In all my years reading about runners and running, I’ve encountered only one or two articles about downhill training. This strikes me as very odd, because I consider it one of the best ways to get smoother and faster. It has worked well for me on many occasions.
To appreciate why, you must understand a much-overlooked fact about running. When we run, we fall from one foot to the next. This doesn’t happen with walking. Walkers skim along the road surface. When they put their front foot to the ground, it is straight. It has no bend to it.
Runners hop from foot to foot, bending their knees to absorb the impact of each stride, and then launching into the next stride. We spend about 60 percent of the time in flight, with both feet off the ground. After flying a modest distance through the air, we fall back to the ground.
The falling and bending allows us to develop maximum muscle power and tendon elasticity. These propel us upward and forward. They also make running a more efficient form of movement than walking at speeds above 4.5 miles per hour. If you don’t believe me, try walking a mile at a 12-minute pace someday. Running at a 12-minute pace is far easier.
Downhills add stress to your running because the downward slope lengthens your stride, boosts your speed, and increases the vertical drop from one foot strike to the next. Each time your front foot crashes back to the ground, you hit with two to three times more force than you would on the flat. Physiologists note that downhill running causes “eccentric” muscle contractions to cushion the force.
There’s good and bad to this. The bad is pain and soreness. The morning after the downhill Boston Marathon, the city is filled with runners walking backward to descend stairways. Their quadriceps muscles have been trashed by too many eccentric contractions over the 26-mile trek.
The good is obviously that you can run faster on downhills. Also, through regular training on downhills, you can develop a smoother and faster running style. You’ll learn one of running’s most important skills—how to stay relaxed instead of tensing up as your speed increases. Many studies have also shown that such training diminishes the soreness from subsequent eccentric running and hard races.
Start on a short, modest slope: I always suggest that runners interested in downhill training begin on a smooth, grassy hill. The soft turf underneath will cushion your foot strike. Look for a hill that’s at least 70 to 80 yards long with a modest slope. Avoid steep downhills. Run down this hill at about your 1-mile race effort. Pick up speed gradually and decelerate gradually. Nothing abrupt. Don’t sprint or attempt to reach top speed. Concentrate on moving as smoothly and in as relaxed a way as you can.
Stay controlled, and let yourself flow downward with the slope. At your first downhill workout, do no more than four or five such accelerations. Walk and jog slowly back to your beginning point. If you don’t have access to a grassy downhill, pick a smooth asphalt road with even less downward slope.
Make haste slowly: For the next four to six weeks, do a similar workout, adding just one or two more downhill accelerations per week. You’ll feel that you could do more. After all, downhill running is easier than flat and uphill running.
Except that it’s not easy on your joints and muscles. So proceed cautiously. If you develop any unusual aches or pains, lay off the downhills until you are completely recovered.
Use efficient form: As you might imagine, optimal downhill running form is quite different from optimal uphill form. First, don’t pump with your arms. The downward slope and gravity will supply all the power you need.
Instead calm your arms, and use them mainly to balance your upper body. Don’t let them swing crazily back and forth. That’s wasted energy and momentum. You want to flow like a hoop rolling downward.
Don’t lift, reach, or extend with your legs. Unnecessary work. You’ll go plenty fast enough simply by “becoming one” with the slope. I use this mantra: “Put it down. Put it down. Put it down.” I’m referring to my front foot. Rather than trying to lengthen my stride, I put my front foot down as soon as possible. This leads to fast, flowing speed on downhills. I just coast along on the ride.