The biggest difference between road/trail running (yes I lump those two together most of the time) and mountain running is, you guessed it, the mountains. Unlike road running, especially, where your technique changes very little between parts of the course (by and large running up and down 2-3% grades are very mechanically similar), mountain running requires HUGELY different muscle activation patterns, energy systems, and techniques. When I’m coaching/teaching mountain running, I typically talk about three main uphill techniques, and two main downhill techniques.
Uphill Techniques:
- Running/Striding: This is your road/trail technique, if you’re strong you might be able to hold this technique up to more aggressive grades, but by and large this is used on the flats and gentle up-hills. This is also by and large what most self-identified mountain runners are weakest at. We LOVE to run steep, so we tend to ignore the flats, and thus are weakest at them.
- Steep Running: This technique is much closer muscularly to a pleasant jog, but done on grades where holding the technique brings about a comparatively large cardiovascular challenge. This is typically a big weakness of the road/trail runner who ventures into mountain races. It is VERY easy to push this too hard and cook yourself because you think it’s “too slow,” or because you’re too proud to go into technique number 3.
- Power Hiking: When grades get steep enough that you can no longer control your intensity properly while Steep Running, power hiking is your go-to gear. In many steep and technical situations, this is much more efficient and thus faster than Steep Running. However, many of us like to RUN in the mountains, so we don’t train this technique enough. You should actually have intensity workouts based around power hiking, even as a STRONG mountain racer, it’s that important!
Downhill Techniques:
- Running/Striding: For the same reason that road/trail running is so mechanically similar, so is running a gradual downhill very similar to running flats and gentle up-hills. For many mountain runners, this is the time we practice this technique, as it can be used on slightly steeper grades descending than ascending.
- Braking: This is STEEP descending, where your legs never go behind you, you are simply trying to resist gravity. Solid Buzz Lightyear stuff: “That’s not running, that’s falling with style.” For the road/trail runner, this will be the biggest need to train during a leadup to a mountain race, as it will be the descending that crushes your fast legs, not the climbing.
By focusing on all five of these techniques, and at least making sure you touch on all of them in the leadup to a mountain race, you can ensure you will have a strong and capable race.
