What is it with going up hills…

Don’t get me wrong, downhills are great.  Flying down the Devil’s Backbone on Mt. Baldy is one of the best I know.  But I’ve also gotten older and wiser (and heavier!) and I know that running downhill fast wreaks absolute hell on my knees.  Hoping to be in this for the long haul, I try and temper those urges these days.

My coach (Tom Kirchner: look him up, he’s good and his rates are fair) helps talk a lot of sense into my head in this regard.  Running longevity and overall health- not speed- is a constant topic in our sessions.

“Tom Kirchner: look him up, he’s good and his rates are fair”

Just an old was good now, which is why my rates are fair.  If I had an office, the sign above the door would read, “I learned the hard way so you don’t have to”.  ;0)

On a more serious note, flying down Devil’s Backbone, or other such acts of irrational exuberance, while not a recipe for longevity in the mountains, are what distinguish living from merely existing.  As with most other earthly pleasures, moderation is key.  I’d be the last person to counsel total abstinence in that regard, or just about anything else that brings joy to a person’s life.

Uphill works your glutes ;)

for as long as i can recall, my body has much preferred the uphill to the down. in recent years i have noticed that the most muscle fatigue i experience – usually the day after the descent – is in the area between the calves and the achilles.

anyone else have this going on?

Going uphill,  your ankles are shock absorbers,  going downhill you’re more ‘inclined’ to have the heel shock go straight to your knees.

As a youth with a too heavy pack,  I kind of trashed my knees on a trip and spent the last week doing every downhill section walking backwards.  It really helped, and the time or two that I fell at the turn of a switchback, the pack broke my fall into the rhododendron.

” going downhill you’re more ‘inclined’ to have the heel shock go straight to your knees.”

Not if you flex your knees slightly and let your quads(and to a lesser degree the hamstrings and glutes) absorb the shock, as they’re supposed to.  If you let the bones and joints take the shock, your career in the hills will be mercifully brief.  Condition your quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and let them do their job.  My 2 cents.

Brian,

Most likely you are feeling soreness in your soleus muscles.  When going downhill the soleus acts as a brake for the ankle. It functions eccentrically, lengthening while contracting.  Eccentric contraction can create really sore muscles (delayed onset muscle soreness or DOMS) which you usually feel roughly 24 hours after the activity.

BJ

IF you are fit enough you can ‘run’ downhill without damage, even on steep difficult stuff, but the stride used is NOT a ‘running’ stride. It’s more like a sewing machine action and does not put shock on your joints. I don’t think my heel even touches the ground much. I do it sometimes (for a limited distance), but it takes TOTAL concentration for foot placement. Quite energetic stuff, but you get down fast.

Cheers

IF you are fit enough you can ‘run’ downhill without damage, even on steep difficult stuff, but the stride used is NOT a ‘running’ stride. It’s more like a sewing machine action and does not put shock on your joints. I don’t think my heel even touches the ground much. I do it sometimes (for a limited distance), but it takes TOTAL concentration for foot placement. Quite energetic stuff, but you get down fast

THIS^^^^

Roger, I know you don’t use trekking poles, and, although I do, on certain steep downhills I almost entirely hold them in my hands and concentrate on foot placement, using the poles only occasionally for big drops where no intermediate foot placements are available. Otherwise, the steps are very small in order to keep a tight rein on momentum.

Otherwise, the steps are very small in order to keep a tight rein on momentum.
Yup, exactly.

For big drops, we use our hands on the rocks.

Cheers