Hills are good for you, and they’re good for your running. Training on hills improves leg-muscle strength, quickens your stride, expands stride length, develops your cardiovascular system and enhances your running economy. The large and small muscles in the legs must work together perfectly to produce a smooth stride. Hill running does that by building strength and coordination at the same time. That added leg strength also improves running posture. An efficiently moving body saves energy. Running hills teaches you rhythm. Good rhythm can pull you through periods of tiredness. Hill training forces you to develop quick push-off and faster leg turnover. Runners who trained on hills have much higher concentrations of aerobic enzymes - the chemicals which allow your muscles to function at high intensity for long periods without fatigue - in their quadriceps muscles than those who did all their running on flat terrain. Heightened aerobic power in your quads gives you improved knee lift while running and also accelerates each leg forward more quickly as you run which improves your speed. Hills strengthen running muscles while they are running. This gives functional strength as opposed to the specific and limited strength of weight training. Hills strengthen the main driving muscles - quadriceps, hamstrings and calf muscles. Running hills once a week gives you a good hard workout with relatively little pounding.

Ÿ You only need to do hill work once a week.

Ÿ Your goal is to build strength, not oxygen debt so take plenty of rest between each hill. If you need more time in between hills, take it. This is not supposed to be an anaerobic workout.

Ÿ Keep a short stride with your feet directly underneath you. Try not to compromise the maximum lift from each step by leaning either forward or backward as you ascend or decline. You’ll get the greatest push from each step if your main elements - head, chest, hips and feet - are perpendicular to an imaginary horizontal.

Ÿ Run at 85% effort

UPHILL

It is the moment all runners dread. Don’t wince, focus. Shift gears both mentally and physically and prepare to attack the hill; don’t let it attack you. Running hills well is all about rhythm; if you let the hill break up your rhythm, you will slow dramatically.

Ÿ As you start uphill, shorten and quicken your stride and let yourself slow down gradually as you ascend. Take baby steps if necessary. The steeper the hill, the smaller the stride.

Ÿ Don’t try to maintain the pace you were running on the flat or you’ll soon be worn out. Keep your rhythm that you had on the flat and maintain the same effort level. A good check of this “same effort level” is your breathing. If your breathing begins to quicken, it means that you’re either going too fast, over-striding or bounding too far off the ground as you run.

Ÿ Use a light ankle-flicking push-off with each step, not an explosive motion, which will waste energy. If the hill is long or the gradient increases, keep shortening your stride to maintain a smooth and efficient breathing pattern. If the gradient decreases, extend your stride again. Try to maintain the same steady effort and breathing throughout.

Ÿ Pick up the rhythm slightly as you near the top. Some runners find a slight increase in arm rhythm helps them do this. Don’t increase length or power of the arm swing, just pick up the rhythm. This helps pull you over the top.

Ÿ Don’t crest the hill and immediately slow down or pull back on your effort.

DOWNHILL

Most runners make one or two obvious mistakes when running downhill. They either sprint, which causes severe muscle soreness later on, or they’re so hesitant to surrender to gravity that they’re constantly braking, which fatigues the quadriceps muscles. The optimum pace is somewhere in between. Try not to let your feet slap on the ground when you are running downhill. Step lightly and don’t reach out with your feet.

Ÿ Try to visualize gravity pulling you down the hill. Let gravity do the work.

Ÿ Try to maintain an upright body posture keeping your torso perpendicular to the horizontal. Concentrate on maintaining a foot strike directly under your center of gravity.

Ÿ Keep your feet close to the ground for maximum control and land lightly.

Ÿ As you increase your pace, emphasize quicker turnover rather than longer strides, though your strides can be slightly longer than normal. If your stride becomes too long, you lose control and must expend energy to slow down. Too long a stride can pound your knees unmercifully.

Ÿ When you start the downhill, keep your stride slightly shortened and let your turnover increase. When you feel in control, gradually lengthen your stride.

Ÿ If you start to run out of control when descending, shorten your stride until you feel you are back in control again.