Running downhills is bad for you!?

Went for a run with the local running club this morning. A 0630 meet up (yes, Sunday morning) at the local track which I know so well from school days. It's been upgraded from black cinder to synthetic some years ago. I still remember the days when running in lane 1 after heavy rain was good training for cross country. After the upgrade, there was a big controversy regarding the fence which was put up round the track to stop people from using the nice new track. Eventually common sense prevailed and the track is open to public use in the mornings and evenings unless there is a prior booking. Well no one in the right mind would use it around midday anyway.

Took it fairly easy on the run in case I fall dead from the heat. The route was one of my former usual training routes, including one ascent of my favourite "HRmax Test Hill" about 1/2 way round. Why this name? Well last time I was back, for my *first* run, I did 3x hard up this hill and notched up maximums in the high 190s. Partly because of the heat though. My experience is that HRs are usually around 10-20 bpm higher in these conditions especially in the first few runs. Unlike the Worcester Joggers, there is no requirement to "muster back". Therefore, before long there was just a long string of runners along the road.

Overheard today: "Running downhills is very bad for your legs so I run down this hill 1-2 minutes slower than I run up it." I think thus guy really needs to do more training downhill because he was complaining of very sore legs after doing a hilly 15km race the week before!

Location 3°N 101°E