In 2013, finished the California International Marathon in 2:18:29. It was the second-fastest race of his life, but still 30 seconds shy of the Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier he’d been chasing.

“I walked away disappointed, full of self-doubt, and depressed,” says Tollefson, an exercise physiologist and physical therapist based in Mammoth Lakes, California. “I was losing joy in a sport that is a huge part of who I am. I needed to reinvest in my passion for running and liberate myself from concern with mile splits or overall time.”

So last September, Tollefson entered the in Bend, Oregon—his first trail 50K. He figured his tried-and-true marathon fueling strategy would suffice for the 31-mile endeavor. What he neglected to consider was that on a challenging trail, five miles can take twice as long to cover as it does on the roads.

The oversight cost him. At mile 24, Tollefson’s energy tanked. “As my body began failing, I found it increasingly hard to navigate any technical portions of the course,” he recalls. By mile 28, the bonk crescendoed. Tollefson caught his foot on a root and face-planted into a pile of rocks.

Tollefson went on to win the race and set the course record in 3:24—but he also discovered what so many people do when they take their running off-road: Trails make a totally different set of demands on your muscles, your mind, and your stomach. No matter how fit or fast you are, you have to prepare for the specific rigors of the trail.

Below, pros share their tips for moving a race off-road—while keeping your limbs, tendons, and ego in tact.

Pre-Run the Course

No one is born knowing how to negotiate rocks, roots, mud, ice, and gnarly climbs. That’s why you have to practice running on the same terrain you’ll face on race day, and ideally run the race course, says , a Flagstaff-based ultrarunning coach with McMillan Running. If you can’t run the actual course, find a trail that mimics the elevation changes and technical terrain. No trails near you? Get creative. Run dirt hills, golf courses, office parks, or moguls. “Anyplace where you can get off the concrete and get off the even running surface will do,” he says.

Learn to Pace Without Gizmos

Measuring pace will be of limited use on the trails. You may lose your GPS signal. The number of minutes it takes you to cover each mile varies according to how technical the terrain is and whether you’re running uphill or down. Instead, listen to your body to determine how hard you’re working and to judge whether your speed is sustainable or if you need to slow down.

Train Your Gut

No matter how fast or fit you are, GI distress can derail you. If you underestimate your fueling needs or can’t take in the fuel you need to sustain your energy, you will hit the wall. Test different flavors, brands, and varieties of foods and drinks to figure out what gives you a boost without upsetting your stomach. If you’ll be out longer than you’ve been before, you may need to eat more on the road than you’re used to. That takes practice. And get used to fueling by minutes, not miles, advises Mike Smith, a 2:19 marathoner who is also a three-time winner of the 120-mile TransRockies Run stage race. Four miles on the roads can take you 40 minutes. On a gnarly trail, it might take you two hours. If you wait to fuel until you see a mile marker, you could already be running on empty.

Find a Comfy Pack

Get used to carrying more fluids and food on your person. Test out hydration vests, fuel belts, and handheld bottles before your race to figure out what feels most comfortable. “People who run on the roads are reluctant to carry things,” says Torrence, a 2:42 marathoner who has finished more than 180 ultramarathons. “Whatever weight and inconvenience it’s causing, in the end, the payoff is worth it by tenfold.”

Expect to Be Sore

Anytime you change anything, you have to give the body a chance to catch up. Transition to the trails gradually, advises Smith, who coaches women’s cross-country at Georgetown University. Trail running uses a lot of muscles in the feet, lower legs, hips, and glutes that don’t get worked on the road. Don’t be surprised if at first “you’re a little more sore in places you didn’t know could be sore,” Smith says. “Each step is different on the trails, in terms of the angles, impact, and force. The body is going to definitely feel that.”

Stop Neglecting Strength Training

To prepare for the trail, do exercises that work one leg at a time to become equally strong on both sides of the body. “With uneven terrain, those weaknesses on one side really come into play,” says Torrence. Drills where you’re barefoot on the grass, balancing on one foot, can help strengthen the tendons, ligaments, heels, toes, and arches, says Smith. Try this: Stand barefoot in the grass, balancing on one foot. Have someone toss you a medicine ball from high, low, left, and right angles. Do three sets, spending 30 seconds on each leg.

Watch Your Form

When you’re going uphill, lean slightly into the hill and drive with the legs. Pump your arms. Going downhill, take short quick steps and keep your body perpendicular to the surface. Don’t lean back, stick your feet in front of you, and brake with the legs. Stay upright and keep your feet under you, says Torrence.

Get Boy Scout Safe

Learn how to read topography maps, and study the area where you’ll be running before you go. If you’re uncomfortable training or racing on your own, buddy up. If you can get a cell signal, bring your phone. On training runs, tell someone where you’re going before you leave. Start with out-and-backs, and make note of any turns you take at intersections.

Let Go of Splits

Racing on the roads, the clock always looms. If you miss your mile splits, “you may freak out, knowing that every second counts,” says Tollefson. On the trails, where success is defined more by survival and overall place, not overall time and mile splits, “you learn to focus more on the terrain ahead and your nutritional plan.” For Tollefson, the difference has been liberating: “It allows me to do more of what I love with less stress.”

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When Nick Symmonds won silver at the 2013 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he immediately started eyeing his next conquest: the World Indoor Championships. “As soon as I crossed that finish line, I wanted more,” says Symmonds, an 800-meter specialist. “I was coming off a season where I was ranked second in the world. I hadn't been injured for five years. I had this huge burst of confidence. And I had this idea that I was invincible.”

