Last Wednesday the club welcomed England Athletics coach and Mounts Bay Harrier Viv Matthews into the fold. Viv was here to give us a session on running downhill, following a previous one on uphill technique.  It was very informative with everyone feeling the benefits pretty quickly. Here’s a recap written by Viv.

Downhill running technique

Running downhill is hard and runners must use a large amount of energy in order to achieve this task effectively. A point to consider is the importance of the awareness of safety measures to take while running downhill. It is downhill running that invariably lead to injuries and accidents. Many runners who are not careful while running downhill frequently develop injuries relating to knee pain or perhaps shin splints, to identify a couple.

Runners underestimate downhill running, they have preconceived thoughts tending to be: running downhill doesn’t present much of a challenge as they are easy to resolve and can increase their pace. Downhill running can leave your running muscles pretty stressed out.

A question runners should ask is “what is it that causes so much stress in muscles when running downhill? “

Running downhill requires the muscles to lengthen, encouraging eccentric muscle contractions; this in turn causes minuscule tears in the muscle fibres, also downhill running generates more force than when you’re running uphill or on flat ground. With the incline it becomes easy to hit top speed on a steep descent resulting in faster movement, therefore making each foot strike hit the ground harder causing the increased hammering the muscles have to endure.

Therefore it is important a good running technique is maintained.

5 key points to observe when running down hill

1. Active foot adding force where required and active recovery of rear leg.
   Running on an incline will encourage stride turnover to increase automatically. It is important keeping the feet on the ground by trying to be as light footed as possible.
2. Arms active and used for balance.
   It is important to use the arms as part of the running technique, whereas before the arms are used to drive the body in this instance good balance is essential particularly when off road terrain is involved.
3. Upright or leaning slightly forward.
   When running downhill runners should avoid leaning back, there is the temptation to attempt braking by using this body position, putting additional strain on the quadriceps muscles. Allow gravity pull you downwards in a controlled manner and avoid breaking from the waist.
4. Controlled.
   There is at times a temptation to take longer strides therefore over-striding, this is likely to cause more stress on the quadriceps muscles with damage manifesting itself later on.
5. Hips high.
   Leaning in very slightly from the hips, ensuring the back is straight and not hunched over. The runner should look straight ahead, as they run (not at their feet) and ensure their neck, shoulders and arms are free of tension.

Finally, it is highly recommended to carry out strength training to prepare the legs to handle the strain that they will have to endure when running downhill.

Viv Matthew, April 2012