How to Race Hard and Hilly Triathlon Courses - Without Blowing Up
Smart strategies to ride faster, run stronger, and make the most of your fitness on tough terrain
You roll up to the start line fit and confident. The training has been solid, your taper went to plan, you’re feeling great on race day, and you know exactly what numbers to hit on course.
But as the miles tick by—climb after climb, roller after roller—your legs start to fade. The pace drops. And suddenly, all that fitness feels… wasted.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing: hard and hilly courses don’t just test your fitness. They test your ability to apply that fitness. And here’s where most athletes are missing a critical opportunity to improve their splits and their overall performance: they haven’t learned how to race the terrain.
If you want to deliver your best performance on a hilly course – and get the most speed out of your current fitness level — this blog is for you. We’re breaking down the real-world strategy and training tools that help athletes of all levels thrive on variable terrain.
Power matters. Strength matters. But it’s smart application and strategy that separates a strong finish from a slow fade.
What You'll Learn
Fitness is the Starting Point, Not the Solution
You’ve done the work. You’ve built the fitness, and you’re arriving at your race feeling fresh.
But the differentiator isn’t how fit you are. It’s how well you apply your fitness to the course profile.
This is especially true on technical, hilly courses, where gravity plays its own game.
Many athletes, particularly on variable terrain, take a linear, flat-course mindset into a course that’s anything but flat. The classic error: “flattening the course” by holding a steady average power or pace regardless of terrain.
This sounds logical and safe. After all, you’ve done those numbers in training and can be confident you can hold that effort over a given duration.
But if you stick to this plan, you will underperform and waste energy, resulting in excess muscle fatigue and cardiovascular stress – and a slower finish time.
Yes, you need power and fitness to race an IRONMAN. But they’re only the tip of the iceberg.
Case in Point
Years ago in Kona, we had the perfect case study illustrating this effect: two elite female Purple Patch athletes riding the bike leg of the IRONMAN World Championships, with the same power-to-weight ratio and riding with similar equipment.
Yet one was nearly 15 minutes faster. Why?
The faster athlete understood how to vary effort with terrain to optimize speed return, not just hold power. The other athlete had a power target – and stuck to it regardless of the grade.
The takeaway:
Stop chasing average power. In most cases, it’s not a helpful race metric on variable terrain and will lead you to overcook some portions of your IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 course while undercooking others.
Fitness = potential, not proof. Strategic execution is what unlocks performance. Your goal is to maximize the amount of speed you can get out of a unit of effort.
Accept that your effort must vary. Hills require more muscular work. Downhills offer free speed and recovery. If you want to be efficient, you need to adapt your pacing to the course conditions.
How Should I Pace the Bike Leg of a Hilly IRONMAN Triathlon Course?
Invest a little more on the climbs and reduce cadence, recover aerodynamically on the descents while wheelspeed increases, and master the art of cresting to maximize momentum.
The key to racing hard and hilly bike courses is to distribute your effort across terrain in a way that maximizes speed per watt.
Enter the concept of “investing uphill and harvesting downhill.”
How to Ride Smart on Hills
Uphills: Ditch the “spin it to win it” mentality. Slightly increase effort—about 5-10% above your flat-course power. Use a more muscular pedaling style with a lower cadence. You’ll get more speed for that power investment without spiking your heart rate.
Downhills: Let your power drop and focus on high cadence with light chain tension to recover, while maintaining an aerodynamic position. You’ll carry speed while lowering physiological stress. Above 25mph or so, it takes exponentially more effort to squeeze out additional speed: the investment isn’t worth the return. Save your energy for when it actually matters.
Cresting Hills: This is where most athletes lose time. As the gradient flattens over the top of the hill, spend 8-10 pedal strokes quickly increasing cadence and shifting gears to build speed before the descent, likely incorporating some standing out of the saddle. You’ll feel the investment in effort, but it’s so short – 5-10 seconds – that you won’t end up in the red zone. The feel of cresting over the hill should be a smooth “whoosh”, not a power spike.
Rollers: Use the downhills to carry speed up the next rise by increasing cadence and building momentum. Rollers are the ideal terrain to use feel over metrics. Develop this skill with repetition.
Visualize This
You’re on a rollercoaster. At the crest, give a little push. Then gravity kicks in – and you accelerate with a disproportionate amount of speed because of that little push.
That’s your bike on race day if you manage transitions well.
The Takeaway
Practice terrain transitions. Don’t look at your power meter. Look up the road. Look for crests and descents, and adjust your cadence and body position as you feel the road conditions change under you. Don’t anticipate too early and change gears before you feel the change in resistance – that will create unnecessary spikes or drops in your power and chain tension.
Use gears actively. Don’t be afraid to shift often to stay efficient. The smoother you can transition up and down your power and cadence range, the better your power return will be (and the less likely you are to drop a chain).
Avoid the metronome trap. Cadence and power should vary. In fact, adding variance to the bike leg of an IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 can help prevent muscle fatigue and keep you mentally sharp.
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What’s the Right Pacing Strategy for a Hilly Run Course?
Use strategic walk breaks to maintain strong form and finish faster – and adapt your strategy to maximize speed return on hills.
