Joe Gray’s Tips for the Trail

Joe Gray is on his way to becoming an XTERRA legend, right up there with Patrick Smythe and Max King. He is the reigning XTERRA Trail Run World Champ as well as a two-time World Champ after tying for first place in 2012 with Ben Bruce. In 2013, Gray was the runner up to Patrick Smythe.

In 2016, Gray was the World Mountain Running Champion and led Team USA to their first-ever Gold medal in Bulgaria at the World Mountain Running Championships.

Later this summer, Gray will be traveling to Europe to compete and will then shift his focus to prepare for XTERRA Worlds on Oahu on December 3rd. His favorite places to run are the trails in Norway, Switzerland, and in his home state of Colorado.

We recently caught up with Joe and asked him to share a few of the secrets to his success.

On Hills:
The best way to make hills easier is to familiarize yourself with the terrain similar to the course you plan to challenge yourself on.

If you don’t have big hills, getting outdoors is still better than a treadmill as you can develop the stability muscles necessary for trail running. “Nature’s Gym” will always provide you with what you need for trail races!

On Staying Relaxed:
Again, familiarizing yourself with the terrain you plan to challenge is key. If you are not used to extremely technical terrain, then you probably should avoid it for a race. Your level of comfort will be increased with intermittent exposure to the types of terrain you seek to race on.

Always check out the course ahead of time so that you know what you are getting yourself into. Nothing worse than toeing the line and finding out there is a long section of ridge line running when you are afraid of heights. So be smart and be prepared! 

On Shoes:
Many times we are faced with courses with differing levels of terrain, sometimes muddy, sometimes, rocky, and sometimes cinder-like ATV roads.

It’s important to make sure you test your shoe on the terrain on which you plan to race. Doing a workout or two with the shoe you plan to use will help you find out if its the perfect shoe for you.

Jumping into a brand new pair for a trail race can be a nightmare as you may get a surprise blister. Or perhaps you find that you needed a shoe with a rock plate for rocky terrain courses.

For me, I look for a shoe that is comfortable around the toe box. A shoe that allows the toes to splay is very important as this will allow the toes to provide added power output on the uphills as you dig into the terrain. It also allows for better toe grip on muddy courses, like Hawaii.

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