How to Get Faster at Running

Ready to take your running to the next level? Whether you’ve conquered distances from 5Ks to ultramarathons, there’s always room to improve and chase new personal bests. If you’re wondering how to get faster at running, it all starts with building a solid foundation—focusing on proper form, strength training, and recovery. Once you’re prepared, speed workouts will help you break through your previous limits.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to transition from focusing on distance to boosting your speed, explore the benefits of speed training, and share tips for incorporating effective speed workouts into your routine. Lace up, and let’s hit those new running goals!

How to Get Faster at Running

First Comes Distance…. Then Comes Speed

New runners should focus on building a really solid foundation before working on speed. A solid foundation for a runner includes working on your running form and mechanics, gradually increasing your training load, implementing strength training, and focusing on a recovery plan and nutrition to support performance. 

Some of the different resources out there for runners such as health magazines and running apps consider new runners to be people who have been running for less than 6 months or covering less than 15 to 25 miles weekly. The importance of holding back on some of the speed work, in the beginning, is to help the body adapt to the stress of running before adding additional stress to increase performance. 

If you have been running for more than 6 months and covering between 15 to 25 miles weekly, it might be safe to go ahead and add in some speed work once a week.  When you initially add this in, it should never exceed more than 10% of your total weekly mileage. 

If you are a more experienced runner and you have been training consistently for over a year, you can incorporate faster workouts more than once a week. 

Something that can be very beneficial for people who are adding in speed would be to join running clubs that have scheduled speed workouts or see if any running clinics in your area can guide you through structured speed training.

Listening to your body is crucial; if you experience any pain or discomfort, stop immediately to avoid injury.

The Importance of Speed

Improving your running speed offers several benefits, including better race performance and overall fitness. One key aspect of this improvement is the “lactate threshold.” During any run, your body produces lactate. On easy runs, your body can manage the lactate by converting it into glycogen for energy. However, when you run harder and faster, lactate production increases.

If you run too fast or for too long, your body reaches a point where it can’t keep up with the lactate production, hitting the lactate threshold. This leads to fatigue and a decline in performance. Speed workouts are an effective way to improve your lactate threshold. By training at a pace close to this threshold, you can raise it, allowing you to maintain a faster pace for a longer distance.

Building The Foundation

Proper Running Form

Proper running form is essential for improving efficiency and speed while reducing the risk of injury. There are many ways to work on your running form by focusing on your posture; varying things like your arm movement, foot striking, and cadence; incorporating running drills; strength training; and mobility work.

You may want to focus on improving one aspect of your form at a time rather than trying to change everything all at once. 

Examples of Form Changes:

• Posture: Maintain a straight and relaxed posture.
• Arm Movement: Keep your arms at a 90-degree angle, moving them forward and backward. Avoid crossing the vertical centerline of your upper body with your arms. Pump them forward and back at your sides.
• Foot Strike: Aim for a midfoot strike for optimal speed and reduced injury risk. Try to land your feet underneath your hips so that you’re ready to push off. This minimizes the amount of time you’re in contact with the ground.
• Cadence: Increase stride frequency without overstriding. Work your cadence up over weeks. The industry standard is 180 steps per minute, but this rhythm takes time and practice.

It can be very helpful to record yourself running to allow yourself an objective viewpoint to see how you are working through different form changes you are working to implement. 

Why Strength Training Matters

To increase your speed (or mileage too), your body needs to be ready for the extra demands. Strength training is essential for building endurance. It strengthens your muscles, bones, and joints, and helps with preventing fatigue. It helps maintain proper posture and technique, especially during long runs. Weakness in one area can lead to compensations and changes in your running form, which can affect your efficiency and increase the risk of injury.

Regular strength training helps prevent these issues, making it vital for all runners, especially as we age. It counteracts muscle loss, strengthens bones, and reduces the risk of injuries by addressing structural weaknesses and building resilience. Incorporating simple strength exercises into your routine is as important as running itself. Strength training enhances muscle power and endurance, helping you run better and stay injury-free.

Essential Strength Exercises for Runners:

• Squats and lunges.
• Core exercises (planks, Russian twists)
• Plyometric exercises (box jumps, bounding):  this helps build more explosive speed. Box jumps, skipping, single-leg hopping, broad jumps.
• Resistance training (using weights or resistance bands)

Importance of Nutrition

As you increase your mileage or pace, your caloric intake needs to rise accordingly. There are key nutrients like protein, fiber, and carbohydrates that become even more essential for powering your runs. The quality and quantity of your food intake also become important when you are working more on performance.

