Quick background: 52yo recreational runner. Heavier than most runners (5’9" and fluctuate between 215-222 lbs), which may be relevant here. Ran half-marathon this morning…2:02 beating 2:05 goal. Use a sports watch and have watched and used heartrate MUCH more in training for this race than ever before.
Today’s race was NOT very hilly overall (~250 ft difference between high and low points), but had rolling hills throughout. Approximate course is detailed here… https://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/1614097987. For my “hill” strategy, I decided to commit almost 100% to an “even perceived effort” approach, which is what I understand most experts recommend. I was also monitoring my HR to back my estimation of perceived effort. While my HR did pick up maybe 10 bpm on hills today, I kept it close to even.
The result?..I was SPEEDING by almost everybody near me going downhill, but was also getting regularly passed going up hills. On this not very hilly course, my fastest mile was 8:15 and slowest was 10:26 (with a 9:19 average).
So the question…who’s doing it wrong? Are the vast majority of runners (at least those near my pace) taking the wrong approach to hills? Am I missing something and perhaps have a better strategy available to me? Or maybe are we all “doing it right” and my extra weight simply dictates that I should use a different hill approach than other comparable, but lighter, runners?
I do the same as you — try to maintain a consistent effort. This means that on uphills, I slightly reduce my cadence and significantly reduce my stride length (more so on steep hills). This approach works well for me; without it, I’d tire myself out too much on uphills.
On downhills, I try to glide down, lengthening my stride a bit but not speeding up too much. (In my early running days, I pounded too hard down some hills during a race, tore my medial meniscus, had surgery, and missed years of running.)
As you’ve noticed, many runners don’t follow the even-effort strategy. Maybe that’s because different approaches work well for different people (and yes, your weight gives you more of a reason than most runners to slow on the uphills). But another reason may be that runners in your pace group don’t tend to be highly educated about running strategies. (Just taking a guess here.)
P.S. If you’re 52 and 5’9” and 220, and you’re running a half marathon in just over 2:00, you’re doing a fantastic job!