Buy Walking VideosHow To Run Faster
The only way to learn how to run faster is to run faster. There is no other way around it. You can talk about lactate thresholds and VO2 Max all you want, but you won’t get any faster unless you practice running faster.
When I first started running, I thought that I would learn how to run faster by slowly increasing my speed on the treadmill. I was regularly running at 4.0 mph. I thought next week, I would run at 4.1 mph every day. The week after that I would increase it to 4.2.
That plan lasted one week and a day. On that first day at 4.2, I couldn’t maintain the higher speed for longer than a few minutes. I couldn’t understand it. I thought I had increased the speed slowly. My treadmill didn’t have speed increments to the hundredths. After that first workout at 4.2 mph, I gave up on increasing my speed. I figured that if I kept my heart range in the 75% range, I was doing a good job.
Anyone who has ever run on a treadmill every morning for weeks on end knows this simple fact: it’s easy to get bored. I was reading some website that has long since died and gone to website heaven and it talked about interval training. I thought that it might be fun. It gave me very specific speeds and inclines for my workout. I tried it and it was actually something that I could do. I had no idea that I could run at 5.0 mph for thirty seconds. Once I learned that, I was hooked on interval training.
While I was playing with my treadmill settings, I was learning how to run faster. I have never figured out a way to slowly increase my running speed, but I’ve found that if I do one or two workouts a week where I run as fast as I can for thirty seconds and run slowly for two minutes and keep repeating through my whole workout, I end up being able to run faster for a long distance.
P.S. That website that I used to visit so long ago was a precursor to my Treadmill Workout Spreadsheet that I have found so helpful. I still had the link to that old website bookmarked, but it is long gone. I can’t find anything that was like it.
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May 15th, 2005 at 10:16 am
When I was training for a marathon, I used to do a “kick” at the end of my run, running in the last 1/8 to 1/4 mile as fast as I could. My running partner was always amazed that I could do that and it made me much more tired than I would have been otherwise, but it was exhilirating and made the run a lot more fun, and I think that kick is what increased my running fitness.
July 30th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
help me run
September 2nd, 2006 at 9:10 pm
how do i practise to run faster for a 100 meter race?
September 4th, 2006 at 10:27 pm
i’m goin to start runing in the morning and see how fast i would run
September 17th, 2006 at 8:14 am
I am a 19 year old person thats trying to get in the Ar,my and i need to run 2 miles in 15min and 30sec. i can run about 1/2 mile then i run out of energy and cant go on any more what can i do to help it???
October 8th, 2006 at 5:03 pm
I would like to get a faster 40 yard dash i can get a 5.4 on it i want a 4.5..any information.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
hello im a girl whos 14 years old i need to run more faster i want to learn to run more faster. so anyone who can help please do
October 29th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
im a 18 year old football player trying to get faster for my last year of highschool football..i run about a 5’2 forty and i want to get it down closer to a 4’6-4’8. HELP
November 19th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Like the article said, doing short sprints helps a lot. Also, when you’re running, stay on your toes–it’ll keep your momentum going and make your stride longer. Don’t let your arms cross in front of you, but make sure your hands are turned so the thumbs are up and aren’t clenched. My dad taught me to keep my forearm mostly parallel to the ground, and when you’re tired, concentrate on your arms, not your legs, to keep going. But practice makes perfect!
June 30th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Running faster takes practice and patience. For me to be a 100 and 200 meter runner, you have to be smart about how to run the race. Always feel confident and relax, you don’t want to strain yourself and grit your teeth while trying to run to the finish line, as a result you wouldn’t achieve your performance level. By practicing ladders, strides, suicides, weight lifting, and basic running you shouldn’t have to worry about your performance level going down but up.
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:27 pm
basically if you run a every day for awhile then you will naturally become a better runner. also concentrate on your breathing. and most importantly: pace yourself! take deep breaths, it works trust me. in your nose and out your mouth. if you get a cramp DO NOT STOP RUNNING. hold your arms above your head and slow to a fast walk. also pace yourself. it may take a few tries before you figure out which pace is right for you but if you focus on breathing, pace, and run every day then you will become faster. hope it helped(:
March 3rd, 2010 at 8:27 pm
if you run a every day for awhile then you will naturally become a better runner. also concentrate on your breathing. and most importantly: pace yourself! take deep breaths, it works trust me. in your nose and out your mouth. if you get a cramp DO NOT STOP RUNNING. hold your arms above your head and slow to a fast walk. also pace yourself. it may take a few tries before you figure out which pace is right for you but if you focus on breathing, pace, and run every day then you will become faster. hope it helped(:
August 9th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Running faster will certainly involve lots of practice. At a certain point, however, your speed and acceleration will be limited by how much force you can apply to the ground. In order to get faster, you need to get stronger.
There is an excellent program out there for sprinters that involves heavy deadlifts (at least 80% of max). It has been used successfully by athletes such as Alison Felix. Do a google search for “The Holy Grail in Speed Training”; this article lays out the components of sprinting, why strength is perhaps the most important factor, and the specifics of the deadlift-based program.
If you attempt this program, be careful and ease into the lifts. You probably will have to work up to a decent amount of weight (at least 150% of bodyweight) before you reap the benefits. If that sounds like a lot, keep in mind that young Alison worked up to a max dead of 275 lbs (at a bodyweight of about 120 lbs) in less than a year.
As a 35 year old recreational athlete, I have used this program and was able to run a 4.8 hand timed forty (a .3 second improvement prior to training). I had been unable to break the 5 second barrier with sprint training alone.