Forums >General Running>Up hill and down hill pace?
Should I try to maintain the same pace on the downhills and uphills or go faster on the downhills and slower on the uphills in a half marathon?
The latter. Aim for somewhat even effort, but your pace will naturally be significantly faster on the downhills and slower on the uphills than your average for the entire race.
Runners run
I tend to run harder uphill and recover on the downhills because hills make me angry. Even in training runs my fastest mile splits tend to be uphill.
You may want to play around in your harder training runs and see what works for you.
Certified Running CoachCrocked since 2013
recently I have been working on keeping same "effort" on the uphills as on flat & then "gliding" (staying relaxed) on the downhills. Same "effort" on downhills = faster pace. all with proper running form for the specific level of the surface (flat, down, up). Do this on 1-2 of my weekly runs. Ran a 10k 2 weeks ago & really concentrated on this & I think it served me well. No PR or earthshattering time but was pleased with result on a very, very hilly course. Either it was up or down at different grades. very little flat. Was on close to PR pace but last 2 short but steep hills between miles 4 & 5 did me in. effort was still there but lost time & fell off pace. Just need to continue on stamina/strength. Made me very curious on how will do next 10k end of May on much easier course. bottom line I was trying to maintain equal effort throughout.
I am officially an old guy now and have changed my strategy in the past year or two. As a younger runner (sub 40) I would run hard up the hills an take whatever I had on the down. This worked sometimes, if not often. But I also had some huge blow ups, so tired on the downhill that I would not recover. Later I attempted a more even approach, keep an even effort on both. This is usually a safe method. Now that indeed I am old (mid-50s) I don't have the muscular strength and cardiovascular capacity to run all that well on the uphills. So now at best I maintain, often dial back on the uphills, and then I hammer the downhills. In this way I can sort of fake being a decent runner. Not that I ever was one, but can pretend.
This is what I tell my son to do in XC races. The only exception is if the finish line is near the crest of the hill. If you give up too much ground going up the hill, there isn't enough real estate left to make it up.
A Saucy Wench
+1
I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets
"When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7
Definitely even effort. Running downhill is sometimes taken for granted though. I see a lot of people (sometimes I'm guilty myself) of 'breaking' downhill. The key is to lean into the hill and let gravity take you.
Depending on how steep the hill is, pace can vary by a couple minutes per mile.
Prefer slower and shorter stride on uphill and run faster on downhill.
Find a bad ass hill. Mark off 1/2 mile and run repeats up and down. Run as fast as you can and hold the same pace for all three up and all three down. If you run too fast you will not be able to hold the same pace.
Learn how fast you can run hills without blowing up.
On my hill I run 1/2 min slower up so I lose min. per mile
Take it easy on the downhills in the first 1/2 of the race or you will blow out your quads.
Your strategy may also depend on the length of the race. For a distance 10k or less charging may be fine, but I don't think it would work out so well for a marathon or longer. For the half, I would agree with MikeyMike.
As a slight counterpoint, though, I would add that it depends somewhat on what "kind" of runner one is, temperamentally. I have found that I have more success "attacking" the uphills and recovering on the downhills than I do when I just try to maintain "even effort". This is also true for me for marathons. I don't know if it increases my focus or if the change of effort level helps me in some way, but this is just the way I run best.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
I'm a fan of maintaining pace uphill, and maintaining effort downhill.
Know thyself.
Generally go by effort. Take a look at variability in pace charts and caveats for time projection / calculator / ouija board linked on this page.
(It's about a 50% variation in pace depending on uphill / downhll, road, trail.