Do you want to run faster but you're not sure where to start? Whether you're a seasoned runner looking to shave seconds off your time, a beginner aiming to boost your speed or an athlete where running and speed is important in your sport, improving your running abilities is a goal many athletes share. The good news is that running faster isn't just about putting in more miles—it's about refining technique, building strength, and optimizing your training routine. In this article, we'll dive into tips and techniques to help you optimize your speed potential and ultimately run faster.

“Being slow is really helping my sport” said no athlete ever. Running faster can arguably improve ability and performance in almost every sport we can think of. Even sports that don't require running, say Olympic lifting for example, improving your speed can translate into improved efficiency, power, and precision of the lifts. So while not all sports necessarily require speed in running, there is no real downside to improved speed.

That is, however, unless your approach to speed isn't great. The risk of injury from poor technique or inappropriate intensity, potential imbalances created and even mental fatigue that comes with trying to improve your speed can be detrimental to progress if your approach isn't a smart one. Over training is also a risk if the athlete is constantly trying to increase speed without allowing for recovery.

Form

You probably wouldn't be a newbie at the gym and simply walk over to a bar that is loaded to the equivalent of your bodyweight and try and pick it up for reps. If you did, you would likely end up regretting it. Most times with lifting and other sports, there is a lot of practice and refining techniques to try and get better. You would start with an empty bar or some dumbbells to get better at the skill of deadlift before you approached a bar, heavy or not, and try to pick it up for multiple reps.

Running has such a low barrier to entry that people often forget there is a skill and technique to it. You simply need to lace up some sneakers and head out the door to try and get faster. But have you considered your form? Have you considered cadence or pace or posture? Probably not.

The first thing to look at when trying to get faster is your form. Look at running as a skill and understand how to refine that skill and improve the technique so you are working smarter not harder. Plus, going out and running without consideration to your technique is like practicing picking up that barbell with bad form. You probably wouldn't train a weight sport with bad form, completing reps over and over again (at least we hope not), so why is running any different? (hint- it's not!)

To improve your form, and ultimately get faster, you want to start by improving your posture. Running is essentially falling forward. Really, it is. Your posture should be a slight lean forward but that forward lean is coming from the ankles, not the hips which is where most people tend to break. Falling forward from the ankles and then catching yourself with the repetitions of your feet catching the ground in front of you is running.

Along with the upright posture while continually falling forward, you want your neck in a neutral position and shoulders relaxed. Having a strong upper back can help with keeping proper posture since oftentimes the traps come into play and before you know it your shoulders are shrugged up to your ears and you are broken at the hip. These two things lead to not only poor form and mechanics but likely also experiencing lower back (heck, even upper back) pain and discomfort.

Feet should hit the ground slightly in front of you about midfoot. You don't want to be overreaching and each step being too far out, and alternatively you don't want to be running on your toes. Filming your running from the side will help you determine if you are a heel, toe or midfoot striker so you can then adjust accordingly.

And lastly with form, allow your upper body to work for you. Don't let your arms be dead, unwanted weight. Instead use the arm swing to your advantage. The swing of the arm, with a bend of 90 degrees at the elbow helps maintain rhythm, balance, and forward propulsion while you run.

Strength Work

Strength work boosts running speed by improving muscular power, endurance, and stability. Stronger muscles, specifically in the legs and trunk, generate more force with each stride. The improved force can lead to better acceleration and an overall faster pace. Strength training also helps improve running efficiency and reduce the risk of injury by stabilizing joints and improving overall biomechanics.

Squats

A basic back squat is a great way to build strength for running. Back squats focus on strengthening quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and glutes which are all key muscles in running faster. Squats also help improve stability and balance, Dynamic trunk control and strength will be trained with squats and this also leads to better running mechanics and therefore improvements in overall run speed.

Unilateral Training

A Bulgarian split squat can be beneficial when trying to run faster. It's important to note unilateral work when running. Because running is essentially a unilateral sport, training split squats helps improve balance, single leg strength and dynamic trunk control.

Running is not a multiplanar activity. You run forward, end of story. Making sure to train in the lateral plane can be beneficial for training some of the smaller muscles recruited in running but also keeping health a top priority and minimizing risk of injury. Lateral lunges and Cossack squats are great options for training outside of the frontal plane.

Single leg deadlifts can also help with running faster. Incorporating this movement into your training protocol helps fix imbalances, strengthen the key muscles necessary to run faster and also help enhance hip mobility and flexibility. As runners, hip health is important so adding single leg deadlift varieties can be beneficial.

Sled Work

Sled work is beneficial in two ways. It helps improve not only strength but also power output. When a sled is pushed, the movement mimics that of a fast run so it teaches the body to produce more force with each step in fast running. Sled work also builds resilience in the lower body muscles, tendons, and joints.

There is a difference between using a light sled vs a heavy sled when incorporating this to be a faster runner. Light sled work, about 20% of body weight, can be helpful for speed, acceleration and form improvements. A heavy sled, about 40% or more of body weight, will be utilized to focus on strength, power and force production.

Plyometrics

Plyometric movements like jumping, hopping, depth jumps, and single leg hops can contribute to becoming a faster runner. Improved muscular power is beneficial when working to become a faster athlete. Having more power as you press off the ground in each stride during the run means you can generate more force with less effort which ultimately improves speed.

