Downhill Running

I have run several technical trail races in the Upper Midwest now, and at each of them, other runners have said the same thing:

“I don’t know how you take the downhills that fast.” 

After getting an explicit question on this on my last post about Zumbro, I got to thinking more about it. There are any number of lists at tips out there about downhill running. Indeed, any trail running book you pick up will probably have tips on how to run downhill. Hal Koerner’s “Field Guide to Ultrarunning” has a number of good tips. I want to take a different tactic here. 

Downhills are inherently important in any trail race with significant elevation change. In fact, recent research on ultramarathons suggests that the muscles in downhill running are the ones that are the most affected by an ultra. I myself have found that, while I’m an average uphiller in Minnesota, I am considered an excellent downhiller, often making up  more time on the downhill than I lose to other runners on the uphill.     

So here are my tips: 

1. Practice: this should be self-explanatory. If you want to get good at running downhills, run downhill. While I lived in Colorado, this was unavoidable. A general run consisted of running up a mountain, then back down it. Longer runs included more mountains. Here in Minnesota, I have to be a bit more deliberate about it. I have found a few courses in the Twin Cities area that feature longish hills. Rather than simply do hill repeats up a hill, I’ll do them up and down. This either results in a tempo run, or running for a rest break at the top or bottom before doing another up/down or down/up repeat. If nothing else, do this. 
2. Look ahead: focus on a spot a few meters ahead of you. Don’t worry so much about the ground right in front of your feet. Look farther ahead, and route yourself accordingly. After some practice, you will get to the point where your legs and feet naturally adapt to the terrain they hit. Trust them, and let them.
3. Relax: many people tense up on the downhills. This just makes it harder to react to the terrain, and takes more effort than staying relaxed. Staying relaxed also makes it much less likely that you will injure yourself if you do take the fall. 
4. Flow: when I get into a good groove on the downhill, I like to compare it to a dance. It’s a great feeling, with your feet just barely touching the ground, dancing across rocks that shift under your feet and flying over gaps. I’m not alone in this: Kilian Jornet says the same thing. 
5. Enjoy : learn to love the downhills. As I said above, there’s nothing as much fun (to me) as flying smoothly down rough terrain, and the accompanying gasps from the people you past. 

If you get the chance, look up some of the great downhillers. Kilian and Anton Krupicka are both excellent. For a time, there was a clip of Kilian going down Grand Swamp Pass during his Hardrock performance last year that was an astounding example of all the above. Here are a couple examples: 

This is a bit shaky, since Kilian is holding the camera. But from 4:20 on you get a bit of an idea.

Here's one at the Pikes Peak Marathon. I was actually in this race, though Kilian was far ahead of me. I ended up in 59th place, rather disappointed since my training partners had come in 9th and 19th, but I did the best I could on that day.