Different foods can impact your performance, so it’s vital to pay attention to your body’s signals if you experience stomach discomfort during workouts. Avoid obvious culprits like sugary drinks, fried foods, and spicy dishes. Sometimes dairy products and high-fiber foods such as beans, broccoli, and berries can also cause stomach issues while running.

Importance of Rest & Recovery

Achieving performance goals in running hinges on an effective recovery practice. Giving your body adequate rest and time to recuperate after each run is essential for peak performance and injury prevention. It is best not to schedule demanding workouts on back-to-back days, and ensure you have at least one day off from running per week to allow for proper rest.

Prioritizing recovery may include monitoring your sleep patterns and assessing your body’s readiness for exercise before planning your next run. This mindful approach aids in gradually and safely improving your running capacity over time. Beyond sleep, minimizing unnecessary stress in your life is crucial for optimal recovery. Incorporating daily practices like mindfulness or meditation can significantly reduce stress levels and enhance overall recovery.

Types of Speedwork

With a foundation built through working on your running form, strength training, recovery practice, and nutrition,  it is time to begin looking at speed work.

Interval Training

Interval training is a structured workout method alternating between periods of high-intensity exercise and recovery, or low-intensity activity. These workouts push your body to operate at higher intensities, increasing your anaerobic threshold and improving your ability to sustain faster speeds over longer distances. Additionally, interval training promotes cardiovascular efficiency and enhances your body’s capacity to deliver oxygen to working muscles, which aids in improved performance.

Types of Interval Training:

Speed Repeats: Speed intervals are workouts structured around time or distance, featuring specific pacing and active recovery periods. They enable you to push harder than continuous running, enhancing overall performance and fitness. 

Example: Run multiple laps around a standard-size track, with each lap being 400 meters. Aim to run these laps about 10 seconds per mile faster than your 5K race pace. Complete 10-12 laps with approximately a 30-second rest between each lap.

Strides: These are short bursts of speed typically done at the end of a run. 

Example: Find a flat road or track and sprint for around 70 to 100 meters or 10-20 seconds at about 80% of your maximum effort. Aim to do 4 to 8 strides at the end of your run.

Hill Work: Running hills challenge your normal running routine, leading to increased speed and endurance on flat terrain. This can also help strengthen your legs while also improving speed and endurance.

Example: For treadmill hill repeats, set the treadmill at a moderate incline (around 4-6%). Begin with a warm-up, then run uphill for 1-2 minutes at a challenging pace. Reduce the incline to flat for 1-2 minutes of active recovery. Repeat for 4-6 intervals, adjusting intensity as needed. Cool down with a jog or walk.

Fartleks: This Swedish term translates to “speed play” and involves varying your speed and effort throughout the run. Fartleks can be structured or unstructured and can be done outdoors or on a treadmill. 

Example: You could run fast up a hill or increase your speed for one block.

Ladder Workouts: These workouts focus on enhancing explosive and finishing speed, improving how the body manages energy usage at faster speeds, and refining your sprint form. 

Example: An example ladder workout could include intervals of 200m, 300m, 400m, 800m, 400m, 300m, and 200m, with each interval run at an all-out pace and 2-3 minutes of complete rest between intervals.

Other Types of Speed Training

Negative splits are when each consecutive mile of your run is faster than the previous one. To achieve this, start at a modest and steady pace, then gradually increase your speed as you progress. This technique is beneficial for race days that may be congested initially, preventing you from going out too fast due to nerves or excitement. By first starting slow and finishing fast, you conserve energy for a strong finish, improving your overall race performance.

Tempo runs are intense workouts that require you to maintain a steady, challenging pace over a longer duration than speed intervals. These runs help push your muscles past the lactate threshold, enhancing both endurance and speed. If you’re unsure about pacing, use the talk test: you should be able to answer short questions but not hold a full conversation. Tempo runs are demanding, so they should be done sparingly—typically once a week or once every two weeks.

Takeaway

Becoming a more proficient runner involves more than just adding speed workouts. It requires building a solid foundation through proper running form, gradual training, and strength training. Also, it requires always paying attention to your body’s needs for nutrition, rest, and recovery.

As your running experience grows, you can carefully integrate speed training techniques like interval workouts, tempo runs, and hill repeats to build endurance and speed. The key to success in becoming a faster and more proficient runner truly lies in listening to your body, gradually building your running practice, and being patient with your progress.