He kept hammering through workouts, despite aches, pains, and urgings from his coach to take a break. Then he broke. A small chunk of bone attached to a tendon started pulling away from the bone in his left knee; Symmonds was sidelined for three months with an avulsion fracture. “I was so set on accomplishing my goal,” says Symmonds, who's based in Seattle and Los Angeles, “that I basically broke my body.”

The track star learned a painful truth in a painful way: sometimes the more-better-faster model can get you hurt. “We're always thinking about the next thing to shoot for,” says Steve Magness, a Houston-based coach and exercise physiologist and author of . “But for the sake of your long-term success and enjoyment, you've got to find a balance of other goals.”

There's no doubt that goals are good. They breed elites like Symmonds, and they make us Boston qualifiers and Ironmen instead of just half-hearted gym rats. Goals make us extract the best from ourselves, pull us out of bed at 4 a.m. for speedwork, and push us out the door to slog 20 miles in weather that most people won't drive in. But gunning for new PRs season after season can backfire in a big way. 

“If you keep pushing and grinding, it's eventually going to catch up,” says Magness. “There's a diminishing return. How many times do you run a personal best? Or a new race distance?”

Think if you were graded at work on a daily basis. “You wouldn't reach your maximum potential every single day,” says Magness. “It's just the nature of performance.”

We love the thrill of striving to be our best. But if we don't choose our goals wisely, we could face burnout that leaves us unmotivated to work out and eat right—or even worse, injured like Symmonds. In other words, inappropriate goals can take us out of the game. Here's how to ensure your athletic drive endures.

Get SMART

Effective goals must be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely—a concept sports psychologists convey in a tidy concept called “SMART.” A few examples: finishing your first 50K, breaking 20 minutes in a 5K, or qualifying for Boston. Setting a blasĂ© goal of getting in shape, losing weight, or even just getting faster won't give you the framework you need to shape your workouts. “Those sound like goals, but they're really not,” says , a Boulder-based coach and exercise physiologist. “And they're just not enough to keep you motivated.” As a result you could end up at the starting line undertrained, overweight, and totally burnt out. “You end up in a funk,” he says.

Embrace the Process

“It's easy to get engrossed with always grading and judging yourself based on numbers,” says Magness. “But often if you take care of the process [like nailing your pacing, fueling, and hydration strategies], the outcome goals [like a desired race time] take care of themselves. And you learn to enjoy the process.” Symmonds does this by focusing on immediate, intermediate, and long-term goals that feed on one another, like hitting daily workout paces or completing high-mileage weeks. “Breaking it down into more manageable chunks makes it seem less overwhelming,” Symmonds says.

Listen to Your Body

As runners we're used to pushing through discomfort. We welcome aches as reminders of workouts where we pushed farther and faster. But it's critical to know which pains to work through, and which pains demand surrender. If a pain persists or worsens during the run, or causes you to alter your gait, stop and rest. It may also be wise to see a doctor. 

“Compensating can cause other injuries,” says Magness. And watch for other signs that you might be breaking down. If the breezy 8:30-mile pace on your normal route suddenly drops to 9:00 and feels just as hard, it may be a sign that you're heading toward overtraining.

Don't Compare Yourself to Others

“Being a world-class athlete means being the very best that you can possibly be given where you are right now,” says , an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Toronto. “The reality is, we're all trying to do the very best we possibly can given our current life situation.”

Avoid comparing yourself with others who may have different set of responsibilities—no kids or more flexible work hours, for instance. “A lot of runners will get demoralized, hearing about some guy who's putting down 200-mile weeks, and figure 'I can't compete with that, why should I try?'” says St. Pierre. All you can do is give it all the time and energy you have, and be proud of whatever that amounts to. “But it can be tough to accept your limitations,” he says.

Don't Compare Yourself to…Yourself

Resist holding yourself to standards that your younger self may have achieved. Each of us has our own unique orthopedic threshold—how much volume and intensity our bodies can take before they start to break down. Those thresholds are highly individual, and determined by factors like genetics, biomechanics, and history of injury. And they can change with age. Even Symmonds knows that. “The things I could push through at 22 I can't push through at 30,” he said. “That's really frustrating. Every day I have to relearn the whole sport again.”

Think Beyond Medals

Not all goals have to be tied to races. And the ones that aren't might actually bring you a deeper sense of accomplishment. Case in point: After a disappointing Vermont 50-miler, St. Pierre scrapped the plan he had for a 100-miler, and challenged himself to run the 3.1 mile, 1,300-foot route of Mt. Sanitas as many times as he could in a 24-hour period. The feeling he got from dreaming up the challenge and making it happen ended his season on a high note. “It was a huge confidence booster,” he says. “It was as hard as most 100-milers and super fun, and it was a good indicator that I was in shape.”

Remember: You're Doing This for Fun

“Some people put so much pressure on themselves and it's almost like their self worth and life's meaning is tied to running a certain time,” says Magness. Often this comes when you latch on to whatever socially-accepted definition of success is in vogue—say, a sub-four first marathon—regardless of whether it fits your current level of fitness. Even if you do achieve your goal without destroying yourself, it doesn't always justify the anguish and sacrifice involved in getting there. “It creates this warped sense of reality,” says Magness. “You need to step back and decide where you're at as an individual.” 

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