 Okay 10 things you need to know about trail running coming up. Number one watch your footing. Far more important than when you're running on the road or when you're running on the track is to watch your footing very carefully. When you're running on technical trail when you're running downhill particularly like this and you've got loose stones and rock or branches, roots you need to be careful where you place your foot so you don't turn your ankle so you don't fall and get badly injured or hurt. Number two you'll often hear it said about trail running that you should run the flat and the downhill sections and walk the uphill sections but that is not necessarily how it has to be. Sometimes the downhills like that one back there are too steep to run down and sometimes it does you good to try and run the uphills. Number three when trail running never let an opportunity pass you by and when you see a beautiful place enjoy it to its fullest. This is Lullworth Cove and Lullworth Cove is one of the most beautiful spots on the southwest coast path and the water is still freezing cold but when you've just run 14k it's fine. Number four be prepared. You never know what the trails are going to throw at you. You never know exactly what the weather conditions are going to be like so try and prepare as much as you can in terms of your clothing your footwear the gear you want to take with you. Obviously are you going to be running at night? Do you need a flash light a head torch? Are you going to be running in muddy conditions? Do you need trail shoes with deep lugs or is it going to be dry so you could almost get away with wearing your road shoes? Do you need to carry water? Do you need a backpack? Is there anything else you need to carry? A map compass are you wearing clothing that will keep you either warm or cool? Do you have a spare layer that you need to take? Will you need to take a waterproof jacket? Have you got enough nutrition to last you the run? Have you got adequate hydration water or some other drink that you either carry with you or if you've got money that you need to take with you to buy something en route make sure you're prepared when you go out on the trails. Number five you see a lot about something called the country code and it's basically respect for the environment so when you're running on the trails in a countryside don't drop litter please close gates behind you don't frighten or harass the animals the wildlife and basically look after the place that you're running so others can enjoy it after you've been there. It's quite simple it's not hard but sometimes all too often you see discarded gel wrappers on the floor I've seen some today so it's just a case of being aware of where you're running noting that it's beautiful it's free it's open so you don't want to annoy farmers who might restrict your access to land or destroy the land so it can't be used so number five take care of your environment number six navigation now it may be true that a lot of the fun of trail running is exploring new places and finding routes you didn't know before but a lot of the time it's very sensible to have a route planned out beforehand or a map or a watch with the GPS route on it depending on where you're going depending on how dangerous the route is you want to know that you're safe you want to know that you're going to get where you want to go you want to know that you're not going to be left stranded either in the dark or somewhere where the tide has come in and you can't get past so please be aware when you go out on the trails try and make sure you've got a route planned and that somebody knows where you are and where you're going number seven downhill running relax you will bust your quads up if you tense up when you're running downhill as much as you can relax your shoulders relax your leg muscles and let gravity bring you down it's very easy to tense up especially when it gets quite steep and if you don't want to go fast then maybe take shorter strides but if you're going to go at a bit of a pace then just relax take longer strides bounce down the hill and let gravity take you keep watching out in front of you and down the steps bounce down the steps putting your toes towards the edge of the step so as not to trip on the lip of the step number eight let's talk about nutrition and hydration often discussed much controversy surrounding it if you're looking to run long distances you might want to look into running some of your training runs on empty you don't need to take lots of food with you don't take any food with you especially if it's not a long run you know anything around 10 to 20 kilometers you maybe you don't need any food at all I often just go out with just a cup of coffee inside me no breakfast and what I think is that teaches your body to burn fat more efficiently which means you need to use fewer gels or sugary drinks in order to give yourself energy to run it may not work for you but a lot of the gastric problems in ultra running in long distance running are caused by too much sugar intake overload of coke or gels hi guys and I think if you can cut down on that then all the better and with hydration a lot of people think you know you've got to keep drinking all the time well you don't have to keep drinking all the time drink if you thirsty but it's perfectly okay to finish a long run a bit dehydrated as long as you hydrate yourself well afterwards and there's no evidence to suggest as far as I'm aware that running slightly dehydrated affects your performance so drink to thirst don't listen to somebody who tells you to drink so many mills per half hour or whatever just drink when you're thirsty and I'm coming up to a tap right now which is very fortunate number nine even the most stunning beautiful roots can become mundane and tedious at times so when you run on the trails I guess this applies to any running as well really explore new roots you know go to different places find new adventures find new trails find interesting places enter races that you never thought you'd enter in places you've never thought you'd go explore broaden your horizons you'll be a richer person for it you'll have a richer fuller running experience and you get to see some places you never imagined you'd see number 10 trail running should be a mix of hard work and enjoyment and both of those should be maxed out so maximum effort whether it's the distance you cover the time you are on your feet how high you get your heart rate or your average pace per minute that should be your hard effort and you should enjoy yourself as much as possible so look around you look at the scenery enjoy it enjoy the weather whether it's raining whether it's sun shining hi there don't be a grump say a lot of people smile above all have fun on your trail run be grateful for the places you get to run and be happy because that's what it's all about and there we are we're at the end of 29 kilometers about 19 miles of trail running on some of Britain's best coastal path