We all remember our first race or favorite adventure, but what about the first time you added poles into the mix? Below, LEKI athlete Sabrina Stanley shares her story of when she started running and training with poles and why it has been a game changer for her.
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I started running with poles consistently when I began training for a mountainous 100-miler in the summer of 2018. I knew I would be using poles for the entirety of the race, so I ran with poles during all my training miles. This helped get my upper body familiar with the additional load it would be taking on while climbing and descending. It also taught me how to use the poles efficiently.
My “Ah-Ha” moment came when I was studying the most competitive runners in the world at races that piqued my interest. These runners were all using poles. To be competitive I knew I had to learn how to use poles to assist in my running if I wanted to run at the same level as the top athletes.
Poles take some of the load off a runner’s legs while going up and downhill. This transfer of power to the upper body allows a runner to conserve their legs for a longer period.
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I used poles running in the mountains of New Mexico – I borrowed (read: stole) them from my husband to take on a 14-mile loop with 3k elevation. I had always been a pole naysayer in the past. I am happy to report I was wrong to dismiss them! My knees thanked me for using the poles on rocky descents and would thank LEKI too if I could get a pair of my own!
Had a friend once describe using poles as putting your body into 4×4 mode, it’s stuck with me ever since. Generally, not much of a pole user, but when conditions call for it (steepness, muddiness, sketchy footing), they’re always at the ready.
My ah-ha moment about the importance of poles was the first time I ran the Grand Canyon rim2rim2rim. I realized poles not only help with climbing but also descending on the steep downhills especially when there’s steps and drops. Without poles on that run I would have been slower and much more sore afterwards. Now I love poles on long hilly adventure runs!
My first two times using poles was disastrous! The first was at mile 33 of my first 50 miler: my crew could tell I was getting tired so they gave me poles. I swear I moved slower with them than without! The second time was during my 2nd 50 miler, when my crew gave me poles around mile 8. I couldn’t get them unfolded into position, so I ended up abandoning them on the side of the trail!
Despite those terrible experiences, I started training with them and found that I love them! I use them on all my ultras now. I find that they help on climbing, of course, but I also like them because they help me find rhythm by tapping them on the ground white I’m running.
I started using poles when I did an solo anti-racist charity walk, last June (https://gofund.me/0e194a55). I knew nothing about ultras or endurance trail running types at all. I just knew that I wanted to do my best for my donors and to be able to reflect and write clearly at the end of each day, ultimately hiking over 130 miles and raising past my goal. My dear friend and coach, an ultra runner herself, was the one who made sure I was prepared and that included the right poles. They were not merely tools that kept me safe and injury free, but also a source of stoke and fun: I’d film myself holding my poles and giving them two good stamps, before setting off and at the end of each’s day trek. That “clack-clack!” against the ground was a ritual that feels so real right now, as I type this.
I started using poles the first time I visited the San Juan mountains in Colorado to run the Hardrock 100 course over 4 days (commonly kown as Softrock).
I had previously run almost exclusively on the buttery California singletrack trails of the Bay Area and Sierra Foothills, so I foolishly believed that I did not need poles to get around the mountains. That first day in the San Juans, I crested Little Giant Ridge outside of Silverton, looked down into Cunningham Gulch, and wondered aloud “does this gulch have a bottom?” On that descent I began to understand why a runner would use poles. 4,000 ft of descent in under 2 miles, and my quads were tenderized more than they ever had been before.
For the second day I obtained a pair of poles. Those huge climbs and descents were both much easier – especially the descents. It took a bit of time to get used to them, but now I don’t visit big mountain terrain without poles.
Still a pole newbie. Planning to buy my first pair next month to train for my first 100. My reason for wanting poles is for extra stability and fall prevention during the night portions of the race.
Although I’ve been running trails for about 60 years, my only experience with running with poles was a number of years ago when I was recovering from my first knee surgery. I tried running with my fiberglass nordic ski poles, and found that that did seem to protect the knee somewhat, but the poles were too heavy, too long, too flexible, and just plain too ungainly for me to want to continue using them for very long. Since then, I ran with a cane for awhile after I had knee replacement, which helped enough to make me interested to try trail-running poles, but (once the knee got strong enough for me to run without the cane), I never pursued the idea, although I remain intrigued with the idea, and would like to give it a try.
My first memory of using trekking poles is when I upgraded my random walking stick to poles to help with the downhills. Definitely helps my troubled knee.
I started using poles when pushing on my legs just didn’t cut it. You don’t realize how much of a workout your shoulders and back can get if you use poles to climb which makes them not only a great way to move faster but also a good workout tool.