We all fall sometimes. It’s ok, it’s not embarrassing. Just like anything in life, it’s all about how you do it. If you are trail running, then you look cool falling because you are extreme. If you are running on the road, then you look cool falling because you are obviously exhausted and have pushed yourself to the limit. So now that your ego feels better, here’s some tips to keep the rest of your body from getting hurt by a fall.
1. Watch Yourself Falling: When you are going down on a trail run there is nothing you can do to stop the fall safely. It is usually best not to try to grab on to anything to stop your fall. Instead, look at the terrain you are falling on. Make sure there is nothing dangerous like roots at your head or rocks near your knees where you will land. Lean your body so you will hit the ground in the safest place possible.
2. Prepare for Impact: Our instincts are to put our arms straight out in front of us to try to catch our fall. Try not to do this. When your arms are extended they will take the brunt of the impact. Instead, bring your arms close to your chest with your palms facing out. Your hands will be the first thing to touch the ground, but because they are bent at the elbow, they will have a way to absorb the impact better.
3. Plan your Roll: Once you get your hands in position and are ready for impact, plan which way you want to roll. You need to quickly decide where is the safest place to roll with your momentum.
4. Roll: Impact first with the hand on the side of your body that you want to roll to. Use the second hand’s impact as a spring to propel you in the desired direction. You don’t need to push hard at all. Your momentum will do most of the work, you just need to give it some direction.
5. Get Up: There are some techniques to rolling back into a run but I’m not going to talk about that. The most important thing here to get back up. Stop resting and keep trail running!
Everyone has fallen or will eventually fall when running. Sorry, but it’s just math. All you can do is try to minimize the occurrences and mitigate the severity of the impact. Most of the time falls result in skinned knees or elbows but falls while running can be worse, like a sprained ankle or a broken wrist. Not to mention a busted ego. Sometimes that takes the longest to heal. It’s better than a busted face though. See. Way to stay positive.