When it comes to long distance running, improving muscular endurance can be helpful because with long distance running you are producing force over long periods of time. Performing explosive movements repeatedly in a short time frame, like plyometrics, can help improve muscular endurance because plyometrics condition the muscles to handle repetitive, high-intensity contractions with more efficiency. Consider training movements like box jumps, single leg pogo hops or lateral hops.

Interval Training

In order to run faster, you need to run faster. The problem most people make when trying to improve their running is that they run all of their runs fast. There is never any real intention behind a fast run, it's simply lacing up and running fast until you can't anymore. The truth in run training is that you need most of your run efforts to feel easy. And on the occasion, ideally once or so a week, you run fast but that fast running is done with intention. Interval training is the best way to approach an intentional, well thought out fast training workout.

Intervals help for a number of reasons. They help increase your VO2 max. This means your body starts to become more efficient at using oxygen which ultimately leads to you sustaining faster paces for longer periods of time. Neuromuscular efficiency is improved with interval training as well. Like previously mentioned, running is a skill that requires proper form even though there is generally a low barrier to entry. Becoming more neuromuscularly efficient through running intervals improves your form and the skill which leads to improved efficiency at higher speeds, reducing the energy required to maintain faster paces.

Depending on the distance of the interval, improving your lactate threshold will help make a faster athlete. With intervals, the body is essentially learning how to clear lactate threshold in a more efficient manner. This delays the point at which fatigue sets in and you can maintain a faster run pace for a longer period of time before fatigue sets in.

Training for longer distance efforts, the Yasso 800 workout is a great option. This workout is named after Bart Yasso, who worked for runner's world magazine for over 30 years and is a well-known figure in the distance running space. The Yasso 800 workout involves running 800 meters (half a mile) at a hard pace, followed by an equal time for recovery (jogging or walking). While its most commonly used to predict marathon times, it is also effective for general speed improvement. Doing 6-10 sets with proper recovery builds both speed and endurance.

For the shorter efforts, training 400m repeats, followed by a 200-400m recovery jog helps build speed, leg turnover, and mental toughness which are all helpful in running shorter distances, like the 5k, faster.

Recovery

Your next workout is only as good as your current recovery protocol. As mentioned in this article, a lot of times athletes find themselves wondering if they are overtraining/ overreaching with their training when in fact, they are simply under recovering. To become a faster runner, recovering well is critical.

Rest days

Taking adequate days off is important. Training every day leads to that overreaching and ultimately doesn't allow your body enough time between training sessions to recover. Now, rest days don't have to mean you are a full potato on the couch. You can do some active easy movement, like walking. However, this is a slippery slope and before you know it, your easy, active rest day turned into a 5-mile ruck with a 20-pound pack. No. Rest means rest.

Nutrition

In order to recover, your body needs enough resources to replenish muscles and refuel. Those resources are your calories. Nutrition can make a workout really bad. If you've ever had too much fiber or eaten a full meal too close to a training session you know what I'm talking about.

Sleep

Sleep is where you recover. Your body needs sleep for the physical recovery and repair of the muscles necessary in training. A well-rested brain enhances neuromuscular coordination, allowing for smoother and more efficient movements. The risk of injury is exponentially decreased when well rested as well. And enough sleep supports cardiovascular function and heart health. This impacts your ability to run faster because a more efficient cardiovascular system means improved delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles during exercise, helping you sustain a faster pace over time.

Bodywork

Bodywork can be mobility, chiropractic care, massage and even things like hot and cold exposure, stim and using devices like the Normatec boots. Running put a lot of stress and demand not only on your muscles but also joints, tendons and ligaments. Making sure everything is functioning like a well-oiled machine can help keep away any side-lining injuries. Training to run faster is often a high intensity activity. There is a big demand on your body not only in terms of output but also in regard to what it can endure. Small aches, pains or niggles can easily turn into something more serious if proper care isn't given to these areas. Body work can often help improve blood flow to the areas that may be in question and even improve overall general movement.

Mindset

Limitations in running faster are not just the physical ones, but also mental. Imagine running at a tough effort and someone yelling from the side lines “wow that looks really hard, you should slow down.” What would likely happen? You would probably hit the hooks and find yourself questioning the pace you are running at, the sustainability of it and then in turn focusing on the discomfort found in each step of trying to run faster. Having a positive mindset when working to improve speed is important. Negative self-talk is also an energy drain. As you train to run faster, your body is exerting a lot of physical effort. It would be more beneficial for the resources you are utilizing to go to the physical, but when also combating negative self-talk, that is an energy suck as well.

Visualization is also a powerful tool in the quest to become a faster athlete. Visualizing the paces you want to hit, the times you want to make and how you want the run or training session to look is essentially a mental rehearsal that primes your body to perform better. These visualization and mindfulness practices can also improve your neuromuscular coordination.

Your mental state directly impacts how your body performs, and the two work together to push you toward your speed goals.

To get faster you need to have the full package. A versatile training program that challenges your physical and mental body in a variety of areas. You need to make sure adequate rest and recovery are equally as part of that training protocol as the physical part is. And most importantly you need to make sure the skill and technique of running is refined to help make sure you are working as efficiently and effectively as possible.

If you are looking for guidelines on how to get faster, check out our speed program or download our Peak Strength app today for more detailed guidance and support.