Defying the law of gravity: down the road leading up. Running at an angle. History of Vertical Races Uphill Games 1

And even without it, quite a lot of running starts take place on routes with an abundance of descents and ascents. At the same time, not everyone realizes that running uphill and downhill is slightly different from running on the plain. Ignoring this leads to increased energy consumption and injuries to the musculoskeletal system. Moreover, there are differences in the approach to running up or down both in preparation and in running technique. In this article I want to touch specifically on the issues of running technique.

So, what's so special about running uphill? I’ll say right away that when running uphill, almost everyone starts. This means that almost everyone starts to land on their forefoot, taking shorter steps. True, a considerable percentage of runners bend over at the waist, which already disrupts the structure proper running. Hence the first element of the uphill running technique:

• Keep your body as close to vertical as possible. To make this task easier, look 10-15 meters ahead of you. It is a mistake to think that looking down distracts your thoughts from the difficult climb. Look forward and it will be easier for you to run.
• The second thing to pay attention to is repulsion. When running uphill, you need to move your body weight upward. This is energy-intensive. If you still have strength and want to run quickly, a person subconsciously increases the power of repulsion. However, this will cost you a lot of effort. It would be much more correct and significantly more economical to increase the lift (extension forward) of the hip while maintaining rapid removal of the leg from the support. To see this, try the following: step one foot onto a step and step with the other quick step forward with the other foot. Now do the same thing, just take a leap onto the same step and try to move forward as quickly as in the first case. Compare your sensations and the energy expended.
• In order for your steps to be fast (not drawn out) when running, after raising your knee you should lower your leg without whipping your shin. It's not that hard to do if you practice.
• Cadence: The cadence should remain the same as when running on the plain and range from 175 to 185 steps/minute. Only their length will decrease slightly. It is only natural that your speed will decrease as well. So if you're running a hilly race, don't pay too much attention to real-time (GPS clock) speed changes. If you try to maintain a certain target pace, this will lead to the fact that you will run at a variable (in terms of effort) pace, which will inevitably result in a worse time at the finish line.

Running downhill, or as runners more often call it, downhill. The first thing I want to point out is that don’t think that on the descents you will compensate for what you lost when running uphill. This is simply impossible, at least according to the law of conservation of energy. Moreover, if you run downhill incorrectly, you can aggravate your condition. The first thing that will get worse is this: Because it is relatively easy to take long strides when running downhill, most runners land far ahead of them, often on a straight leg. At the same time, the kinetic energy of the impact on the surface is greater (you are flying from a height!), it is absorbed by the joints (ankle, knee, hip) and spine, as well as the so-called braking muscle group. The strongest of them is the quadriceps femoris muscle. Ask those who have run the Boston Marathon or the Comrades Marathon down, they will confirm that these are the muscles that hurt the most. Inflammation of the periosteum, pain in knee joints. But the immediate effect will be expressed in the fact that by the end of the distance your legs will obey you less and less, especially at a marathon or other ultra-long distance. To avoid this or reduce the negative effect to a minimum, you should adhere to some principles:

• Oddly enough, but I will again mention the straight posture: if you keep your body straight, this will be the first step to reducing problems. It would be logical to increase the forward lean to “catch” the fall. But you need to bend over with the center of gravity, i.e. lower abdomen. If you lean forward with your shoulders, this will provoke an even greater extension of the shin and, as a result, an increase in the length of the step.
• It is possible to increase the length of the step, but again by moving the hip/knee forward. If you quickly remove your leg from the support and place it under you, then it is absolutely possible to maintain such a gentle landing.
• The logical conclusion from the above is to maintain a cadence of about 180. If the steepness of the descent is small, then with a frequency in the range of 175-185 your steps will be wide and your landing will not go far beyond the projection of the center of gravity. If the steepness of the descent forces you to take too long steps, then it would be better to deliberately reduce their length to the detriment of running speed. Yes, your running speed may be a little slower than the runners around you, but believe me, you will more than make up for it on the flats or on the uphills in the later stages of the run. Even more important point This will mean that you will save your legs and back from the traumatic effects of landing in front of you when running downhill.

