THE 40th annual Nail Can Hill run is on this weekend. It’s an event that I’m sure many people dread as much as they love because of those horrid hills. So to make your life a bit easier, as you hit the two kilometre mark of the race and approach that first frightful hill, we thought we would provide you some tips for running uphill.
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Most casual runners wouldn’t realise that there is actually a proper way to run uphill. The “short step shuffle” doesn’t have to be the way you approach those steep hills. When running uphill you’ve got to do extra work to overcome gravity. This requires the muscles in your legs to do a lot more work then they would have to over flat ground.
When running up a hill, your foot strike is altered due to the incline of the ground in front of you. This forces runners to transition into a midfoot to forefoot striking pattern, meaning that you tend to run more on your toes or the front of your foot. This greatly increases the forces going through your calves and ankles. I’m sure if you have been practising the ridge trail in preparation for the event you have felt that unpleasant burn in your calves. It may hurt but running on the front of your foot is ultimately a good thing as you are able to get more drive/energy out of your calf muscles.
As a result of running on the front of your foot, the natural reaction for most runners is to bend at the waist to lean into the hill. A slight bend forward is necessary when running uphill, however a lot of people tend to lean “too” far forward. This impacts your ability to drive your knee upwards during the swing phase of gait. Have a practice now, stand almost upright and drive your knee upward towards your chest, then bend forward at the hips a lot more and do the same thing. Can you feel the loss of power?
Leaning too far forward also throws your body off balance by moving your centre of gravity in front of your base of support. This limits the ability of your glutes (buttocks) to drive your leg back into extension, an important part of the running cycle. It is also much harder to push off the ground with each step and take advantage of the additional energy stored in your calf muscles, as mentioned above. So I guess what I am trying to say is it is far more efficient to stand more upright as you run up a hill.
So this Sunday, whilst tackling the two to 3.5km steeps of the race and beyond, if you can’t think of anything else, think of these two simple cues, firstly “stand tall” and secondly “drive your knees up”. Two simple reminders that can dramatically increase your efficiency at running up those steep hills.
