How do you run downhill? What is the recommended grade percentage and what is it at Tumamoc? I cover these questions and much more!

After spending my whole life in the Midwest, I ventured to the mountainous terrain of the Sonoran desert. I traded the flat, scenic Lake Front Trail at the edge of the gorgeous city that is Chicago to a mountainous dry landscape that is Tucson, Arizona. In Chicago, the only “hills” I would encounter during my long runs were man-made bridges that surround the downtown area. I put “hills” in quotation marks because they were not really hills. Mole-hills really. It was relatively simple to cover a lot of distance while running in Chicago because it was flat and paved - plus it was thrilling to cover 14 miles and be able to see so many different neighborhoods with beautiful street art and unique architecture. In the desert city of Tucson, Arizona, it is much different. I traded the humidity and calm of Lake Michigan to the dry hilly never ending desert. As I was running down Tumamoc Hiking Trail the other day, I realized that I don’t have much experience running downhill. A perfect blog post idea.

In this post, I will cover some tips for downhill running, some general recommendations, and some effects it could have on your body.

PHYSIOLOGY

When you’re running downhill your hamstrings and other muscles undergo eccentric muscle contractions. To put it simply, eccentric muscle contractions mean that your muscle is lengthening. This is the opposite of a concentric muscle contraction where the muscle shortens. It should be noted that “eccentric muscle contractions are known to induce high mechanical strain on the musculotendinous system, leading to moderate to severe exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD)”. Keep in mind that micro-tears in muscle fibers stimulate muscle growth but there’s a difference between micro-tears that induce muscle growth and over doing it where you can damage the muscle. As with everything in exercise, you need to find an appropriate difficulty level to challenge the body but not hurt it. So what is considered difficult downhill running? Keep reading, my curious friend.

RECOMMENDATIONS

grade

When beginning to incorporate downhill running into your training, it’s important take the grade of the hill into account. “To determine the grade, use a GPS watch that tracks elevation: Run up the hill and then scope your data for the elevation change. Divide this by the distance you ran in feet to get the slope - .08 equals eight percent.” Runner’s World recommends a grade of no more than 8%. Of course, each individual has unique fitness levels so you could either increase or decrease the grade to suit your training needs and goals.

tumamoc hiking trail

Tumamoc Hiking Trail in Tucson, Arizona (a local favorite and one that is close to me) has an approximate elevation of 730 feet with a grade percentage that goes from 9% to 22%. If you do not know the grade of your nearby hill you could do the math or simply use Google to look it up. Believe you me, running/walking up Tumamoc is difficult, descending is even more challenging!

running form

Once you’ve chosen the appropriate grade for your downhill run, it’s time to coast down that baby with good form. It’s recommended to not look at your feet but instead “gaze 10 to 15 meters in front of you.” An easier way to keep your gaze in line and your posture upright is “pretend you have a grapefruit nestled between your chin and your chest” while you run downhill.

In addition, to keep proper form, avoid fighting the incline by leaning back. Instead, you should lean slightly forward and activate your core to stabilize your body. As with running on a flat surface, keep your upper body directly above your lower body. (If you want to learn more about running on flat surfaces check out my blog post entitled RUNNING TECHNIQUE!)

Also, on your way down “shorten your stride and quicken your cadence. That way, you'll take lighter steps and land more on your mid-foot instead of using your heel as a brake. And keep a slight bend in your landing leg to avoid absorbing all the impact in your knee.” In other words, strike the ground more often when you descend.

TUSCON MARATHON

While researching this topic, one of the research articles specifically mentioned a marathon in Tucson, AZ famous for its downhill descents. This is the Tucson Marathon & Half-Marathon that is held every year in December. I feel like the running gods have led me to find this race. I mean I could’ve been living in a different hilly city and written this article but no, I relocated to Tucson and a research article I found for this post specifically cited the Tucson Marathon.

It’s been years since I’ve run a full marathon. The last full marathon I ran was the Chicago Marathon. I must admit the Tucson Marathon is enticing and it would be poetic and cool to run a marathon in every place I’ve lived in- hmmm food for thought. At the very least, I know will sign up for the half-marathon. This will mean more downhill running and more training in this mountainous terrain. Now that I’ve done some research its time to put it into practice. I hope this post has helped you as much as it has helped me!

FINAL NOTE

I will miss the beautiful urban landscape that is Chicago, but I am here now in Tucson, AZ and I plan on fully appreciating the beauty that the Sonoran Desert has to offer. Remember, the center of the universe is where you are right now -at this very moment.

So go out for a jog or walk in your neighborhood. Don’t think about it as exercise, think about it as an opportunity to see something you might not have noticed before. Get curious with your surroundings, get active, and get healthy. Who knows, you might be see something beautiful along the way.

As always thank you for reading. Please share this post, I very much appreciate it. See you at Tumamoc!