Almost every runner reaches the point where they are comfortable covering a certain distance, maybe a 5k or a 10k, and are now wondering how can they get a little faster. Throw the question out in the average club setting and the immediate response will be “you need to do speed work”.

Now for the majority of us, the words “speed work” bring to mind images of skinny high school boys hurtling around a synthetic athletics track at high speed and collapsing in agony afterwards.

Doing “speed work” need not be that scary though! Plus, you don’t need a track! With a smart progressive approach you too could be enjoying the euphoria of personal bests. No more just sneaking in the cut-off!

“Speed work”, is simply 

a) Learning to run with less effort and 

b) Challenging your comfort zones in order to push your body to new fitness levels.

And there are many ways in which this can be accomplished without ever going near an athletics track.

In this first part I am going to give you two add-ons to your regular runs in order to prime your body to run with less effort and prepare you to be able handle so called “speed work” sessions. 

First spend about 3 weeks getting comfortable with these. Then, in part 2, I will provide some ideas for actual “speed work” training sessions to start challenging those comfort zones.

This is your “speed work” priming:

1. 1. STRIDE OUTS

These are super easy to incorporate after your regular run on any day.

What to do: Find a flat even section of road/grass that is 50 to 100 meters long. Start out slowly and gradually pick up the pace until you are almost sprinting, but hold a little something back.

Pay attention to your body and push as far as you feel you are not hurting yourself.

Your top speed should be fast, but controlled. 

Take a relaxed walk back to your starting point. 

Repeat for 4 to 8 strides.

Tips: (a) A common error is to suddenly try and take very long steps. This will lead to over striding and actually slowly you down. Rather focus on faster steps and lifting your feet. Imagine you are stepping over hot lava rocks that are melting fast.

(b) Run tall. Imagine a piece of string is attached to the top of your head and is pulling you up.

(c) Use your arms. For your legs to move fast, your arms need to be moving fast too. Bend your arms at a relaxed angle and think of driving your elbows back quickly.

2. RUNNING DRILLS

Doing a few basic running drills before or after your regular run (you can include these with the stride outs mentioned above) will improve elastic energy, rhythm, balance, range of motion, and help your body find its "float". When we are running smooth it is a bit like dancing, light, rhythmical and effortless. 

A few of the basic drills to start with: