When roadrunners make the move to trail running they may discover their pace slows over comparable distances. In this post, we explore trail running vs road running times to explore why such pace changes may occur.
When comparing trail running vs road running times the overall pace of trail running will be slower. Trail running’s less consistent surfaces, hilly terrain, and narrow single track paths will produce slower mile-splits. While every runner is different, runners should expect an average per mile slowdown of about 60 seconds per mile when on the trails.
This post covers why there are time differences between trail and road running. We also compare a handful of trail and road race paces to provide real-world examples of how actual per mile paces vary.