HIILLS

I live in the peak district so every run I do includes plenty of hills.

Infact when I run from home all my runs include a near 1000 foot climb on the way out and obviously the reverse on the way back.

I am wondering if I will get reliant on the easier 2nd half of my routes, even though the 1st half is harder than a flat route-do you think that a decline at the end of my training runs will make a flat course race difficult for me.

Hills do help.

They get you from the bottom of things to the top and if you run them in reverse from the top of things to the bottom.

of course. anything different helps. mix things up. freak your body out. that, in my view, is the key to fitness.

Being able to run well downhill is probably as much of an art as running well up them. I don't like steep downs, I always think I'm about to tumble down them - it's the same when walking. The added stamina of the hilly terrain will no doubt do you good overall. Unlike you, I live at the top of a hill, so my last mile is always up. That's a killer. 

the dude abides wrote (see)

of course. anything different helps. mix things up. freak your body out. that, in my view, is the key to fitness.

Love it! especially the 'freak your body out''.

Err, see the Kenyans for details....hillwork = speed training etc. etc, etc,,,search the site for Kenyan hills

All of the above, but specificity does work both ways IMO.  For one thing, running on the flat does give you the sort of experience and skill in metronomic pace judgment that you can't really get on hills, so if you're training for a flat race I think it's good to get some flat tempo type runs in if you can.  Also, if you're doing a very long race on the flat, such as a marathon, your running gait is very similar for a very long time and this in itself can be relentlessly taxing - at least running up and down hills brings differet muscles into action.

I live at the bottom of lots of very steep hills where the only downhill route is on the main road into the nearest town (not a very pleasant route). For that reason, every run I do starts off uphill for minimum of a mile. I find that while the hill work hurts, once I get to race on the flat it feels like a walk in the park by comparison.