels of cholesterol of our body and increases lung function and boosts our immune system and also improves the risk of developing blood clots.

• Running enhances our cardiovascular health, by creating a stronger heart and lowering our blood pressure

• Running improves hormones growth. Running plays an important role in enhancing the level of growth hormones, thus helping in the growth of an individual. And running is a good exercise to increase our height and it also increases our natural energy levels which keep us the whole day active and refreshed.
• Running can help to lower the risk of breast cancer for women. And also helpful for curing diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis, and reduces the risk of a heart attack. It makes our body capable of fighting against several serious diseases and infections.
• Running also enhances our mental health, and we feel the whole active and energetic. Running boosts our confidence levels and self-esteem.
• Running makes us more social. The people who go for runs daily tend to be active and energetic. This activeness makes people more communicable with society.
• Running eliminates depression. By running while depression after a few minutes of running, our brain will start secrete hormones that naturally improve our mood.

Running is incredibly beneficial to the body, mind, and spirit. We will find that even short runs can leave us feeling more energized, more focused and better and able to enjoy all that life as to offer.

Now let us come to the topic. What do you think, which is beneficial, trail running or road running?

Let us know the benefits of trail and road running –

• Trail running burns more calories than road running and builds strength and stamina due to uneven terrain. When you strengthen all of your core muscles, reduce your stress levels, and breathe in cleaner air, you can push harder in your workouts, you burn more calories. We know that the fact of the matter is that a person can burn 12% of calories while a trail run compared to a road run.
• Trail running offers us a chance to have micro-adventures that we cannot find in road runs. When you race in nature, you cannot help be notice the scenery.

• It also improves the quality of air that you are breathing into the lungs. We know that nowadays cities are becoming polluted as cars and machines choke greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Trail runs purify the air we breathe because of the trees and plants which purify the air.
• Trail runs are cleaner not only because they typically take place out of the city, but also because trees and plants purify the air. You will feel fresher and energized after a trail run than you would on a road run inside the city because you are taking a break from the pollution and taking in a cleaner, fresher air, even if it’s only for an hour or two.

• Trail running takes you to places that give us a refreshing mind and body. Recently studies have proved that urban city-dwelling life is more related to stress and high rates of anxiety and depression, and it is also proved that to remove this stress, anxiety, depression from our lives we should spend some time in nature which refreshes our body as well as our mind also.

• In some other ways, trail runs can improve our concentration. As our mind gets refreshed from stress, anxiety, and depression our mind can easily able to concentrate on work and situations every day.

• Trail runners tend to be more outdoorsy type compared to road runners, whereas road runners seem to be a competitive bunch.
• Trail runs can develop strong ankles. Trail running is a fantastic way to strengthen all of the muscles of the ankle because it requires using muscles that you never have to use when running across a flat surface like a road. Trail running can cure sore muscles, the reason that the road runs are not good for recovery is asphalt and concrete are stressful on our body. Each time when we step on the road, this sends a shock which leads to pain in muscles and ankles by increasing the risk of more injuries. 
• Trail running is the softer surface which allows us from much fewer downtime injuries. Our foot strike varies so much that the repetitive motion injuries are less frequent than on road surfaces.  

• As we know that running can improve our core muscles, the reason for this is we should maintain a proper, upright posture even when we are tired to ensure an optimal flow of oxygen. It helps us to power our lower body. Trail running not only strengthens your core but also makes you stable both on and off the trail.
• The greatest benefit of trail running is we will feel carefree feeling being away from traffic, cars, and vehicles in a quiet peaceful area. Because we will feel ourselves away from the city/town and find sometime peacefully with ourselves with any work pressure or any thoughts of the daily workload. This can make our mind more refreshing and relieved. And we will be carefree from the city/town traffic, noise and stress.

• Road running is the harder surface which can break down our muscles much quicker. Due to the hard surface of the road, if we accidentally fall, it can lead to our muscle injury and sometimes it may lead to some serious injuries which will a lot of time for recovery.

•  Running on roads is much more dangerous due to traffic, pollution of vehicles and noises of cars, bus horns which will never give us the refreshment to our mind from stress. Sometimes we get stuck in huge traffic and it will take a lot of time wasted and sometimes we should be more careful because of road accidents. Most of the time loud noises of horns of vehicles cause us headaches which will lead us unhealthy and moody throughout the day. 

• A positive of running on roads is, we get a much faster turnover pace per mile especially on flatter routes. We can jog 8 to 10 miles doing the workout in much less time compared to the trail running. When we have very little time for running then we can choose road running, as it takes us very little time for jogging near to our home or surroundings for a fit and active beginning of our day.

•  Trail running can take us to some beautiful areas and most peaceful areas which cannot be seen in road running. The views come to see in trail running can breathe taking and most refreshing, where we can forget the stress of our daily busy schedules and can enjoy the beauty of nature.

In conclusion, my opinion is both trails running and road running are beneficial. We should enjoy both mixing it up and we will get bored of just doing any one type of surface every day. But we will have a lot of fun doing trail runs which will take us to the places of beauty and peace that road can never offer us.

 Trail running is excellent therapy for removing all types of stress occurred in our life due to our daily workload. We should owe much to those trails that take us far away from the hurry-burry life, even if it is measured unevenly. Running every day can relieve us from all types of health issues both physically and also mentally. Whatever way one chooses but one should never quit running or jogging daily by taking some time out from the daily bust schedule. By which we can gain a much healthier and fit body. So we should take our time for running every day without fail to keep ourselves active and energetic throughout the day.

WHETHER ON TRAIL OR ROAD, KEEP RUNNING AND BE HEALTHY AND HAPPY.