I recently returned from South Africa, where, after participating in , I spent a few days visiting my friends and was very surprised to see that local runners did not have smooth running tracks. More precisely, there is such a place, but only on the promenade along the beach in Durban. If you drive a few kilometers inland, the only place you can run is in the hills. This applies to both primary schoolchildren and adult runners. A simple 5 km children's race takes place along a route with such ascents and descents that the average urban resident of Russia would never dream of. So these people have an advantage: from childhood they are adapted to run up and down.

To sum it up, when planning to participate in a hilly race, you should pay attention to strengthening the ligaments and tendons, as well as the strength of the muscles of the legs and upper body. It is the latter that ensures the maintenance correct posture during running, especially in the last third of the distance, when fatigue sets in and the degree of conscious control of posture and technique decreases. You just need to do the “correct” exercises to strengthen the postural (posture-supporting) muscles. These include the transverse and deep oblique muscles of the abdomen, small muscles spine (components in total extensor longus back), as well as deep muscles pelvic area.

You should also use plyometric exercises. A typical example of plyometrics is jumping from a small height (15-20cm) with a quick rebound, both on two legs and on one. Just remember that these exercises are a rather “sharp” strength training tool, and they can be used by experienced runners or in small quantities.

In trail and cross-country running competitions, competitors run on uneven surfaces with their feet constantly placed at different angles. In this case, compact, controlled steps become even more relevant. Most trail runners believe that trail running shoes need thicker soles to provide maximum protection from bumps, rocks and other hazards. But the thick sole encourages runners to take long strides. In addition, increasing the thickness of the sole slows down the reaction time of the muscles to signals from the proprioceptors of the feet and ankle joints, and this can already lead to injury due to the late reaction of the body muscles to an unforeseen position. Everyone decides for themselves what shoes to run in, but I recommend testing them for yourself and choosing sneakers with the minimum sole thickness that is comfortable for you.

I wish you happy running on rough roads, paths and everywhere in between!

Typically, skyrunning (in English, high-altitude running, running at sky level) is understood as a method of movement in mountainous areas at an altitude of more than two thousand meters above sea level along the terrain. On this moment The main types of skyrunning are:

• High-altitude marathon (a race with an ascent of 2000 meters and a length of 30 km to 42 km);
• Altitude race (races at altitudes from 2000 to 4000 meters, from 20 km to 30 km maximum);
• Vertical kilometer (a race with a height difference of 1000 meters over a distance of no more than 5 km);

History of origin

Vertical races - a challenge to yourself

• Training thighs, buttocks and abs
• Active fat burning
• Strengthening the cardiovascular system
• Endurance development
• Development of joints and ligaments, strengthening of bones.

Vertical races in Russia and the world

You are very tired during the weekdays, so you decided at all costs to spend your legal weekend having fun and benefiting yourself. And what can lift your spirits and relax more than an amusement park? A huge entertainment center has just recently opened in your city, where you can find attractions to suit your taste. If you are more drawn to the water, you can climb a dizzying huge slide, several miles long, and get an indescribable thrill from racing down the fastest descent. And, if land-based pleasure is more appealing, or you simply don’t want to get exhausted, then you can always saddle up on a racing scooter and go all out on a mind-blowing turn of twisted tracks, where, by the way, competitions are now also being held among visitors for the title of the most reckless racer. This is adrenaline that will simply blow your mind from overexertion. This is exactly the kind of crazy rest you need after a hard week of work!

On a highway in Dagestan, the driver releases the handbrake and the car rolls by itself. There would be nothing unusual about this if it were not for the direction of movement. A car with the engine turned off and without outside help is driving uphill, contrary to all the laws of physics. It seems that he is being pulled upward by an inexplicable force.

Local residents have long noticed an anomalous place on one of the sections of the highway in the Buynaksky region of Dagestan. Along a kilometer of this road, almost everywhere where the ascent begins, you can turn off the engine and watch an amazing phenomenon.

