How to Become a Faster Runner

Guide Note

Whether you're gearing up for a race or simply want to burn more calories (and get your daily exercise over with more quickly), becoming a faster runner is an easily reachable goal. All it will take is a little hard work and some advance planning.

Table of Contents

Running Faster Tips

  1. Set a clear goal of a time you wish to beat and be realistic about it!
  2. Use hill training to build muscle and endurance.
  3. Try yoga and strength training to prevent injury and to increase flexibility and range of motion.
  4. Do interval training, using sprints to increase speed as well as lung capacity.
  5. Be sure to give your body rest so your muscles can recover and avoid injury.

Disclaimer

The content in this page is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please contact your doctor before using the information presented here.

Introduction

  • Whether you've just started running, are training for an upcoming race or are a veteran long-distance jogger who wants to up the pace, learning how to become a faster runner can have a multitude of benefits. You might even experience the sometimes-elusive runner's high.1 It will take at least several weeks of dedicated training, but with a little persistence your pace will begin to improve, and you'll be setting new personal bests before you know it.

Step 1: Set Goals

(Creative Commons photo by Paul Keleher)
(Creative Commons photo by Paul Keleher)
  • So you want to run faster, but how much faster? Do you simply want to improve your usual time running a 10K or do you have a specific goal in mind?
  1. Before determining exactly how much faster you wish to run, get a sense of your current pace, if you don't already know it.
  2. You might try having a friend time you running a mile around a track or another distance that will be easy to measure.2
  3. Try using interactive sites like Map My Run or Google's Gmaps Pedometer to start tracking distance and time so that your goals and estimates for improvement are accurate.3 4
  4. Get a sense of race times, if you are training for a particular distance. You can use a "prediction calculator" to enter times for distances you've timed (a recent 10K race, for example) and then determine how fast you might run a marathon at the same pace.5

Step 2: Build Speed Gradually

(Creative Commons photo by epimetheus)
(Creative Commons photo by epimetheus)
  • It will take time to up your speed so that you can maintain a faster pace.
  1. In distance running, you'll want to build endurance so that you can run faster. If you're training for a marathon, that means doing your longest run (usually around 20 miles) at least six weeks before race day, so you can do "at least three" long training runs before marathon day, according to serial marathoner Dean Karnazes.5
  2. Another means of building endurance (and subsequently, speed) is by running hills. As Active.com notes, because your body has to expend more effort to keep pace on a hill, the strength you build in your muscles will allow you to run faster when you're on the flats, or a relatively minor incline.6
  3. If you have an overall goal for a race, you still need to break down your time mile by mile. So if you hope to run a 6.2 mile race in under 50 minutes, for example, you'll need to run each mile in approximately 8 minutes. Then do shorter distance runs using that pace, so your body adjusts to running every mile in that time.5
  4. Once you get used to running two consecutive 8-minute miles, build up your distance so you can run four 8-minute miles and so on, so that every couple of weeks you're adding a mile or two while maintaining your faster pace.5
  5. Meanwhile, according to Running Times, it's important to start a strength program with weights to counteract injuries that often plague runners trying to improve speed.7
    1. See the article "To Lift or Not To Lift: Why Runners Should Strength Train" in Running Times to learn which strength moves are particularly beneficial to runners.7
    2. And also check out Mahalo's guide to Weight Lifting.

Step 3: Start Extracurriculars

(Creative Commons photo by Paul Keleher)
(Creative Commons photo by Paul Keleher)
  • Not only will building muscle, outside of running, improve your speed, but alternative exercise may help you to loosen up and recover more quickly after a run.
  1. As one Wired writer discovered, doing yoga may ease tight hamstrings and increase flexibility, potentially lengthening your stride.2
  2. Runner's World notes that yoga may also help prevent injury because it can improve your range of motion.8
  3. To build strength, you might want to try running in a pool and doing interval training to increase your muscle power, allowing you to run faster on race day.2
  4. For a good primer on interval training, check out Runner's World's guide to improving speed. They recommend doing "fartleks," a Swedish term for sprint intervals.10
    • Runner's World states that running fartleks will improve your speed, particularly for shorter distances, as your body attempts anaerobic sprinting and your lungs grow stronger.9
  5. If you find yourself growing tired of the intense training, it might be time to change things up with a new route or a trail run down a path you haven't tried before. Then you'll be able to refocus on your speed goals.11

Conclusion

  • As you continue to train, whether for an upcoming race or just general fitness, you'll keep getting stronger and faster. Just be sure to let your body rest as well, to avoid injury. That way you can sustain runs at your new pace for a long time to come.

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References for How To Become a Faster Runner

  1. ↑ The New York Times: Yes, Running Can Make You High (March 27, 2008)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Wired: My 4-Week Quest: Run Faster
  3. ↑ Map My Run: Map and Log Your Workouts
  4. ↑ Gmaps Pedometer: Record Runs with Google Maps
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Runner's World: Better in Time
  6. ↑ Active.com: Speedwork in Disguise
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Running Times: To Lift or Not To Lift: Why Runners Should Strength Train
  8. ↑ Runner's World: Strike a Pose
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Runner's World: Yoga for Runners
  10. ↑ Runner's World: Speed Play
  11. ↑ Running Times: Running Battles: Finding a New Path


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