Onward and Upward

The keys to efficient uphill running technique

Thursday, July 29, 2010, 12:00 am

Trail runners say that races are won on the ascent and lost on the descent. You can see top-notch trail runners' ascending skills in their sustained and metronomic leg turnover, their shortened stride as they power up climbs with staccato efficiency. Fortunately, some of the best uphill runners in the sport are willing to share their "secrets" to climbing with fluid speed.

Jonathan Wyatt, the most decorated mountain runner there is, with six world mountain championship victories to his credit, boils uphill running down to: pacing properly; establishing a rhythm; relaxing; pumping your arms; and staying on your forefeet.

With respect to pace, Wyatt recommends setting off at a pace you know you can sustain and, if you're feeling comfortable and confident after a third of your climb, speeding things up a notch. "It's tough both physically and psychologically when you start too fast and then feel yourself slowing more and more as you fatigue," he says, "and, believe me, I have seen even good runners slow to a shuffle on tough, long, steep climbs when they have over-extended on the first third."

Wyatt also coaches runners to relax and get into a rhythm on the climb so that they can economize their energy with greater speed for less effort. To maintain this rhythm, he tries to take small steps when the gradient gets steeper or there's a technical part. Wyatt uses regular arm and leg movement rather than trying to use his muscle power to maintain speed, which accelerates muscle fatigue. "So my cadence or leg turnover remains about the same on these parts but I take smaller steps," he says. "This helps maintain rhythm and means that my breathing remains the same even as the terrain changes." [See "Elliott's 'Ascendant' Breathing Technique" below, for more on breathing.]

Both Wyatt and Natalie White, a top British trail runner who excels in the Sky Running circuit in Europe and Malaysia and came by her ascending skills from fell running, remind us of the importance of our arms. "The arms really help you power up the hill and take a lot of the work load off the legs," Wyatt says, pointing out that if you emphasize the back part of your arm swing it automatically has the effect of moving farther forward as well, and helps drive your legs forward.

Wyatt and White also instruct uphill runners to get up on their toes. White says she uses her calves a lot and finds that wearing compression socks prevents cramping or tightening. Wyatt finds that as the terrain gets steeper he needs to strike the ground more on his forefeet. Landing on his forefeet makes his body position move farther forward, pushing his center of gravity towards the slope and giving more momentum for the next step.

To prepare, White likes to do short, fast hill reps on either a grassy banking or a steep road, as these are good lactic acid sessions for her ascending training. For longer hill reps to work on endurance, she recommends 3-5 minutes on a more gradual hill. For sustained climbing work, White uses long hills that last about 50 minutes where she tries to run the whole way.

Colorado's Lisa Goldsmith, a two-time USATF masters mountain runner of the year, and a top finisher in most of the country's uphill races, also recommends doing lots of uphill running with a mix of long days of long steady climbing. Goldsmith also incorporates short hill sprints of 8-10 seconds up really steep paved roads to help with the neuromuscular changes needed for strong uphill running. She begins each full effort from a recovered start and then sprints, "arms pumping, legs driving high, pretending it is a sprint 'to the finish'"--so that after about 10 seconds she is maxed out muscularly. She recommends starting with four to five reps and working up to eight to 12 repeats as a solid session.

Goldsmith also emphasizes the importance of upper body and core strength as key ingredients to upright posture and effective help when fatigue begins to set in. "It is so helpful to be upright for breathing well, looking ahead, not collapsing your hip flexors and feeling optimistic."

Stephanie Jimenez, a top-ranked European mountain runner who has conquered many a hill in her native Andorra and current residence in the Dolomites, advises practicing for ascents by running hilly roads and then progressing to trail climbs. Jimenez suggests that running uphill on roads teaches proper technique and posture and with that foundation you can adapt your foot positioning to ascend on the trail.

As for mental strategy, Colorado's Brandy Erholtz, one of the fastest American ascenders, likes to recall The Little Engine That Could, and tells herself, "I think I can, I think I can." She doesn't look at the whole climb but, rather, picks small focal points and once she gets to the first one she picks another, thereby breaking the hills into segments, which makes them seem very doable. "That and I say a lot of prayers," she adds.

Elliott's 'ascendant' breathing technique

Having won the Pikes Peak Ascent eight times and finished among the top five 14 times, Scott Elliott knows a thing or two about running uphill. This is a guy who once ran to the summit of 8,133-foot Green Mountain in Boulder a whopping 200 days in a row.

Now he's passing along his uphill insights to trail runners who want to improve their climbing. His big secret? Make sure your breathing matches your running effort.

"The most important thing to remember is to keep your race effort steady, not your pace," he says. He suggests it's both smart and necessary to breathe faster as you increase your effort. He describes it as having three basic levels of effort-- easy, moderate, hard--and he links each effort level to a pattern and frequency of breathing in connection to foot strikes, which he describes as "a natural metronome."

"If you provide your body with a steady stream of fuel--in other words, oxygen--then it will work best; having a staggered delivery of oxygen does not help you maintain a steady effort during a race," he says. "My apologies to EMIL ZATOPEK and his sometimes unorthodox training methods. He was known for sprinting while holding his breath, but that's not how your body is going to perform efficiently, especially while running uphill."


Easy: This is any effort where you inhale fully for two steps and exhale the following two steps. Elliott calls this "four-step" breathing. There will be a certain effort up to which you can maintain/tolerate this breathing/footsteps cycle; usually you can maintain a conversation with a training partner at this level without too much trouble. Fourstep breathing helps you focus on filling your lungs and strengthening your diaphragm and abdominals.

Moderate: A level up is an effort where, because of exertion level and/or incline, you're forced to inhale fully for two steps and exhale completely on the following one step. Elliott calls this "three-step" breathing. This effort is best used for anaerobic/lactate threshold work. Because you're still taking the time to breathe in for two footsteps, you're maximizing the amount of oxygen saturation in the lungs. Exhaling on one step allows you to quickly prepare for returning oxygen to your system. Most elite runners will naturally use three-step breathing during races.

Hard: The third level should be reserved for maximal or close-to-maximal effort. Inhale on one step and exhale on the next step (Elliott calls this "two-step" breathing). This third gear is absolutely necessary for those who wish to perform well at high-altitude races like the Pikes Peak Ascent. Two-step breathing is effective on long, steep uphills and although it may feel (and sound) strange, this close-to-hyperventilating breathing rate allows your body to get the most oxygen possible, even though it may not be your primary source of energy when working so hard. Typically you'll discover you can eke out about 10-15 percent faster uphill splits or uphill race times using this rapid breathing method compared to three-step breathing. If your diaphragm and abdominal muscles aren't really well developed from many months of two-and three-step workouts, they'll likely cramp during such intense breathing.