The majority of trail events include a lot of downhill
Most people focus on running uphill and forget to include downhill training in their event preparation
All the uphill training in the world won’t help you on race day if your legs are “cooked” before you even reach the first climb!
Running downhill efficiently requires:
- Confidence
- Technique
- Strength
CONFIDENCE
A lot of people get nervous when they run downhills. Nervous that it will make their knees sore, nervous that they might roll an ankle, and nervous because they are outside their comfort zone due to running at a much faster pace than normal.
HOW MANY OF YOU DO UPHILL REPS AS PART OF YOUR TRAINING?
Uphill reps are a great way to make any runner stronger and faster. When you are training for a trail event, uphill reps will help to strengthen your glutes, hamstrings and calf muscles and, over time, will turn you into a stronger, more efficient runner.
HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE EVER PRACTISED DOWNHILL REPS?
Doing Downhill reps is so rare that is actually sounds a bit stupid. Why waste your time running fast downhill when you could be making yourself stronger by running more uphills?
Why? – because if you can’t run downhills confidently, you’ll never reach your true potential.
The best way to gain more confidence running downhills is to practice running downhills. But, make sure you start with an easy session and gradually build up over a number of weeks.
An example of a downhill training session to start with is to run some “UpDown Reps”
- Warm up with 10 minutes of easy aerobic running
- Find a 1km section of road or fire trail which is consistently undulating. Ideally on relatively gentle inclines of 5 to 8 degrees. Aim to run this 1km section 2 -3 times at a “steady” effort. By “steady” I mean the sort of effort you would put in if you were trying to get a 10km PB. But definitely not sprinting.
- Between reps you can jog slowly or walk for 2 -3 minutes, then do the next rep in the opposite direction.
- After the reps cool down again with another 10-15 minutes of easy running.
Don’t worry about your pace during these reps, just focus on the level of effort. Your pace will be vary significantly depending on whether you are running uphill or down.
Expect to pull up a bit sore from your first 2 or 3 of these sessions. Especially in your quad muscles, but possibly also with slightly niggly knees. When you run downhills you use your quad muscles as a brake, which causes micro tears in the muscle cells, which in turn, causes DOMs (delayed onset of muscle soreness). After two or three downhill rep sessions, you’ll find that your legs will feel fine, and that you can gradually step the sessions up a notch.
The way to progress these UpDown rep sessions would be either to do more reps, or to do them at a slightly faster pace. But be careful not to increase both of these things at the same time or you might end up injured.
If you practice these updown reps once a week, over several weeks your legs will get stronger and your confidence will improve.
TECHNIQUE
One of the easiest and fastest ways to improve your downhill running is to improve your technique. Just like running on the flat, when you run downhill you should be taking small steps and keeping your cadence high.
When you run downhill gravity is doing a lot of the work for you, so it doesn’t put much stress on your heart and lungs. Because of this, it is easy to inadvertently overstride when you speed up. If you keep your strides short and increase your cadence it will help to save your quads and knees from injury.
If you are already struggling with an injury, we recommend following this Return To Running Guide. Once your injury has been properly diagnosed by a healthcare professional.
WHAT SHOULD YOUR CADENCE BE WHEN RUNNING DOWN A HILL?
I am a firm believer that we should all run with a cadence of between 175 – 185 steps/minute. A cadence of less than 175 puts more stress on your calf muscles and achilles tendons.
A cadence of higher than 185 puts more stress on your heart and lungs without there being any additional benefit in terms of reducing your stride length or improving your calf muscle efficiency.
When you run downhills and gravity is working with you, your heart and lungs don’t have to work very hard, so it is ok to let your cadence increase (even up to 200 steps/minute) if it helps to keep your stride short. It all comes down to how fast you want to be running.
If you are happy “cruising” down a hill at a comfortable pace, then a cadence of 180 and a short stride is perfect.
If you are racing down a hill at the edge of your comfort zone, then a cadence of 200 and a short stride, is preferable to a cadence of 180 and a long stride.
STRENGTH
The final piece in the puzzle of becoming a fast downhill runner is to have strong quads. As I said earlier, your quads work like brakes when you run downhills, to stop you from going too fast and falling over.
Running downhill is the best way to make your quads stronger, but there are some exercises you can do which will also help to strengthen your quads.
For Strength Training we recommend the 10 min Essential Core Workout for Runners and the 10 minute Kettlebell workout.
Watch this video for some strength training ideas:
Good luck with your training. Better yet, check out our full range of training programs available at The Locker Room
Email us if you have any specific training questions on bookings@thebodymechanic.com.au
If you live in or near Sydney or in The Blue Mountains, and you would like some help with your hill running technique, then you can book in to see us for a specific uphill and downhill running assessment.
