October

[Sweder]

On the downhill plummet thing I agree with the scanning technique (though obviously this becomes a subconscious thing). During the latter part of yesterdays' night-time slog I found myself having to trust the 'sensors' in my feet. This seems to be equally important for running downhill; you barely have time to look at the ground, so much of the footfall control has to come from your feet. Running downhill offroad in the dark is, apart from plain daft, doubly challenging.

A lot of the terrain I cover is uneven, slippery and at times soggy. My feet seems to have found a way to adjust on impact to reduce the chances of injury in the way that caterpillar tracks convey a tank. Now that I've said that out loud I will of course instantly go out and snap an ankle.

Moyleman tought me to love downhill running by leaning into the slope and actually running as opposed to what I had been doing - trying to brake manically by digging my heels in. I'm far from proficient but find I can match or pass some very good runners on the downhills using this method.