I hear this so often. “How do I get faster at running? Do I increase distance? Do I just work on speed? Is it just that it will happen in time? Do I need to go to the track?
The answer is that it is multiple things you need to do to get faster. Hopefully this list and explanation will give you some concrete things to start increasing your speed.
- Base training. Your body needs to have a big base to work on. The bigger the base, the higher the peak. This means a lot of easy miles. A high majority of your running needs to be in recovery and Zone 1/Endurance pace. (Think 80/20 rule). You’re doing important work in these miles by increasing mitochondria in each cell which is used for energy. You also need to build the robustness and resiliency in your muscles, tendons and ligaments for them to be able to withstand the intensity of the speed training you’ll eventually do. You need to go easy enough on these runs so you can go really hard on the hard intervals.
- Intensity training/Speed work. Yes, to get faster, you need to run faster occasionally. This is the other side of the 80/20 rule. Only about 20% of your running should be at a high intensity. There are a lot of ways to add in speed. You can do 400’s, 800’s, or mile repeats on the track. You can add in some 1-3 minute fast intervals into a longer run etc.
- Strength training. Research shows that adding in plyometric and heavy lifting (vs low load/high reps) increases running efficiency, neuromuscular adaptations and VO2 Max. You want to focus on muscles that are used in running. Squats, RDLs, hamstring curls, planks, side planks, pikes, hip abduction and adduction. For plyometrics add in jump squats, box jumps, alternating lunge jumps etc.
- Run Form. This could be a whole blog post or two in itself! I’ll give an overview. 1. Body position: A slight forward lean that comes from the ankles. This will help you land under your center of gravity. 2. Cadence: 170-180 spm is optimal. Less sound contact time means less chance for injury. 3. Landing with your feet close to the center of gravity. Over striding causes a big “breaking phase” that has to be overcome each step. Landing under your body reduces this. What about where you land on your foot? Research is showing that as long as you land with your foot close to underneath your center of gravity, it doesn’t matter if you are a forefoot, mid foot or rearfoot striker.
I hope this helps!!