Record-Setting Ultramarathoner and Run Coach David Roche Says the Secret to Late-Race Performance Isn’t Longer Runs—It’s Downhill Training
Many runners think of inclines as the tough part of a hilly race. Uphills send the heart rate soaring and reduce even the strongest runners to much slower paces. Meanwhile, descents feel like a chance to breathe easier and regain time with gravity assistance. But according to ultrarunner and coach David Roche, even if downhill running feels easier in the moment, it may come at a greater cost later.
Roche, two-time winner and course record holder of the Life Time Leadville 100, covered the famously demanding course in 15:12:30, roughly 9:07 per mile overall. However, he rarely relies on extremely long and arduous training runs to prepare himself or the athletes he coaches for long-distance races.
Instead, he uses downhill running workouts to reproduce some of the muscular stress that causes runners’ legs to fail late in an endurance event.
“You can’t simulate mile 80 [of a 100-mile run], but you can get very close to it in a 20-mile run with lots of steep and fast downhills,” Roche tells Runner’s World. “Downhills are the gateway to fatigue resistance in these really long events.”
This principle isn’t limited to elite ultrarunners and their mountainous races either. Roche says downhill training can also help recreational marathon runners prepare their legs to withstand the repeated impact that accumulates over 26.2 miles.
Ahead, Roche explains how purposeful downhill training can help runners preserve their strength, form, and pace deep into a race. Plus, he offers his go-to workout to add to your buildup.
Why Downhill Training Is an Underrated Durability Booster
Running downhill may provide some relief to your cardiovascular system—by lowering your heart rate a bit as gravity naturally carries you downward—but it puts much more strain on your musculoskeletal system. To keep you from tumbling down the hill, the quads must repeatedly brake the body’s momentum.
Braking action involves eccentric contractions, meaning the muscles produce force while lengthening under load, Roche explains. Eccentric contractions occur during many activities—including simply walking down stairs—but running a lengthy descent can deliver thousands in succession, significantly increasing the load on your muscles.
When the body isn’t accustomed to the stress caused by downhill running, the aftermath can wreck you. Roche explains that while a runner may feel relatively normal after their first downhill running workout, they end up developing significant soreness within a day or two. “That feeling of, ‘Oh man, I have no quads right now,’ a few days later is also what happens to your quads in an ultra,” Roche says—and even a marathon.
The initial downhill running effort, however, also triggers an adaptation known as the repeated bout effect. A review published in 2024 on the subject describes the repeated bout effect as a form of skeletal-muscle memory where the first eccentric challenge activates protective responses that make the muscle more resistant to damage than subsequent ones.
Scientists haven’t identified one physiological mechanism that fully explains the effect, however. Instead, the review suggests several adaptations may work together. The nervous system may distribute the load more effectively across the muscles, while changes to muscle fibers, tendons, and the extracellular matrix—the structural network surrounding the cells—may help the tissue tolerate force. The inflammatory response may also become better regulated after the body has encountered that stress before.
Basically, the more downhill running you do in your training, the less sore your legs will become after each workout, Roche explains. Using the downhill bout effect to your benefit in this way helps keep your legs stronger later in races as they handle similar impact.
Research shows this phenomenon in action: In a study published in 2022, 10 recreational male runners completed the same 30-minute treadmill run at a 20 percent decline twice, with three weeks between sessions. Following the second run, the athletes experienced a smaller rise in creatine kinase—a blood marker commonly used to assess muscle damage following exercise—along with less soreness and a smaller reduction in maximal force. Their running mechanics were also less disrupted after the second session.
The practical takeaway: With the appropriate exposure, the legs can learn to handle downhills with less fallout. That makes downhill training particularly valuable for ultrarunners who spend multiple hours in a race descending hills, but Roche believes the same principle applies to road runners, too.
At mile 20 of your marathon, your limiting factor isn’t always your heart or your lungs. You could simply lack the muscular strength to keep the same mechanics or pace. Downhill running is Roche’s solution to prepare for that problem without requiring immense volume, and his go-to workout is simpler than you might expect.
Add This Downhill Workout to Your Training
For most runners, Roche’s downhill workout isn’t a complicated interval session. It’s an easy long run with a deliberate change in pace when you reach a decline. Roche uses variations of this downhill workout twice per week in his own training, recommending most athletes start with one session and progress from there based on how they recover.
Long Run With Fast Downhills
Why it works:
“Because the aerobic demand [of the run] is low, it’s just about pushing the steeper terrain in a way that causes eccentric muscle contractions,” Roche says.
Instead of trying to stack as many miles as possible to mimic race-day conditions, Roche recommends runners focus race-day muscular demand into a 16-mile effort. The faster descents repeatedly load the quads, while the surrounding easy running provides the aerobic work that’s crucial for long-distance racing, says Roche.
According to Roche, in an ideal scenario, you should aim for downhills as steep as—or steeper than—those in your goal race. Running these downhills faster than your race pace ensures your muscles can take on the challenges your goal race will present.
While Roche’s recommended 16-mile run is generally reserved for experienced athletes preparing for marathons or longer, you can scale the same principle to nearly any experience level or race distance by shortening the overall run.
How to do it:
- Run 16 miles on a hilly route at an easy overall effort (3-4 RPE).
- Run each downhill faster than goal race pace. (For example, if you’re a marathon runner and marathon effort equates to 5-6 RPE, you should take downhills at 6-7 RPE or about 20-30 seconds per mile faster.)
- Return to an easy zone 2 effort between downhills.
The purpose of downhill training isn’t to leave the quads wrecked every week. Initial sessions may cause soreness, but over time, the same type of descent should become less disruptive, allowing you to recover more easily and withstand greater late-race fatigue.
The workout succeeds not because of how much punishment the quads absorb during one run, but because they’re still capable of working when the race delivers the same punishment as you approach the finish line.
Matt Rudisill is an Associate Service Editor who has been with Runner's World since 2025. A Nittany Lion through-and-through, Matt graduated from Penn State in 2022 with a degree in journalism and worked in communications for the university's athletic department for three years as the main contact and photographer for its nationally-ranked cross country and track & field teams. Matt was also heavily involved in communications efforts for Penn State football, men's basketball, and women's gymnastics. In his role with Runner's World, Matt has interviewed Olympians, world champions, and countless experts in the field to create service content that helps runners of all ages and experience levels train smarter and race faster. When he’s not out jogging, Matt can be found tweeting bad takes about the Phillies or watching movies.