A Special Form Of Running - Hill Running

    Among all kinds of running trainings, hill training is a highly specific and interesting form. Many hates hill training and sees as a tiring one. Actually, hill training is a great strength/endurance training that has many benefits for runners, including improvement of stride frequency and length, muscle strength and power, neuromuscular co-ordination, running economy, fatigue resistance. And if we want to embrace the good parts of hill running, we may fall in love with it.

     First of all, Nike research lab found that running up an incline as small as 1-degree, increases energy costs by a 12%, which could make a huge difference in physiological benefits to the runner. For example, research has indicated that high intensity hill running leads to a greater level of muscle fiber activation. 
In addition, Hill training is particularly effective in developing hip flexor strength which may improve stride length, stride rate and stability.

     Hill training also helps improve running economy, which means reduces the energy cost of running at a certain speed and thus increases the fatigue resistance of muscles. In other words, runners' capacity is improved by uphill training. They are able to use less energy and oxygen at a given speed, or over longer distances. On the other side, downhill running helps delayed onset muscle soreness, which could be of great help integrating running training with over speed training. Research shows that negative effects about hill running, such as strength loss, can be significantly reduced by integrating downhill running into the overall running plan. In summary, hill running that combines downhill and uphill running can create great good for runners by providing a variety of benefits, including increased stride length and frequency, stronger upper body musculature, improved lactate tolerance, etc. And all these benefits help runners to achieve better records in running races.

     Moreover, hill running has its aesthetic benefit. A senior running trainer, Jenny Hadfield, shares her story on runner's world magazine: She fell in love with hill running in a mountain climbing expedition up Mount Rainier. She tried to apply the "be the mountain" principle in the running and the idea of "working with the mountain" rather than "against it" really changed her mind toward hill running. She suggests that the key point in hill running is finding the optimal path to run efficiently, or in her words, "be the friend of the mountains". By achieving that, hill running would become a joyful workout.

Source:
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/three-tips-for-running-downhill     http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/how-to-learn-to-love-hills http://training4endurance.co.uk/running/hill-running/