Why does my distance runner's form fall apart on hills?
The same runner who looks smooth on the flat often breaks down on a hill, and uphill and downhill break down in different ways.
On the track, the stride looks even and the cadence looks settled. Put the same runner on a hilly road loop or a hill-repeat session and the form falls apart: shorter stride, flailing arms, a trunk that looks nothing like the one from the track session. The hill is not making the runner less fit. It is exposing a different fault.
Uphill and downhill fail differently
Running uphill needs more forward lean than flat running, but a lot of runners replace that lean with a fold at the waist instead of a lean from the ankle, which collapses the chest and shortens the stride more than the grade alone requires. Running downhill does the opposite kind of damage: the runner reaches the foot out ahead of the hips to brake against the slope, which is overstride with extra force behind it, and it costs speed exactly when gravity should be giving speed away for free.
What to actually look for
- Cadence dropping on the uphill, rather than holding steady while the stride naturally shortens on its own.
- The trunk folding at the waist instead of leaning from the ankle as the grade increases.
- Overstride increasing on the downhill, the foot landing further out in front of the hips as a brake.
What the sprint setting reports, on a hill
The Film Room's sprint setting covers upright running at any distance and reports trunk lean against a 0 to 20 degree range, overstride, cadence and ground contact time. Filming the same runner on the flat and then on the hill, from the same relative angle, turns 'they fall apart on hills' into a specific number: whether cadence actually drops, and whether overstride actually grows, rather than a general impression.
A camera does not know the gradient of the ground the athlete is running on. A trunk lean read against the flat-running range will look wrong on an uphill where a bit more lean is correct, and look wrong again on a downhill where it is not. Accounting for the slope before judging the number is on the coach, not the app.
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Related
Why does my distance runner's form fall apart in the last lap?
The mechanics that hold up for three laps are usually the first thing fatigue takes in the fourth.
Read →Why does my runner's stride get shorter while their cadence stays the same?
A steady step count can hide a stride that is quietly getting shorter as a runner tires, and cadence alone will not tell a coach the difference.
Read →How far forward should a sprinter lean?
A lot out of the blocks, very little at top speed, and never by bending at the waist, which is the version that gets taught by accident.
Read →Try it: Running form analysis app: skeleton, form check, speed and cadence from a phone clip