The guy who told me to do hill repeats said very low cadence. he actually said 40 rpm but I think that is too low.

I don't know if this affects a runner's knee, I tended to feel it in places other than the ITB.

And KG, if you want to learn climbing in the real world, then there's nothing you can do but climb real, long, hills. Like 20-minute-hills. I don't know much about the place where you live but there seem to be hills, go and attack a couple... even if they beat you at first.