How to make the switch from road running to Hong Kong’s challenging trails
Experienced trail runners offer advice on the best ways to train and compete for off-road events, emphasising it’s better to focus on climbing and descending hills, rather than putting in the hard yards on the flat
Trail running has exploded in popularity in Hong Kong in recent years. If you wanted to try the sport, how would you begin?
The Post spoke to top overseas and local runners who have made the switch from road running to trail running. Here are seven factors to consider before lacing up for your first off-road event.
“One of the biggest things is just getting out on the trails and practising the hills,” says Sage Canaday, an elite US trail runner who came third at the Vibram Hong Kong 100km trail race in January. “Trail races involve thousands of metres of up and down, whereas road races are pretty flat. On the road, for example, 10 miles [16km] might go pretty fast but on trails it could take hours to cover that distance.”
Canaday, 31, began racing track events in middle school and has a road marathon (42.2km) personal best of two hours 16 minutes – just four minutes slower than the winning time of the 2016 Hong Kong Marathon and five minutes faster than the fastest time ever run by a Hong Kong man. Canaday started competing in trail running and ultra marathons in 2012 and won the US Mountain Running Championships that year.