...There are many places in the world where the laws of gravity, to put it mildly, do not apply. For example, a unique natural phenomenon was registered in the Middle Urals. In the village of Galashki, located in the Nevyansky region, there is a stream that, contrary to all the laws of nature, flows uphill. A similar anomaly or, according to scientists’ explanations, “just an optical effect,” was recorded in the mountainous area on the Chelyabinsk-Ufa highway (between Zlatoust and Satka). In the suburbs of Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria, on one of the sections of a busy highway, there is its own anomalous zone. It looks like an ordinary road, but in reality it is a place where, according to local motorists who slam on the brakes when their cars go uphill, no laws apply.

The press has repeatedly mentioned strange phenomena occurring near Megure Hill in the town of Bacau in Romania. There, in the early 90s of the last century, a large treasure was discovered - 2000 silver coins from the era of the Roman emperor Trajan. After this discovery, some unknown force began to push out all foreign objects - even cars - from the foot of the hill. Metropolitan correspondents sent to investigate recounted their experience: “The hood of the car lifted, as if by the action of a mighty underground spring, and the car drove back to the top of the hill!” Local old-timers claim that a mysterious blue flame appears from time to time on the hill (whose name can be translated from Romanian as “mound”).

An actual repetition of anomalous phenomena in Romania is also observed in Israel. Eyewitnesses claim that near Beit Shemesh, water is also rising up the slope. One of the tourists, having heard enough stories about a similar phenomenon, decided to conduct an experiment: he stopped the car on this mountain, put it in neutral and released the brake. Contrary to expectations, the car rolled upward. This anomaly is observed along the entire length of the highway, approximately 800 meters, right up to the intersection of this road with the main highway.

Eyewitnesses cannot somehow explain such phenomena, but they report that this place is unusual - it is associated with the loss of the Ark of the Covenant. It was in these places that the Jews lost a rather large chest with stone tablets, where the 10 commandments were inscribed.

Another anomalous section of the road, shrouded in mystical secrets, is located in Israel near the Megiddo hill, where, according to the Revelation of John the Theologian, the last battle of Light and Darkness - Armageddon - should take place. And finally, the third area, where an unknown force pulls objects upward, was recorded in the Kidron Valley. From here, according to the Bible, the Last Judgment will begin

Monument in the form of a magnetic horseshoe

The Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia has compiled an overview of some places in the world; known for their uncanny anomalies in the field of gravity. On the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea there is the so-called Magnetic Hill, where cars that are sliding down slow down and begin to roll upward! Local residents seriously say that these are the tricks of the “little people” pushing cars up the hill.

There is a similar hill called Electric Brae in southwest Scotland in Ayrshire. Along the A719 highway, which runs along the hill, special signs have been placed for motorists and even a massive stone pyramid has been installed, on which a warning about the anomalous phenomenon is carved.

Among other things, from the text on the granite monument you can find out that during World War II, Electric Brae was visited by the legendary General Dwight Eisenhower, who wished to personally become acquainted with the strange phenomenon.

On Peanut Street in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, cars climb up the road for a quarter of a mile with their engines turned off.

At the entrance to the hill in Bedfort, Pennsylvania, giant letters "GH" (gravity hill) are permanently painted on the asphalt of the highway so that the driver knows where to stop, shift into neutral and take his foot off the brake pedal.

Similar phenomena are observed near Newcastle on the Isle of Wight, on Jeju Island in South Korea, on the Rocca di Papa highway south of Rome, in southern Poland, Turkey and Greece.

In South Australia, near Peterborough, 35-year-old farmer James Breff, who had just bought a brand new car, was driving carefully along a deserted road when he suddenly punctured a tire. Naturally, he didn’t have a spare tire with him, and he got out of the car and went up the mountainside for help: ahead, about two kilometers away, was a car repair shop. However, he had not walked even twenty meters when he noticed that his own car was overtaking him! Since then, the anomalous mountain began to be called Bruff Hill, and at the top of the hill a monument was erected in the form of a magnetic horseshoe, which attracts a bicycle from below.

Parapsychologists explain all of the above cases by the fact that in anomalous places deep underground there are faults in the earth’s crust, from where magnetic field energy is released outward, affecting objects and people.

