For most, to train for hills that you will see in a race, they head out to some trails and hit some hills. While hill runs are a critical part of any OCR training program, to truly master the hill climb you must focus on some technique first. Otherwise, you are destined for some serious calf cramps, knee pain, and completely fatigue quads.
If you suffer from some of these common issues on hills, you can benefit with a few simple drills. First off, ankle mobility is going to be crucial. When I assess clients 9 out of 10 will fail a ankle dorsiflexion. This is where your knee moves forward over your toes. This is a key movement during the gait cycle. When it is lacking, movement compensations arise and injuries soon follow.
Not sure if you have ankle mobility issues? Check out this post on assessing your ankle and how to improve it:
https://ocrunderground.com/stop-destroying-knees-run/
Once you have restored better ankle movement, you next need to retrain your stepping pattern. Using the step up exercise, you can quickly do this as long as you focus on a few key elements. This video explain some simple tips to vastly improve your hill climbs, so you have plenty of energy to push on once you reach the summit.
Give this a shot in your next workout. See if you can avoid pushing off the back leg and driving up with the glutes.
Have fun!