Hey Reader,

It’s no secret that running Hills is HARD!

Uphill is obviously harder from a cardiovascular standpoint. We can improve this with improvements to our cardiovascular fitness overall and exposure to hills (I’ll share some of my favorite hill workouts below).

Beyond that BOTH uphill and downhill running can be hard physically for different reasons.

Let’s compare them:

With uphill running:

• Higher cadence
• Shorter stride length
• Higher power demand & greater propulsive force required
• Greater forward lean and hip extension range
• Increased demand on hip flexors
• Increased demand on the Achilles

With downhill running:

• Lower cadence
• Longer stride length
• Increased landing forces
• Increased eccentric demands (especially of the quads)
• Can lend itself to overstriding and open scissor posture (especially if not confident in the landing). This is that leaning back from the top strategy for slowing down. Losing that stack can also contribute to pelvic floor symptoms.
• Can place more demand knees (to what degree depends on form; it will be more so with that lean back)

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I find that downhill running is the hardest for most of my athletes (likely skewed a bit because I work with a lot of women who come because of pelvic floor issues with running). Out of curiosity, the other day I posted to my IG stories asking which my followers found harder, 73% said downhill. Then I asked those that said downhill to clarify and got answers like:

• Staying under control and feeling safe but not holding back
• The wanting to lean back and how it changes my foot strike
• Not wanting to pee my pants
• More force hitting the ground
• Quads start to give out
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To me, there’s nothing more frustrating than struggling uphill because your heart is pounding and you can’t breathe but then not being able to open up or relax on the downhill because you aren’t confident in how your body handles those forces - lower limb or back pain, pelvic floor symptoms, etc. I know because I’ve been there!

Here’s the good news! We can purposefully train for both! We can train to get stronger and more fit for the uphills and stronger and more confident on the downhills.

How to better prepare your body for uphill running:

• Practice hill repeats (some of my favorite hill workouts are below) with our other purposefully paced workouts for improving cardiovascular fitness.
• Concentric strength work (think moving heavy weights quickly).
• Work on pelvis position (for improved hip flexor range of motion) and hip flexor strength. Way more on this connection between pelvis position and hip flexor strength here.​
• Build tolerance to demand on the Achilles with plyometrics (slowly introduce volume over time).

How to better prepare your body for downhill running:

• Work on eccentric/yielding strength (think moving slowly with gravity or “catching” your body in/around mid range of hip flexion). More coming on this next week!
• Work on your orientation/stack ribs over pelvis to help load efficiently through your core with strength instead of that pulling back from the top that can lead to that overstriding.
• If pelvic floor symptoms are holding you back, work on the 7 Fundamental for a Responsive Pelvic Floor.
• Use a wide arm swing to slow you down if/when needed instead of pulling back from the top.

This last point about arm swing is for any time you feel like you need to slow down your descent without changing into that lean back, breaking posture. If you widen your arm swing out to the sides you can slow yourself down without losing that stack.

You can see this difference in the image above. On the left I’m leaning back to break creating more of that open scissor and overstriding pattern. On the right, I’m swinging my arms out wide to help slow my momentum while staying stacked with my foot landing closer into my center of mass.

My favorite hill workouts:

Hill Repeats for Better Form

• Complete an EASY 2-4 mile run
• Walk for a minute or two to catch your breath.
• Start with 5-6 repeats (work your what up to 10 or even 20) up a hill with a 5-15% grade - Focus on form over pace, swing your arm (strong mini punches), keeping a nice long forward lean from the ankles instead of hinging into the hill from your hips. Don’t run just on your toes.
• Walk downhill until you are fully recovered.
• Don’t push past fatigue, the last should feel just as springy as the first.

Hill Repeats to Crush a Hilly Course

• Warm up for 1 easy mile
• Then do 6-8 hill repeats at RPE 7 up a hill approx. 1/10 of a mile long with a 5-8% grade - Focus on keeping a nice long forward lean from the ankles instead of hinging into the hill from your hips. Don’t run just on your toes. Walk or jog downhill for the recovery.
• Finish with 1 easy mile.

If you want to take this one up a notch, after the hill repeats do the following instead: ½ mile easy to recover, followed by 1 mile at ST (RPE 6), finish with a 5-10 minute walk.

Rolling Hills Tempo for Practicing Pacing and Confidence with Both Up and Downhill

• Find somewhere with rolling hills (3-5% incline).
• Perform a standard tempo workout:
  • Run 1 mile easy
  • Run X* miles at tempo pace
  • Run 1 mile (1.5k) easy.
• Pace the hills by feel RPE 3 or 6/7. So that the average of that segment is the target pace.
• Uphill will be a bit slower to keep the RPE the same – if it’s a steep hill this might even be walking.
• Downhill will be a bit faster to keep the RPE the same.

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Here’s to feeling stronger and more in control on every hill—happy running!

Your Coach,
Alison

Alison Marie Helms, PhD Certified Personal Trainer and Running Coach Unlock your full running potential through physics and physiology. ​Work with me.​