Strategic walk breaks can be the smartest pacing tool you’ve got, especially on a hilly run course. In fact, incorporating walk breaks can help you finish faster than if you tried to run the entire bike leg.
Yes, even pros and elite amateurs walk. Purple Patch routinely has athletes running sub-3-hour marathons while incorporating walk breaks – including a recent 2:34 marathon that included six strategic breaks.
It’s important to note that athletes took these breaks before they were desperate – it was part of their plan.
Where, When, and How to Walk
At intervals that allow you to maintain great form, before you are so fatigued that you need one. This might mean adjusting the frequency and length of your walk breaks throughout a race, especially in a marathon.
Purposefully. This isn’t a stroll. It’s a power walk – you’re moving with purpose and momentum.
Uphill: A great place for walk breaks. The steeper the grade, the less severe the speed penalty. Walking uphill can reduce stress without costing much time.
Downhill: Never walk. Gravity is your friend. Use it to gain free speed. Aim to increase leg turnover on the downhills, just as you would increase cadence on the downhills during the bike leg of your triathlon.
Aid Stations: These are a perfect time to hydrate, fuel, and reset. Walk purposefully through the station to take on liquids and nutrition, then smoothly pick up the pace in the following 10-15 seconds.
When Feeling Fatigued: If your form is unexpectedly crumbling, a walk break can help reset. Running with great technique and intermittent walk breaks is often faster than shuffling through a run with poor form and low cadence.
The Takeaways
Start walk breaks early. Don’t wait until you’re forced to.
Use the terrain. Walk uphill, run downhill.
Train it. Don’t try this for the first time on race day. Practice different walk-run strategies and intervals in training, and find the one that feels best for you.
How Should I Train for Hard & Hilly Triathlon Courses?
Use terrain-specific workouts that build strength, coordination, and efficiency.
You can’t just show up and think your way through this. You need to train specifically for hilly terrain, both in terms of physical resilience and technical execution. Here's how we do it at Purple Patch:
On the Bike
Low Cadence Work (Strength Endurance): Think 5-6 reps of 5 minutes at threshold power, under 70 RPM. Builds the muscular resilience you’ll need for climbs.
High Cadence Work (Neurological Conditioning): Short efforts at 95-100 RPM to strengthen the neuromuscular connection and build efficiency in your pedal stroke.
Simulation Sets: Do short bursts (30 seconds to 1 minute) well above race power, followed by long segments at race power over variable terrain. This helps build control under fatigue.
Use Technology to your advantage: Our game-changing video coaching platform allow us to simulate terrain changes indoors and provide specific coaching on technique and body position throughout the session for effective real-world specificity.
On the Run
Hill Repeats: Use 4-6% grades for 30-60 seconds of uphill running, then run downhill to build eccentric strength.
Looped “Familiar Runs”: Do a regular 60–80 minute loop at even effort. Next week, repeat the same loop with strategic walk breaks. Compare pace and fatigue.
Fast Downhill Running: Learn to float down hills with quick, light steps. It saves your quads and improves speed.
Want to get coached on mastering these techniques? Try our coached bike sessions FREE for 10 days.
How Do I Apply Terrain Strategy During a Race?
Focus on awareness of the terrain ahead of you and your intuitive perceived effort — not just your numbers.
Success on hilly courses is part science, part art. The best athletes develop their craft—they know when to shift gears, how to crest a hill, when to push, and when to hold back. You can’t get this if all of your training is done by staring at your power meter or watch.
Develop This Skill in Training - Become One with the Machine
Eyes Up: Look ahead, not down at your screen. Be aware of what's coming so you can plan your effort.
Stay Plugged into Feel: Allow your changes in gears or cadence to be driven by a change in the sensation of resistance under your feet. Notice when gravity is helping or hurting you, and react accordingly.
Use Metrics as Feedback, Not Control: Your power and heart rate are tools, not rules. Let the terrain and your internal sense of effort dictate your effort distribution, then check metrics as a sanity check. (Pro tip: doing the occasional run without a watch – or at minimum, with the watch face set to a simple screen like time of day – is great for helping build your intuitive sense of effort.)
Seek Rhythm, Not Numbers: Like catching a wave in surfing, good terrain management feels smooth and flowing. Try to smooth out sharp spikes in power or cadence. You’re not forcing movement. You’re syncing with the course.
Next Steps to Conquer Your Upcoming Hilly Race
Racing hard and hilly triathlon courses well requires more than simply getting stronger – it requires you to race smarter:
Distribute your fitness wisely across hills
Refine your intuitive sense of effort across a broad range of weather and terrain conditions
Master terrain-specific strategies for body position, cadence, and pace
Know how to apply your effort where it yields the best return
If you want help putting this into practice, reach out to us. You can use the links below to book a one-on-one coaching consultation at an exclusive 50% discount, or explore our Tri Squad program 30 days risk-free. Tri Squad offers comprehensive support with structured training that includes video-based coaching and in-depth cues for every workout – including our game-changing bike sessions that simulate real-world riding. Whether you're prepping for Lake Placid, Nice, or your next rolling 70.3, we’ll help you turn your training into performance.