How to Run Faster

For some of you reading this, running for the sake of running, is good enough. You enjoy getting out in the sun, running your weekly mileage, and staying healthy. God bless you and your healthy habit. Keep up the great work.

For some others reading this, you’re more interested in taking your running to the next level. Running faster and stronger. You know what distance you’re trying to run, and you’re trying to shave some time off.

But how do you do that? How does one actually improve their running times?

To answer this question, I think it’s easiest to flip the question around and ask: How does one make NO improvement in their running times?

The answer to that question, and what I see a lot of runners do, is: run at the same speed all the time for all your runs

Runners get caught in a habit of going out for a run, running at whatever pace they’re used to or that they’re feeling comfortable with running that day, and racking up the mileage.

This is great if you were one of the people I was talking to at the beginning who are content with their healthy running habit. But if you’re trying to get faster, you have to run faster sometimes

So, how does one do that?
Stop running at the same speed all the time if you want to get faster
Running faster doesn’t just mean running the same distance you always run at a faster pace. Running faster takes on many different shapes.

You can do pickups: which is a gradual ramp up of running speed for 10-30 seconds
You can do tempo runs: which is a sustained effort of a faster pace for a certain amount of time. Ex: the middle mile of a 3 mile run at 1:00min/mile faster than your normal pace
You can do interval workouts: which are set distances as fast as you can
You can do sprints: which are 10-15 seconds efforts at 95% intensity a handful of times

Et cetera…

The main point behind all of these different options is that there is some variability in the speed you’re running for some length of time. The length of time could be as short as 10 seconds!

Running faster doesn’t mean running your normal route/distance faster by trying harder

Running faster means changing the parameters of what you’re trying to do to allow you to have some amount of time where you can run at a higher intensity.

Speed work is hard to do on your own and it can be difficult to program. If you have a coach, talk to them about this and see what they can help you with.

If you need help finding a coach, I can be of assistance. I don’t coach all clients for all distances, but I guarantee I know someone who could coach you for whatever goal you have.

If you don’t want a coach but you’re interested in doing some speed work, the Evanston Running Club has their speed workouts on WEDNESDAYS at:

• 6:15 AM at the Evanston Ecology Center lead by Nancy Rollins
• 6:30 PM at the Evanston High School track lead by Keith Holzmuller

Doing speed work is hard. Doing it by yourself is harder! Make it easier by joining the Evanston Running Club and/or working with a coach.

Your best is yet to come!

Dr. Michael