How to Run Faster at Any Distance
Training for Speed and Avoiding Injury
So you want to run faster?
Read on for simple, efficient, and (most importantly) safe ways to train for speed while minimizing your injury risk.
First, what is Speed in running?
In the simplest terms, speed is how quickly you cover ground, right? It’s actually not that simple when you’re running.
The speed at which you run changes constantly.
Unless you’re a machine and/or covering perfectly level ground, the speed at which you run changes constantly over any given course. This variation only increases the longer the distance you cover.
What we’re really interested in, generally, is the average time it takes you to run a given distance (either a mile or a kilometer) over the course of a longer run; this is usually referred to as your “Pace”. So if you run 2 miles, covering the first mile in exactly 7 minutes and the second mile in exactly 8 minutes, your pace is 7 minutes 30 seconds — easy enough.
For the purpose of the rest of this article, any reference to speed should be understood to mean this average running pace.
How do you build running speed?
Running fast over any given distance — and this holds true for basically every aerobic athletic event — is essentially a function of three things.
First, you must sufficient aerobic capacity and endurance to maintain your output over the time you plan to spend running.
While the specifics are different for sprinters versus distance runners, almost everyone benefits from some kind of aerobic endurance training.
Check out my guide to building endurance with easy runs for more on that.
Second, you must build the muscular power and endurance to keep driving yourself with your legs over that same time.
This can be accomplished through any number of cross training programs. The most helpful to runners are resistance strength training and plyometrics.
Third, you need to develop your running economy — this is your body’s efficiency when running.
Another way of thinking about this is building up your ability to run the same distance while using less energy, or to run faster while using the same amount of energy. Since speed is what we’re interested in here, that will be my focus.
Luckily, the things that increase your running economy are also the things that increase your aerobic endurance, and muscular power. So as we train those things, your economy naturally improves over time.
What is the most efficient speed training?
If you only have time to add one thing to your current training, I suggest you spend more time running up and down hills.
Running uphill contains many of the same motions and muscle activation as squats and dead lifts, which are among the most efficient compound exercises you can do for your legs. It’s practical as well if you plan on competing — few courses are flat and smooth throughout.
Running downhill fast is also both a great workout and an extremely useful running skill. The muscular control required to remain stable at speed on a downhill will strengthen your connective tissues, and getting comfortable taking advantage of gravity’s free acceleration will increase your average pace as well.
Spend more time running up and down hills.
Basically, running uphill replaces the time I would otherwise recommend you spend on strength training, and running downhill replaces your plyometrics.
And since you’re still putting miles in, you can expect incremental improvements in both the aerobic and economy metrics as well — hill repeats are just an all around great exercise for runners.
What else belongs in a complete speed training program?
First and foremost, run more miles. Progressively increasing your low intensity mileage will keep building your aerobic endurance, making it easier to maintain higher paces over shorter distances.
First and foremost, run more miles.
That said, just running more slow, easy miles isn’t enough to make you fast. If it was, we’d all be running 2 hour marathons!
You also need strong, agile legs. That means building up every single muscle and tendon involved.
Strength Training
Strength training takes many forms, but my own research has revealed two key contenders for your time.
For pure runners, weighted squats (back and front) and dead lifts done in one or two sets of near-max effort until form failure will build leg strength without adding bulk.
For more variation, I would also add in sets of the Bulgarian Split Squat — it’s incredibly powerful and can prevent muscle imbalances because it’s unilateral (one leg is dominant at a time, so both legs are forced to work equally).
Spend about 15 minutes adding these sets into your routine about three times a week, and you’re good to go!
Note: Form failure means you stop when you can no longer execute the move correctly and safely, not when you drop the weights or your body gives out. If you can’t do an exercise with proper form, don’t do it! And if you don’t know proper form, I encourage you to seek out expert in-person help from a trainer or coach.
For those interested in developing whole body strength and mobility, I recommend pursuing a progressive calisthenics program. It’s inexpensive, easy to do anywhere, and the process of moving from basic to more advanced moves allows you to build significant lean muscle over time.
As an obstacle course racing athlete, I focus on calisthenics for my strength training base. I’ve had a subscription to The Movement Athlete for the last 6 months and been very pleased with both the program and the progress I’ve made.
But if it doesn’t suit you, there are literally dozens of programs to be found online.
Plyometrics
Plyometrics (“plyo” for short) is a system of exercise in which the muscles are repeatedly stretched and suddenly contracted — that is to say, it involves a lot of jumping!
But plyo is more than just jumping up and down. In many ways, these exercises hearken back to our time on the playground as children: skipping, jumping rope, and bursting into an all-out run at the drop of a hat.
All this jumping around is great for developing fast-twitch muscle power and flexibility, but it can be tough on your body if you’re not already fairly fit — don’t leap straight into plyometrics until you’ve developed some basic endurance and done at least a few months of strength training.
All this jumping around is great for developing fast-twitch muscle power and flexibility.
For beginners, I encourage you to start, as ever, slow and easy. Train on grass or a soft yoga or gym mat rather than hard concrete or a gymnasium floor. Warm up with a light jog. Take the time to stretch afterward.
If a move feels high impact, keep the reps low to avoid injury or excessive recovery time. If a move feels too easy, don’t push harder until you see how you feel the next day.
If you tend to workout at home, one other thing you might consider building your own plyometrics box — you’ll find the steps and some introductory exercises in my DIY Plyo Box Guide here.
