Five Ilkley Harriers took part: Iain Gibson (the expert!), Morgan & Georgie Williams, Graham Arthur and Roy Ruddle. Sorry about the videos - the're not good enough quality to be able to analyse the data accurately.
| Runner | Video | |||||||
| Iain | Rep 1 (7 Mb) Rep 2 (6 Mb) |
1.76 | 8 | 1.64 | 8 | Iain was sprinting flat out, and seemed to move his legs very quickly. Was that an illusion, or was the camera unable to pick up such fast movement? Interesting that Morgan and Georgie took an almost identical number of strides, despite one being a metre taller than the other. Reinforces the need to divide a "stride" into the distance covered in the air (body speed) and pace length. | ||
| Morgan | 2.32 | 9 | 2.36 | 10 | ||||
| Roy | 2.04 | 8 | 2.20 | 8 | ||||
| Georgie | 2.60 | 10 | 2.64 | 10 | ||||
| Graham | 1.92 | 7 | ||||||
| Iain | Rep 1 (10 Mb) Rep 2 (4 Mb) |
3.00 | 14 | 3.32 | 13 | For 2nd rep, Iain encouraged us to concentrate on a high cadence, running as if on hot coals (as Graham Pearce would say). | ||
| Morgan | 4.40 | 17 | ||||||
| Roy | 3.56 | 14 | 3.72 | 17 | ||||
| Georgie | 5.12 | 17 | ||||||
| Graham | 4.32 | 15 | ||||||
| Iain | Rep 1 (4 Mb) Rep 2 (4 Mb) Rep 3 (3 Mb) |
2.28 | 14 | 1.92 | 6 | 2.44 | 12 | For 2nd rep we deliberately tried to take long strides. Interesting that this was faster because none of us thought this was the right way to speed downhill (probably we couldn't have kept it up) |
| Roy | 3.08 | 14 | 2.76 | 11 | 2.88 | 14 | ||
| Graham | 2.92 | 15 | 2.84 | 9 | ||||
Mental side: Even on the easy angled slope, I felt I was holding back a little (perpetual concerns of spraining an ankle on something hidden underneath the leaves), whereas Iain was overtly sprinting. On the Steep slope I felt nowhere near to being able to really "let go", and on the 3rd rep was very much running on my heels.
Technique: Fast feet are certainly something to be practiced - perfecting that might then allow speed to be increased, while at the same time reducing the physical effort of a big descent. On the steep slope, Iain ran a slightly curved path (snowboarding through trees?), whereas I tried to descend straight. Is the longer path actualy faster?
And in general: Practice downhill as much as you train for up, and on long descents!
Roy Ruddle, November 2007