How to race/run down hills?

What race are you training for with steep downhills?

I'd just not worry about the workout on it and avoid risking injury.

The best technique is generally to lean forward slightly, increase your cadence (but don’t over stride) and let gravity do the work. This will take a lot of the stress away from the knees. Work with gravity not against it.

Just a guess, but maybe XC.

I think i am very good at down hills, but it's not just about using its about heing effiecent so that you fo down the hill and maintain momentum. Like the ither guy said increase cadence lean forward and keep your feet within you.

My highschool team would do these downhill 400s and they definitely helped with hill technique.

Might not work for everyone but I find that deliberately picking my heels up on a downhill is a great cue. It's easy to do and seems to result in instant acceleration and less braking forces when landing. (although I speak as somebody with generally terrible running form who finds this difficult to do on the flat)

Just let yourself go, and don't lean back.

Probably a good idea to destroy his legs for no reason in training attacking downhills, when at most he will face one downhill in an important championship that takes 0 IQ to figure out how to run fast on.

On a 5% downhill you can go about 10% faster than the flat. Unless you are training for a hilly race, there is no need to try to run fast down any hill steeper than that.

Just let 'er rip, zoom by everyone windmilling your arms and yelling aaahhhhhhh.

I agree with GreatDane. Let inertia do the work down hill. Swim with your arms.

I had read to increase your cadence on the uphill and decrease cadence on the downhill. The idea is that you want to have more "flight time" where both your feet are off the ground and so gravity is helping you more. I think I focus on push off more to try to help this.

I guess you could find out yourself by running a downhill stretch with a high cadence and then with a low cadence (comparatively speaking) and compare.

think about moving your arms faster and the legs will follow. Also dont worry about it.

If you have good balance, try and keep your torso perpendicular to the ground. If you lean backwards, which is the natural tendency, you're braking yourself.

For this reason, I've always speculated that it's easier for runners who run with higher cadences to run downhill faster, as they can rely on their feet to 'catch' them before they tumble over, and therefore, they just feel more comfortable leaning forward.