In general, hill repeats are preferred over stadium stairs for two primary reasons.

 

1) A hill allows ones stride length to be natural, as opposed to the stadium stairs/benches which may force one to shorten or extend their stride outside of their comfort zone.

 

2) Running up a hill involves increased lower leg recruitment due to the angle that the foot is placed at landing.  This then requires the calves to stretch, provide a stretch-reflex contraction, and thus adapt and strengthen from the workout.  Stadium running has the feet landing nearly flat and thus little work is done by the lower legs. 

 

The benefits of both can be profound, most importantly the strengthening of hip flexor muscles and over-all running efficiency, though for the full benefit of such high energy output hills will reap more benefits when it comes to race performance. 

 

Do note a proper warm-up and extensive stretch routine, particularly in the calves, is very important prior to a hill repeat workout.  Also, for those who suffer from minor lower leg problems stadiums may be more comfortable due to the minumal usage of lower leg muscles. 

 

Studies on barefoot running vs shod running are few in number but it has been examined for quite some time (see http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0103/mw.htm#_Toc535425252) and the community of barefoot runners is growing (see http://runningbarefoot.org/ ). 

 

For everyday runners (those of us wearing running shoes) the noted benefits of barefoot running can still be attained to a small degree by the inclusion of short bouts of barefoot running.  This can be simply adding a few barefoot strides at the end of your run, or by gradually increasing the length of a barefoot run - at the most doing this once per week.  Of course the terrain will need to be suitable for this and one should first start on softer surfaces before moving on to pavement. 

 

The benefits of including barefoot running are:

 

1) increasing your sensitivity in your feet, thus improving your balance and efficiency.

 

2) allowing your legs to work with a stride length that is most natural to your body (keep in mind running shoes can take off 1/4 to 2 inches off of your running stride) and thus allowing for increased flexibility and improved muscle firing capacity.

 

3) utilizing the noted improvement in running economy (it has been found that running barefoot results in 4% less oxygen consumption than shod running when both are done at the same pace) 

 

If done gradually, and safely, barefoot running will not only help but is even fun to do!  As barefoot runner Ken Bob said when asked 'Why run barefoot?', "Why run with shoes? Were you born with shoes? Did you grow shoes on your feet as a response to running? What makes you believe that shoes are necessary?".  A bit of this philosophy is worth some thought, though for most, a bit is enough...