Downhill revelation - thank you Ken Bob, whereever you are

BFwillie_g

Barefooters
May 17, 2010
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Kulmbach, Germany
Hi,

Since starting on this BF/MF beginning of April (has it really only been two months?), the one area that has kept me troubled is running downhill. That's where I experienced tofp in the beginning and I've shied away from actually running descents since then. But I read Ken Bob's blog entry on downhilling and on Teusday, I tried out his suggestions.

Whoooopppppeeeeeeee! :party: :party: :party: :party:

It worked. I don't have the link handy but all I did was bend a little more at the knees, sort of like a light squat from the feel of it, move my legs even faster and shorter than normal, relaxed my feet/ankles, and just let 'er rip. It felt amazing. I was bookin' pretty good and got zero negative feedback from my feet, or anything else. I'd post the elevation graph from the run but can't get the image thing working yet. They weren't monster hills, but long and steep enough to really make a conclusion that the method worked for me.

And that's a good thing.

I wanted to share because I know that downhilling is an issue for a lot of runners in the transition phases.

Heading out for my morning run now :bigsmile:
 
tried Ken Bob's methon last

tried Ken Bob's methon last night on an 8 mile run with several different types of hills, from long and gradual to short and steep, and I was amazed. Goind down hill has been quite a challange BF. I always felt like I was putting too much pressure on my feet and landing too flat footed. Bending my knees and shortening my stride really worked! I was flying down the hills and my feet felt great! No more holding back on the downhills.

I have long legs and have always been taught to gobble up as much ground as possible with each stride. One of the biggest challenges for me switching to barefoot was to shorten my stride and keep my feet underneath of me.
 
here's the

here's the link:

http://therunningbarefoot.com/?p=1539

I'd already worked out some strong dowhhill technique with shoes, and I think that was my problem. I can't possibly do BF what I do in shoes. It looks simliar, but it's a whole different apporach.

Er, I mean, what I did in shoes, of course! 8)
 
Of course.

Of course.
 
he went as far as to say that

he went as far as to say that you could just turn sideways and cruise downhills in his talk yesterday. he also talked about his bent knee technique and it looked like he just did a squat and ran like that. it was interesting. we never really crossed any good hills on our group so i didnt get to see it in action.



for me willie i still use my old technique on downhills but i, like ken, found that just bending my knees and shortening the stride a bit let me still fly down a hill with the reckless abandon i had before. i still lean into it and let my muscles relax to let the hill give me momentum. i even heel strike a little but it's so soft and quick that i dont feel anything.
 
I did a nine mile run in my

I did a nine mile run in my VFFs (kso) Sunday that included a couple seriously long and steep hills. I felt like the road runner as I was lifting my feet so fast. I didn't remember his specific advice which I had read, but just had in mind that the less time on the ground, the less impact.

It worked great. No pain to speak of.