Are Downhill courses faster?

When someone tells me that they ran a downhill course, I immediately picture a course flowing gently downhill on wide paved roads. Too bad, no course ever measures up to exactly how we imagine it. Just think about the difference between driving from Charlotte and Statesville. We can take 77 north and be in Statesville in roughly 35 to 40 minutes or we could take 115. Going to the same destination long roughly the same path but under different conditions means the same trip takes an hour and half – maybe more.

So should downhill courses be judged differently than flat courses?

Every course has its own unique characteristics be it flat, uphill, or downhill.

Flat courses tend to offer runners an opportunity to hold an even pace the entire way. There is no concept of banking time or having a particular section that is faster than another. Granted I am casting a broad net across courses by disregarding such things as wind, temperature, running surfaces etc. But you get the idea.

Downhill courses push the runner in different ways. Rarely are downhill course smooth gentle sloping roads. Most of the time, downhill courses tend to have steep slopes along with a plethora of switch backs. This is because they are built for cars to go up and down and not for runners to run PRs.

Let's not forget hills. Flat courses may have a slight change in slope but usually the slope is gentle and unnoticeable. Whereas runners may find that downhill courses will have at least a few hills somewhere along the way.

Going back to "The Scream" for example, many sections along course actually had me leaning back instead of forward due to the grade and trying to run the tangents around switchback after switchback. As well, "The Scream" threw in some hills: 2 miles at the beginning, a couple of hills in the middle miles, and a couple of hills in the final mile. Boston is considered a downhill course by many but there are some nasty little climbs in the middle. And more than one person has seen their race go down the tubes before cresting those hills.

Are downhill course faster than flat courses? The answer doesn't lay in the course but in the runner and how well they are able to handle the course. I will share this everyone. Of all of my PRs only one of them came on a downhill course. And, no it wasn't a marathon or half marathon it was a 5k, but only by 19 seconds.

 

 

Thoughts from a Cool Down Runner