Tuesday, May 30, 2006 UPHILL RUNNING --- by John Harding Running
in mountain and other uphill races can be made much easier and
performance greatly improved by specific training. Running
uphill involves vigorous employment of all of the limbs of the
body and of the cardiovascular system. The elite uphill
performer has the following physiological characteristics: *
high aerobic capacity * strong ankles * very strong quadricep,
hip and gluteal muscles * well toned stomach muscles * arms that
can maintain a vigorous action for long periods without tiring
and losing 'form' The first objective for the serious mountain
runner aiming to improve uphill performance is to develop these
characteristics through an appropriate package of training
measures. A secondary objective is to avoid short term injury
and long term over-use problems. The latter is very important
and implies care needs to be taken in the timing, intensity and
duration of a focused hill training program. The downside of,
for example, very strong quad,