I use the Coros app because you can just do it directly on the app and then I’ve got a Coros watch so it goes straight there,” says Whyman-Davis (who is also a Coros ambassador). “On Strava you’ve got the Heatmaps so you can see where people have been, because sometimes you plan a route somewhere and if you haven’t got anything on the Heatmap, the trail doesn’t really exist. There is officially meant to be a path there, but it doesn’t exist. Heatmaps on Strava show you where people go frequently so you know it’s a good trail. But it also means it’ll be busier. That’s not always a good thing, sometimes it’s nice to get off the beaten track.
“A really good app if you’re trail running when you don’t often have signal—and one that has actually saved my life—is Footpath. It works offline and you can see where you are and where the trails are. My headtorch went out on the top of a fell in the middle of winter last year, and Footpath helped me off the side of a mountain when I had nothing else. Without it I wouldn’t have known how to get off.”
“It’s good to not to start too long or too technical with your route,” says Hegemann. “Start with some small routes and you can add to them afterwards if you feel good. I always plan my routes with the Suunto app and then I have them directly synced to my watch [Hegemann is also a Suunto ambassador], so I know how much elevation I have, and also from the Strava Heatmap I can see how many runners ran there in the last weeks or months, so I know about the snow and mud conditions.