Trail Hills

While "trail" hills may be steeper than "road" hills, and the footing generally more uneven, a hill is a hill. With respect to form:

• Uphills: take quick, short steps to keep your feet under your center of gravity (this give you more power). Stay light on your feet, and lean into the hill (without bending at the hips). You can swing your arms for added momentum, but make sure to keep your shoulders relaxed.
• Downhills: fight the urge to lean back, as this puts a lot of stress on your muscles, joints, etc. Instead, lean forward slightly (without bending your hips), shorten your stride, and increase your cadence. "Air plane" your arms for extra balance.

Ok, so one morning I decided to "practice" this on an easy run. I got to my first hill, and really concentrated on increasing my cadence and keeping my feet under me. Halfway up the hill, when my legs normally start to hurt, I felt fine... and, at the top of the hill when I'm normally cursing the construction at Lake Johnson, I was smiling. I felt ok, in fact so ok that I was nearly skipping. I was so amazed that this minor form tweak had produced such unexpectedly awesome results that I almost forgot to avoid the person running at me in the opposite direction. Later, on the way back down the hill, I felt myself leaning backwards. "Wait," I thought, "Trail Running Magazine specifically told me not to do this." So, I leaned slightly forward, increased my cadence again... and I flew down the hill just like an airplane (I even stuck out my arms just for fun at the end, which again earned me a weird look). I was so excited... learn something new every day I guess... wait, two new things... it's like double-end-of-the-bread day!

For the rest of the run, I began thinking about the biomechanics of all this (yup, I'm a dork, and the following is pretty much unedited because I wrote it as soon as I got back so I wouldn't forget). By leaning backwards on the downhill, I was landing with my leg basically straight out in front of me, which is simply awful for shock absorption. What was I thinking... my leg is not a pole vaulting pole... my joints aren't made of fiberglass and carbon fiber?!? Silly me, I should have been landing on a slightly bent knee, which is much better for absorbing shock and allowing you to spring forward into your next step. And the uphills... so I know that I'm not a good hill runner, and tend to watch people as I fall further and further behind that I think are. I have never been able to quite put my finger on the difference. I had heard people say to shorten your stride and lean into the hill, and I thought I pretty well had. Now, I realized what I was missing... the increased cadence! Duh... if you shorten your stride, but go the same pace, you're going to go slower. Wow, it took me this long to realize that?!? And, if nothing else, working on increasing my cadence served to distract me from the fact that I was running uphill because I was trying to count steps. So friends, try it!

... you would think with all of this discovering and theorizing that I had run a 20-miler or something instead of the 3ish that I did!