Depending on the hill’s steepness, running uphill can be challenging for runners of every level. If there are big hills during a race, they can make or break your day.

In this section, we will examine the benefits of hill workouts and how they can help your overall performance.

The first obvious one is that this is a pure strength workout that is better than any leg workout that you can do in the gym. Hills also work different muscles. This helps disperse the workload for a normal run and will help prevent injury.

Intervals, Tempo runs, and Hill workouts all have one thing in common: they all improve the cardio system.

Here is a quick primer on the Circulatory system.

The cardiovascular system, also known as the circulatory system, is responsible for circulating blood from the heart to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The oxygenated blood is then pumped by the heart through arteries to the various parts of the body. The veins carry deoxygenated blood back to the heart, completing the circulation process.

Running up steep and/or long uphills helps by stressing the heart muscle. Specifically, it targets two components many people haven’t heard of. Heart stroke Volume (The amount of blood flowing through the heart at any given moment) and Heart stroke endurance ( The amount of time the heart can go to near-max levels before fatigue sets in).

The measure of one’s aerobic fitness level is called VO2 max. Simply put, the higher your VO2 max, the faster you can run. However, having a higher VO2 max is only one part of the equation. For example, if you took an Olympic athlete with an extremely high VO2 max and had them run a marathon, they would most likely struggle. Even Lance Armstrong, who has a high VO2 max, said that his first NYC marathon was one of the hardest things he has ever done.

In workouts, Run harder on the Uphill’s and relax on the Downhills.

In a Race Do not Push on the Uphill’s and generate more speed on the downhills.

Depending on the hill’s steepness, running uphill can be challenging for runners of every level. If there are big hills during a race, they can make or break your day.

In this section, we will examine the benefits of hill workouts and how they can help your overall performance.

Intervals, Tempo runs, and Hill workouts all have one thing in common: they all improve the cardio system.

Here is a quick primer on the Circulatory system.

During training, it is more advantageous to push yourself harder while running on uphill terrain and use the downhill sections to recover. This method helps to increase cardiovascular stress, which mimics tough speed workouts without putting too much strain on your legs. Running uphill also enhances overall leg strength by working slightly different muscles. The ultimate goal of sustained uphill running is to extend the time a runner can maintain being in oxygen debt, which is equivalent to a hard tempo run or speed workout on the track, without causing too much damage to the muscles.

However, during a race where the objective is to run as fast as possible, it is better to run slightly easier on the uphills but then use the downhills to generate extra speed. This approach ensures that you conserve your energy and use it strategically to run faster, especially on the downhill sections where gravity can help you generate additional speed.

In a race, it is advantageous to focus on running a bit faster on the downhills, but avoid going into oxygen debt on the uphills. Running uphill can quickly drain our energy reserves. The key to a successful race is to conserve energy and use it wisely. By incorporating a solid hill workout regime, you can train your body to efficiently tackle uphill portions of the race without depleting your energy reserves. This will allow you to make up time on the downhills, where you can generate substantial speed and gain an advantage over other runners.

Regardless of whether you are running uphill or downhill, it is important to maintain good arm action. The arms play a crucial role in driving the body forward, especially when running uphill. To optimize your performance on uphill sections, keep your arms close to your body and swing them slightly upward on the forward motion. This motion will help lift your knees and increase your speed up the hill.
Unlike running downhill, where the arms are out and used to balance your body, the arms are tighter to your body. Here is one trick. On the forward swing, drive the hands slightly upward. This should be about 6 inches or so forward and upward from your normal swing. This helps lift your knees every so slightly. Better knee lift leads to better speed up the hill. Hill workouts are also a good place to practice focus. It is important to try and maintain a rhythm, even though the body may have other ideas.

Go to running with your arms for more information.

Again, stronger arm action will help keep your momentum up the hill. It is also important to keep a higher cadence with you arms.
This will help shorten your stride. Depending on the steepness of the hill, your stride will naturally shorten. Still there are people who try to keep the same length of stride as running on flat ground.

Race Day

On race day, the object is to get to the finish line as quickly as you are capable. Expending a lot of energy on steep hills is counter-productive to that goal. Many runners try to keep their target pace on the uphills. This is a mistake. One should maintain effort, not pace while going uphill.

If it is a severe uphill, it may be better for slower runners to walk rather than to run. There are many benefits to this strategy of running to effort and not pace. At the top of the hill, you will be more rested relative to all the people around you. This allows you to run immediately at your regular pace. You will instantly find yourself passing fatigued runners. If the uphill turns into a downhill, you will have all this extra energy to attack the downhill. This is where you generate true speed. If you spend a good portion of a downhill recovering from the effort of an uphill, you have wasted a good portion of your run where you can knock off those precious seconds.

The Positive Mental aspects of Hill Running

In the beginning hills suck. There is no way around it. But as you get those muscles in shape and get used to your rhythm you need to get up the hill at a steady pace. One day you find one of the greatest joys of the week is to get to the top of that large mountain or hill and to be able to see the world below you. Outside of racing, this is one of the highlights of life. Best of all it is free.

Hill Running during races For Elite Runners

During a race, generally the goal is to get to the start and finish in the quickest time possible. This isn’t always true at the Elite Level. Sometimes where you place is more important than the overall time. For this reason, the way a person runs Hills may, at times, be different then from a runner who is trying to get to the finish line as fast as possible. The general strategy for the race is to get up the hill as relaxed as possible without spending excess energy. This allows you to have more energy for the downhills where you can generate more speed. With this strategy, you will not have to spend any time recovering from the uphill portion of the run. You will not only make up time but, by running downhill strong you can knock off additional time.

However, if you are in the lead pack, it may be more important to stay with the leaders than to break contact and find yourself running alone.

More importantly, at the later stages of the race if you are a strong runner, a hill may be the place where it is good to throw a few good surges to knock others out of their comfort zone.

For stronger runners an easy way to quicken the tempo is to focus on driving the use of the arms. If you quicken the turnover rate of the arms, the turnover rate of the legs will naturally follow. This is an efficient way to throw in a surge without use of too much additional energy. Try to back out of a surge before you go into true oxygen debt. This will allow you to throw the second or third surge in sooner. By doing repeated surges, one can know a competitor out of the race by breaking his rhythm.