Hills for beginning road racers

Down hills feel or seem harder than they really are. So during a race I try not to resist (break) too much and instead just take what the route is giving me. You can make up a lot of time on the down-hills if you just smooth out your stride (imagine youre a ball or water flowing down hill) and only resist enough to keep in controlled form. This is the coarses way of giving you a pass or some free energy (that you can cash in near the end of the race) but all too often people slow WAY too much when heading down hill. Don't go slow (unless youre injured) down hills. Go at least as fast (faster really) as you do on flat ground as this is where you can jump in front of a lot of the slower racers.

Then when the up-hills come shorten your stride, lean in and take quicker steps but barely lift your feet to conserve energy.

All this is quite different advise than "destroying your opponent by breaking away on an uphill" which is something only advanced hill climbers should try.

Doug - veteran runner

Do we mean running downhill in a race, or running downhill in training? Running downhill is definitely harder on your legs and your body in general, and it's a pretty good way to start or aggravate injuries since there's significantly more impact with each stride.

Sebastian Coe, former world record holder in the 800m and Mile, used to do hill repeats where he'd run up, and his coach (dad) would drive him back down. That said, I think there's a time for running downhill (if you're training for a hilly race), but in many cases, particularly in training, taking the extra downhills too hard can tear your legs apart. If there's a dirt or grass median available to descend on, it might be better to go down that then on hard concrete (although if its grass, be careful that you don't roll an ankle.) In general, I like to avoid running downhills too fast in day-to-day training unless the workout prescribes it.