How to run downhill

Often we hit a downhill soon after a climb of some sort, so people tend to use it as an opportunity to recover, allowing their heart rate to drop and to catch their breath. Generally speaking, unless you’re really struggling at this point or running purely for fun, I’d say easing off is a big mistake.

When we run uphill, we either lose speed or have to exert ourselves more to maintain the same speed. Downhill is an opportunity to regain some of that lost time from climbing and the increase in leg speed can be just what you need after a slog up a steep gradient where you perhaps end up shuffling the final steps.

I’d encourage you to push your effort here still, not working harder than on a flat section or easier. You can get the benefit of gravity here by just adapting your technique for the terrain.

Stay upright but don’t lean back. Leaning back Is one of the most common errors and has a whole host of issues. You’ll heel strike and decelerate, making the section you should be fast on that bit slower. You’re also more likely to slip here as you have no ability to grip with your heel which can easily slide in front of you if you hit a patch of mud, ice or you’re running on wet ground.

Push your hips forward. This encourages the upright posture we want and gets your glutes involved to push you down the hill with ease. Your quads will take less of a battering here too, which for particularly hilly or long races, will pay dividend in getting you to the finish faster.

Lift your feet. You’ll possibly want to shuffle and take lots of small steps, and sometimes this will be necessary for safety in bad conditions, but generally you’re best served by lifting your heels up high just like I encourage on flat sections. A higher heel lift means more time off the floor which is nearly always helpful in running anyway, but imagine the extra benefit when you do this travelling downhill. Your stride length becomes enormous with a similar cadence, meaning you fly down the hill. You’ll likely also land more on your mid-foot which will be more energy efficient.