The hill running coach that lets the pace go

How does Gears coach a hill?

The moment the ground tilts, the job changes: hold the effort, let the pace go. Gears reads the climb from the barometer in your Apple Watch or iPhone, so it can tell a hill from simply slowing down. Your heart rate will rise and your pace will drop. Both are expected, and the coach says so.

It works on every outdoor run, on Apple Watch alone or iPhone alone, with no connection. Plan runs, runs from Find, Open Runs and races alike.

Will the coach tell me off for slowing on a hill?

No. Running a hill at your flat pace would mean running it in a higher gear, the opposite of what an easy or steady run is for. On a climb the effort is what counts, and the pace is allowed to fall.

Only real hills get a word. Tiny rises pass in silence, so rolling ground never turns into chatter.

Can a running app warn me before a hill?

Gears can, on roads you've run. It keeps a height profile of your routes, so on a known loop or a familiar road the coach calls the climb just before it arrives. That's a few seconds to shorten your stride and settle your breathing, instead of reacting halfway up.

Known loops travel to your Apple Watch, so their hills are called with no phone and no connection.

Does Gears coach downhill running?

Yes. Descents are a skill, so they get their own coaching: short, quick steps, a light landing and no braking with the heels. Your heart rate may drop on the way down. The coach puts that down to the hill, not to you easing off.

For technique up and down, read how to run hills.

What are Your loops?

Your loops are the routes you run again and again, found for you. Gears looks through the running routes in Apple Health (from any app that saved a route in the last two years) and every Gears run, and picks out the loops.

• Each loop gets a name you choose, a height profile, a count of how often you've run it, and Run here.
• Today shows Your loops, each tagged Flat or with how much it climbs.
• Run a loop again and see how it compared: faster overall, or about the same as last time.

Can I put the hard part of a run on flat ground?

Yes, with Fit to a loop. Choose Plan a run here on a loop, then lay any of the guided running workouts on it. Gears works out the laps, the direction and the ground under each block, marked Flat, Climb, Descent or Up and down, and suggests the laps and direction that put the hard work on flatter ground. No Hard rep spent fighting a hill.

What Gears doesn't do

• It can't promise to call every hill ahead. Roads you've run get the warning; elsewhere, the coach meets the climb with you as it starts.
• It doesn't coach hills indoors. A treadmill has no slope to read.
• It doesn't give turn-by-turn directions around a loop.
• It doesn't change your gear for a hill. The gear stays; the pace is allowed to fall.