Running in slippery mud? Flailing all over the place to stay upright? Not only is not flailing more stylish, but it also saves a ton of energy. Here are some ideas I’ve learned from personal experience:
- Stay balanced over your center of gravity. For me, and probably for most people, this means leaning forward a little bit more than you usually do while running. I know it’s good running form to do this all the time. What can I say? I don’t. I feel more comfortable letting my feet run ahead of me a little, usually. It doesn’t work when it’s slick, though. This is what causes flailing. If you’re balanced over your center of gravity and your foot slides, it doesn’t matter. Your whole body slides along with your foot. You’re mud skating. If you’re not balanced, then your boot squirts out ahead of you, causing your legs to go one way while the rest of your body goes another.
- Small, quick steps. This helps achieve goal number one. The smaller your steps, the less time there is during your stride where you might be out of balance.
- Just run through it. When navigating a muddy stretch of trail, it’s tempting to try to pick out a drier path. And that does work, if such a path exists. Often it doesn’t, though, and that less-puddly looking area that you alter your cadence and weave around to try to plant a shoe on is actually just as muddy as the rest of it. Meanwhile, all the weaving and dodging is tiring you out. Worse yet, altering your stride has put you out of balance. Forget it. If there’s a lot of mud, just run a straight line through it.
