downhill running

The benefit of a slight gradient is that you get more hip flexor extension than you could on a flat surface. Increasing the gradient requires more balance and this is counter productive. Remember, it is the hip flexor extension that helps you get faster and the the absolute speed that you could generate on a steeper gradient. The sprints should also be done under control and not as hard as possible.

Do strides on flat first and make a slow transition to downhill. Like Richard said, you only need a slight gradient when running downhill. Start out only doing 1 or 2, and increase it by 1 or two each time until you're up to your desired level. I know from experience that you need to be way more cautious than you think. You'll be running feeling fine and then that night or the next day you'll have a pain somewhere that will take you out for a 3 days or more. Be careful! I can emphasize it enough.

"Each week im going add more gradient"

If you're using downhills to quicken leg turnover--as opposed to developing specific downhill-running technique--then your gradient should start slight (or zero, as another poster suggested), and stay slight. Sprinting or near-sprinting on steeper downhills is not productive and can be injurious. A previous poster mentioned soreness that you can get from downhill running. Be alert to hamstring

soreness and/or tightness, especially.

If your school has a football field with a crown from the middle of the field to the sidelines, that's usually enough of a gradient. As an alternative, on a windy day you can run some accelerations (on the flat) with the wind at your back. Same benefit of quickened turnover.

Either way, avoid consciously "striding out." Your whole focus should be on quickened turnover. It helps if your arms are relaxed at the elbow, not locked at a particular angle. Relaxed elbows ==> relaxed knees ==> legs fold up more easily ==> shorter lever ==> quicker turnover.

You probably will get a bit of stride lengthening anyway, but should avoid *trying* to do so. Consciously "striding out" on a downhill generally means that your foot will land well in front of your body, which exacerbates the potential for injury. Same thing happens if you lean back against the hill. Instead, try to stay perpendicular to the slope and feel that your feet are landing under, not ahead of, you. If you do this, you may get a lot of turnover in the space of 30-50m--you might not need to run 80-100m.

sound advice.

what footwear would be most appropriate?

trainers (for more cusioning)

flats (lightweight but some cusioning)

spikes (simulate racing and maximize speed)

bare feet (most natural)

Don't know the answer about the footwear--haven't thought about it--but I'd say whatever you choose, work into the downhills very gradually, as others have suggested.

One thing I forgot to add: you can assess how well you've run downhill by what you do at the bottom of the hill. If you get to the bottom all in a heap, with little momentum, then you were probably leaning back against the hill and shooting your feet out in front of you--a braking motion.

By contrast, if you've stayed properly relaxed, with your body perpendicular to the slope and your feet landing under you, you'll carry a lot of momentum onto the flat. Again, if you're running down from the crown of a football field to the sidelines, then onto the flats (probably crossing a track, actually), you should have a feeling of no-effort speed on the flat.

It also helps to finish a downhill session with maybe a couple all-on-the-flat accelerations--trying to carry that same downhill feeling of quick turnover into your flat running.

Bump up.

Bump

I usually hate old threads dredged up like this, a year later, but this one is pretty interesting.

We used to do hill strides as a transtional workout before track work started in spring. We'd do 100-, 200-, 300- meter strides up and down a very gradual dirt road. Focus was totally on relaxed form and turnover. Recovery was just slow down, turn, jog back and go. If you needed more recovery you were going too fast. We'd do only five or six sets of 1,2,3 - 1,2,3 - etc. No extra recovery between to keep from running them too hard. Nice long warm up and cool down. It's still one of my all-time favorite early season 'workouts.'

sure thing wrote:

sound advice.

what footwear would be most appropriate?

trainers (for more cusioning)

flats (lightweight but some cusioning)

spikes (simulate racing and maximize speed)

bare feet (most natural)

flats on the road, not trainers, you are trying to run as fast as you would in a flat out 200m, but without straining. Flats are more stable becasue of the lower heel. You don't need a lot of cushioning when running this fast, too much cushioning will only slow you down, defeating the purpose of the session.

spikes or barefoot on downhill grass, make sure there are no holes or other obstacles before you run.