Running up/down hills

[raike]

Last autumn, I took up running. Around my university, there's mostly flat-ish terrain; near the end of the term, I usually ran about 5-6 km thrice a week without problem. Now that I'm at home, however, there's nothing but some pretty nasty hills.

I've been experiencing a combination of lower back pain (moderate) during the run and knee pain (pretty mild) after. I can go about half a km before my back starts hurting, and perhaps another half km before I'm in a lot of pain. The pain doesn't last very long, less than a few hours mostly.

I know that my core, lower back, and legs aren't weak, as I regularly train them, and I stretch before and after I run, but is there anything else that I might be missing? Or, is it just a matter of time and acclimation? I've tried altering my form a bit, so that I'm more vertical--it's helped a bit.

Thanks!

[Nath]

Downhill running can be rough on the joints, even if you're not weak. There'll probably be some adaptation over time, but the other option is to dial the intensity up when going uphill and dial it down when going downhill. In the extreme, this becomes hill sprints, walking downhill to recover. This is probably not ideal if you're training for a race in a hilly area, but it'll work just fine if you're running for general health and conditioning.

[raike]

Downhill running can be rough on the joints, even if you're not weak. There'll probably be some adaptation over time, but the other option is to dial the intensity up when going uphill and dial it down when going downhill. In the extreme, this becomes hill sprints, walking downhill to recover. This is probably not ideal if you're training for a race in a hilly area, but it'll work just fine if you're running for general health and conditioning.

Thanks--I'll give it a go over the next few weeks and see what happens. Come to think of it, this does sound a bit like interval training, with the sprint/recovery bit; I've been meaning to add that in at some point.

[freakish777]

When you run up/down a hill, keep your knees up, your toes up, and your eyes/chin up, and your shoulders back. If you're accustomed to slouching/hunching forward when you jog/run, it will impact your back (think of the impact on the vertebrae of a spine curled forward when your foot hits the ground, compared to the impact on a straight spine), any impact will be magnified, especially when going downhill.