Consider incorporating the following plyometric exercises into a 10–15 minute warm-up before your easy runs:
- High Skipping — this is just like skipping along as a kid, except you drive your knee up and forward as you go to really give it some power! You can also try speed skipping, which is less about power and more about how quickly you can move your feet.
- Lateral Jumps — Stand parallel next to something you can easily jump over, like a jump rope or resistance band laid out in a straight line, or even just a line of chalk. Jump sideways back and forth over it, attempting to stay close to it and find a rhythm. See how many jumps you can string together before you have to stop! For more power (and difficulty) you can jump over something higher like a cone; just don’t trip.
- Squat Jumps — Drop into a deep squat, then explode upward as high as you can. Land on the balls of your feet and absorb the impact by settling back down into another deep squat. Repeat. You can make these harder by attempting to drive your knees to your chest at the peak of the jump.
Pro tip: Look up before you jump and make sure you have enough clearance! - Standing Long Jumps — With no run up, jump as far as you can. Do your best to control the landing and absorb it by bending your knees rather than stumbling forward. Repeat. There’s no real way to make this harder or easier — you just jump farther and land more smoothly as you get stronger!
- Butt Kicks — If you were ever in any kind of running sport from track to cross-country to soccer, you’re familiar with these. However, I want to encourage you to do more than just kick your heel backward. If you instead drive your knee forward as you kick back, you’ll more fully activate the muscles of the leg. The movement simulates sprinting form in some ways, so this is a good one.
- High Knees — What can I say about this that the name doesn’t? Get those knees at least waist-high and stay on the balls of your feet. Speed is the name of the game here, so go fast.
I’d suggest doing short sets of 10–20 of each of these exercises and then jogging a slow block or so in between each one to get your legs loose and warm. If you’re doing this as a full workout, you can lengthen the sets and also add on a few rounds — you’ll be sweating in no time, I promise!
Final caveat: I encourage you to keep these workouts short for two reasons: first, they can be hard on the body; second, the more tired you are, the less efficient and effective these exercises are at developing the adaptations for speed and agility.
Basically, if you push yourself to total exhaustion, you’re risking injury for minimal to no gains.
Wind Sprints
This exercise sounds pretty scary to a lot of people, and with good reason.
Many of us conjure up images of being forced to sprint back and forth repeatedly, slowly flagging under the weight of total exhaustion.
I am NOT suggesting that you do that.
If you push yourself to exhaustion, you’re risking injury for minimal gains.
Technically speaking, wind sprints are essentially plyometrics, they just look a lot more like running than jumping. But the muscles we’re trying to activate and adapt are the same.
Research suggests that a single set of six 30 second maximum intensity sprints or shuttle runs spaced with 3–5 minutes of rest between each run, and repeated 3 times a week, is sufficient to produce measurable gains in overall speed and running economy.
That’s right.
If you set aside about 20 minutes 3 times a week to run 6 high intensity sprints, you can expect to run noticeably faster at any distance within a few weeks to months.
Does Speed Training increase your chance of injury?
I’ve talked a lot about avoiding injury risks in this article, so I felt that it was important to address this question directly.
No, not if you do it right.
Done with good form and in short bouts only, speed training actually decreases your overall risk of injury.
Crazy, right? But think about it.
If you regularly engage in the exercises above, working not to exhaustion, but only to the point where you can’t do them perfectly anymore, what will you have?
Stronger muscles. Stronger tendons. Stronger joints.
That all adds up to one thing: less injuries.
That said, keep in mind that this is general advice only. I don’t know you or your situation, and I do encourage you to both use your own brain and talk to a doctor or professional trainer before doing anything that might be considered risky for you.
A quick word about ideal running form
A lot of the advice you see online dealing with running faster or more efficiently, especially at distances, talks about running form.
I especially see a lot of talk these days about heel-striking versus toe or midfoot-striking.
It’s not a debate I want to cover in this article, but I am going to bottomline my position for you: if it hurts to run, start by resting for a day or two. If it still hurts, see a doctor or physical therapist, because there’s something wrong.
Do NOT attempt to resolve your running pains by forcing stride and step changes on yourself — that will drastically increase your chance of twisting, tripping, tearing, and otherwise hurting yourself.
That said, if you’re concerned about your running form leaving your whole body sore, here are a few DO’s to take away:
- Do keep your shoulders down and relaxed with head held high.
- Do run standing straight up, with no hunch or slouch.
- Do use your arms, and keep them swing straight forward and back (don’t cross the “zipper-line” in the center of your torso).
- Do drive hard with your knees and kick out with your toes when sprinting.
- Do relax and stop thinking about what your legs and feet are doing on long, easy runs — they’ll take care of themselves!
Now get out there and run fast!
Disclosure: This article contains a number of links to 3rd party sites, including some affiliate links. Should you make a purchase through an affiliate link, I may be compensated financially.
Disclaimer: The information in this article is presented for educational and entertainment purposes only, and is not a substitute for talking with your doctor, physical therapist, or a professional trainer. Don’t @ me.
Bearden, S. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.scienceofultra.com/podcasts/68
Bearden, S. (2019, May 17). Economy. Retrieved from https://www.scienceofultra.com/blog/economy
Schoenfeld, B. J., Contreras, B., Krieger, J., Grgic, J., Delcastillo, K., Belliard, R., & Alto, A. (2019, January). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6303131/
