Increase Running Speed: Training Modalities, Form, and Recovery

How do you increase your speed as a runner?

Increasing running speed is a complex physiological and biomechanical endeavor that requires a multifaceted training approach, focusing on enhancing force production, improving running economy, and optimizing neuromuscular coordination.

Understanding the Pillars of Running Speed

To run faster, you must address the key physiological and biomechanical components that dictate speed. Speed is primarily a product of stride length (the distance covered with each step) and stride rate (cadence, or the number of steps per minute). While both contribute, the optimal balance varies per individual and distance.

• Force Production: The ability of your muscles to generate power against the ground. More force means greater propulsion.
• Running Economy: How efficiently your body uses oxygen at a given pace. A more economical runner expends less energy to maintain a certain speed.
• Neuromuscular Coordination: The efficiency with which your brain communicates with your muscles, allowing for precise, rapid movements and optimal muscle recruitment.
• Metabolic Capacity: Your body's ability to produce energy, both aerobically (with oxygen, for endurance) and anaerobically (without oxygen, for bursts of speed).

Strategic Training Modalities for Speed Enhancement

Increasing running speed isn't solely about running more; it's about running smarter and incorporating diverse training stimuli.

1. Speed Work (Interval Training & Sprints)

This is the most direct way to improve speed and speed endurance. It trains your body to operate at higher intensities, improves your anaerobic threshold, and enhances neuromuscular coordination.

• Short Sprints (e.g., 50-200m): Focus on maximal effort, high force production, and leg turnover. Excellent for developing raw speed and power.
• Longer Intervals (e.g., 400-1600m): Performed at paces faster than your race pace, with recovery periods. These improve your VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake) and lactate threshold, allowing you to sustain faster speeds for longer.
• Repetition Runs: Short, fast efforts with full recovery to maximize speed and power without significant fatigue.

2. Strength Training

Stronger muscles can generate more force with each stride, leading to greater propulsion and improved running economy. Focus on compound movements and functional strength.

• Lower Body: Squats (back, front, goblet), deadlifts (conventional, Romanian), lunges, step-ups. These build powerful glutes, quads, and hamstrings.
• Core Strength: Planks, Russian twists, bird-dog. A strong core provides stability, translates power efficiently, and prevents rotational forces that can hinder forward momentum.
• Calf Raises: Essential for ankle stiffness and powerful push-off.

3. Plyometrics

Plyometric exercises are explosive movements that train your muscles to produce maximal force in minimal time, enhancing power and elasticity.

• Box Jumps: Improve vertical power and explosive leg drive.
• Bounding: Exaggerated running strides focusing on horizontal power and air time.
• Skipping (A-skips, B-skips): Improve coordination, rhythm, and ground contact time.
• Depth Jumps: Develop reactive strength by quickly absorbing and re-directing force.

4. Hill Training

Running uphill naturally forces you to generate more power against gravity, strengthening your glutes, hamstrings, and calves, and improving stride power.

• Hill Sprints: Short, maximal efforts up a steep incline for power and speed development.
• Hill Repeats: Longer efforts (e.g., 200-400m) at a hard but sustainable pace, building strength endurance and VO2 max.

5. Tempo Runs and Threshold Training

These runs are performed at a comfortably hard pace (around your lactate threshold), where you can sustain the effort for 20-40 minutes. They train your body to clear lactate more efficiently, allowing you to run faster for longer without accumulating debilitating fatigue.

6. Running Drills and Form Work

Refining your running technique can significantly improve efficiency and speed by reducing wasted energy and optimizing force application.

• High Knees & Butt Kicks: Improve leg turnover and range of motion.
• Strides: Short, controlled accelerations (100m) at near-maximal effort, focusing on good form.
• Focus on Cadence: Aim for a higher cadence (e.g., 170-180 steps per minute) to reduce ground contact time and improve efficiency.
• Optimal Posture: Run tall, with a slight forward lean from the ankles, relaxed shoulders, and an efficient arm swing (forward and back, not across the body).
• Midfoot Strike: Landing lightly on your midfoot, directly under your center of gravity, promotes efficient energy transfer.

7. Aerobic Base Building

While speed work is crucial, a strong aerobic foundation is non-negotiable. Long, easy runs improve your cardiovascular system's efficiency, enhance your body's ability to use fat for fuel, and build the endurance necessary to recover from and perform high-intensity speed sessions.

Recovery and Periodization

• Adequate Recovery: Speed work is demanding. Allow sufficient recovery between hard sessions (e.g., 24-48 hours of easier training or rest) to prevent overtraining and allow for physiological adaptations.
• Nutrition: Fuel your body with nutrient-dense foods, focusing on carbohydrates for energy, protein for muscle repair, and healthy fats for overall health.
• Sleep: Prioritize 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night for optimal recovery and hormone regulation.
• Periodization: Structure your training in cycles (e.g., base building, strength, speed, taper) to systematically build fitness, peak for races, and prevent burnout.

Conclusion

Increasing running speed is a holistic endeavor that combines targeted speed workouts, foundational strength training, explosive power development, and meticulous attention to running form. By consistently incorporating these evidence-based strategies, prioritizing recovery, and listening to your body, runners can unlock significant improvements in their speed and performance. Remember, patience and consistency are key to long-term success.