Most traditionalist scientists are clearly skeptical about this explanation. In their opinion, no gravitational forces act on the so-called anomalous sections of the road, and the whole point is only in the imperfection of human vision, “clinging” to the terrain, rocks, trees and other objects standing along the route. Due to them, distortion occurs, that is, visual deception. Therefore, while this section of the road appears to be rising to the eye, there is actually a slight descent.

As an example, scientists cite Mount Spook in Lake Wales, Florida. There is a highway running through this mountain. And if you look at it from a certain point, you can clearly see a slight slope, which then turns into a steep rise. At the bottom of the slope there is a street sign allowing parking. It is at this point that after the brakes are turned off, the cars begin to move forward, up the slope.

But it turned out that this was only an illusion. It is created by the surrounding hills combined with the curves of the highway. When viewed from the side " lowest point» rises above the road. The traffic here is one-way, so drivers cannot turn around to confirm their mistake.

To expose the “miracle,” surveyors placed special levels in several places on the highway that showed no slope. However, the scientists’ “scientific exercises” made absolutely no impression on the local residents. “At least you set the whole Spook with levels,” they exclaim. - What will change from this? The cars will still, as before, with the engine turned off, not roll down, as scientists want, but up the slope...”

It was created by order of Indian Motorcycles, by the way, the oldest motorcycle manufacturer in the United States. It was officially founded in 1901, and Harley-Davidson - in 1903. However, there is one subtlety: the family business Harley-Davidson has been successfully operating for 114 years, and Indian has already died, been revived, and changed hands several times during this time . Today, all that remains of that old Indiana is, by and large, only the brand. But the brand is legendary. However, I won’t get carried away with history; that’s not what we’re talking about now.



The custom I want to talk about today is built on the basis of the standard 2015 Indian Scout model. "Medium-sized", by the standards of the company itself.

Here it is (pictured above). But thanks to the efforts of customizers, it was transformed almost beyond recognition.

The premiere of the new product is timed to coincide with the next anniversary of the next race for the next cup of the next collective farm water pump. I won’t even test your patience and waste energy on explaining what kind of race it was and why it is so dear to the guys from Indian Motorcycles. Let me just say that the custom is stylized to resemble vintage motorcycles designed for “hill climbing.”

"Hill Climb" was once very popular look motorcycle racing. The winner was the one who first climbed up enough steep slope. Not everyone succeeded in this, so the competition was considered quite risky, and, accordingly, spectacular.

We climbed up the slope, naturally, along a very slippery dirt track for a motorcycle. That is why the Black Hills Beast has such a “toothy” rear tire, and even with chains put on top of it. Such a wheel should row very well on loose soil, but it’s not worth driving out on a regular road like this.

The motorcycle also has a greatly extended rear swingarm. This is intended to provide it with additional stability when accelerating on an inclined surface.

This, in fact, was the main intrigue of such competitions. As soon as the rider went too far with the gas even a little and lost control over acceleration, the motorcycle would stall. rear wheel and capsized.

The Black Hills Beast is equipped with a standard “scout” V-twin engine with liquid cooling. Its displacement is 69 cubic inches. This is approximately 1.1 liters. "with our money." And the manufacturer himself declares the power as 100+ hp. Also in this photo you can see a tuning muffler from RPW USA. It is significantly shorter than the standard one and does not touch the ground when the motorcycle stands on its rear wheel.

The most luxurious leather saddle was also selected from the catalog of branded tuning accessories. By the way, $379.99 retail and excluding taxes!

You can also see the expensive Fox cross shock absorbers and just a bunch of all kinds of additional goodies. It’s clear that the guys had a budget and didn’t skimp too much. But it turned out beautiful! True, an uncovered chain and its drive are only for one race, no more.

In a word, everything is cool. However, the question remains, why? Indian Motorcycles itself has hinted at length that something similar will go into production. Perhaps even already in next year. But personally, I somehow doubt it - the motorcycle turned out to be too specific. Why did I decide to tell you about it? Yes, simply because I liked his appearance. I don’t see any other reasons to dwell on this topic.