Your heart is pounding at what feels like its maximum rate, your muscles are burning with lactic acid, and you feel like you're running the last half mile of a fast 5Km, yet you are being passed by little old ladies and small children. What are you doing?

Believe it or not, although you are only running at a 10 minutes per mile pace (or slower), you're getting a fantastic workout that raises your heart rate, strengthens and stretches your leg muscles, and gives your knees relief from the constant pounding they receive on the roads. No, you aren't dragging a parachute, wearing a weighted vest, or using one of the many "training" gimmicks now available--you are just running backwards!

Research performed by Tim Flynn of Texas Tech University* has shown that backwards running not only is a great form of cross-training, but also is a way runners with injured knees can keep up their fitness while they recover. As the knee absorbs less impact during backward running, athletes with problem knees can use this form of exercise to run without pain.

Benefits for non-injured runners are tremendous as well. If you're bored with your current routines at the track and are looking for a different activity that will add to your overall fitness and strength, you might find backward running injects some new life into your training.

In tests conducted on a group of runners, Flynn showed that a person walking forward at a 16 minute/mile pace will only raise his/her pulse rate to about 106 beats per minutes (bpm), but when that person turns around and walks backwards at the same pace, the pulse rate soars to about 156--higher than would be achieved by running forwards at a 10 minute pace. When that person runs backwards at the same 10 minute pace, the pulse will skyrocket to about 90% of maximum, around 174 bpm.

Oxygen consumption will also soar to approximately 84% of VO2max instead of 60% consumed during forward running at the same pace.

In addition to receiving a great aerobic and anaerobic workout, by running backwards you will also give your quads a tremendous strength workout as they are active for a longer period of time than in normal running. Your calf muscles will be stretched as well as contracted as you will tend to land on the front part of your foot and then your heel wil drop towards the ground.

Be warned, though, that if you have Achilles tendon problems, backwards running may increase the stress on the tendon.

Even if you are currently running high weekly mileage and consider yourself super-fit, don't expect to be able to go out and run a backwards mile without stopping. This type of running needs practice because initially you will feel totally uncoordinated, off balance and exhausted after just a few minutes. You will need to build up your time and distance gradually. Once you feel comfortable in this new position, try these workouts:

1. On a (preferably deserted) track, run 800 meter intervals backwards at a hard pace, with 5 minutes of walking or jogging forwards to recover.

2. Jog backwards up a gently sloping hill for about 100 meters and then jog down forwards and repeat. As you get used to this workout, increase the length and incline of the hill.

3. If you're too embarrassed to be seen in public performing this unusual feat, use a treadmill for your workout. Try alternating three minutes of backwards running with three minutes of forward jogging. Be conservative with the pace and incline in the initial stages and gradually increase the speed and angle.

The hardest part of this new type of workout may be learning to ignore the stares and snickers of other runners sharing the track with you. But in addition to adding a whole new and challenging routine to your training, you may discover you have a hitherto undiscovered talent and will be able to challenge the backwards-mile record of 6:07.

*Source: Running Research News, May/June 1993