How To Run Faster

Guru Anaerobic
The other day I was asked, “what’s the best way to go from 14 seconds down to an
11 or 12 second 100m?” Rather than respond with a few generalities I thought I’d
write this guide. It is essentially for the non-sprinter who wants to get faster.

The general question, “How do I get faster?” is one I've been asked countless times
over the past three decades. Many people want to improve their speed, either for a
sport or just for its own sake. At its peak, running fast is a feeling like no other - an
unalloyed sensation of overcoming gravity and time. For a few seconds you’ve
attained escape velocity from all earthly considerations. You know you’ve achieved it
when there is no sensation of effort, force, or ‘trying’ – you are not pushing against
the ground, all you are doing is moving your legs up and down.

Note that running faster and achieving a certain time, over a certain distance (as in the
original question), are separate things. Everyone can get faster; whether that means a
target time is achievable is another thing. If you are already lean, ‘sporty’ and fit, and
run 14secs for 100m is it likely you can (with specific training) run sub12? Running
under 12 seconds requires a certain amount of innate talent. So to address the first
question, there is no guarantee 11 or 12 seconds is achievable, even with the best
training regimen - the only guarantee is you will get faster. If you already fit, lean and
reasonably fast you can get faster but it is easier to refine a tractor than a fountain pen
– gross improvements will be more difficult to achieve than a for a person who is unfit
and overweight.

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What do we mean by ‘running faster? Is it an improvement in top speed, or is it

getting from A to B more quickly? In the process of increasing your top speed you
should get faster over a sprint distance, but not necessarily over longer distances –
unless general physical condition and endurance are improved. So, the purpose of this
guide is to improve your top speed (which can only be held for a second or two) and
get faster from A to B – say, up to 200m. That should be enough for now. Distances
above that demand a greater focus of physical and technical elements of speed-
endurance.

Before you can reach top speed you have to accelerate, so an improvement in top
speed necessarily means an improved ability to accelerate. The faster and longer you
accelerate, the higher your top speed will be. Which comes before the other? Who
cares – you train both. It goes without saying that a super-fast 60/100m sprinter has a
high top speed coupled with super-fast acceleration – they’re essentially inseparable
for elite sprint performance. If all you want to do is to accelerate quickly over a short
distance, you may want to focus more on increasing your strength and power for short
distances (explosivity), like shot-putters or Olympic weightlifters who often have a
huge first 20m but ordinary (relatively) top speed.

[Note: Being quick ‘off the mark’ is not top speed; it is mostly reflexive/reactive, and
largely inherent - difficult to improve if you are already lean].

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The two main considerations for speed development:

PHYSICAL - body composition, muscle, strength, nervous, metabolic, physiological

TECHNICAL – sprint mechanics, posture, relaxation at speed

Improvements in both of these areas will result in you running faster, guaranteed.
Even if you only improve one area you will get faster. It may be that some technical
areas sort themselves out in the process of physical training, either because your body
naturally grooves in a more efficient technique over lots of repetition practices, or that
technical deficits are actually caused by physical issues, i.e. lack of strength, being
overweight, and so on.

Your speed development is split into two phases:

Phase One: General Preparation (getting in shape to run faster)

Phase Two: Specific Training

Note: There are overlaps! For instance, posture and relaxation at speed are both
general and specific - if you run like Quasimodo you may need to address this early
on; however postural and technical elements are also elements of an elite sprinter’s
training. In your quest to improve your speed you can decide what areas you want to
include. Should the correct technique be taught early on? Probably; but if you are unfit
and have 20lbs to lose that should be you’re your main focus. I don’t want a sprint
coach or an expert saying “you should have included this or added that!” – this is a
short guide not a two hundred page book!
Leave any questions you may have for now – they are likely to be answered as you
read on.

PHASE ONE: GENERAL PREPARATION

The image below shows the typical sprinter’s physique - lean, muscular, and athletic.
This is the result of natural predisposition (the athlete finds the sport which showcases
their talent) plus general and specific training. It isn’t necessary to look like this to get
faster only that the main elements of being lean and strong can only help. The fact that
most top sprinters look similar gives us a trajectory. Training shapes us, but what we
require shapes the training.

Asafa Powell – 9.72secs for 100m

Tom Tellez, Carl’s Lewis’s coach, once said, “There are plenty guys who are as big as
houses, but slow as molasses” – don’t assume that putting on muscle by itself will
necessarily make you faster. Your aim is to run faster by doing the appropriate
training based on your strengths and weaknesses - how your body responds, time will
tell. To a degree, just running faster for two or three sessions a week will make you
faster, whatever your shape or condition – this is the most basic response to the
question “how do I get faster?” I assume the reader knows this but understandably
expects deeper advice!
If you are in good shape you can skip this phase; go straight to phase two. Even if you
are out of shape, going straight to the interval style training in phase two would be
beneficial as long as you don’t overdo it and get injured. Note: If you are over 30yrs
be careful with attempting to run a fast session if you haven’t run fast for years, you’ll
have a good chance of pulling something. You should increase the load, frequency,
and intensity, judiciously. There is no need to rush.

Before I continue I want to make it perfectly clear; there are many ways to get fit,
what I show here is just an example, if you follow it you’ll get fitter – but don’t be a
propeller head thinking you can only do what I outline. The US Marines slogan is,
“Improvise, Adapt and Overcome” – this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be consistent
with your training, only that you can tweak things to suit you. Any program is a
means to end; it is not the end itself. Just remember, you are preparing for speed not
long distance.

Physical preparation naturally entails a focus on exercise and diet. This guide isn’t
about diet; if you have a problem with your weight find out about an appropriate fat-
loss diet elsewhere. Suffice to say you should cut out junk food (mostly), get enough
protein (one gram per pound bodyweight), have animal derived fats, and don’t eat big
meals late at night. Food and fluid should support your training – it aids muscle
growth and strength development. Eating shortly after a hard session is still the best
proven way to facilitate growth and recovery. I leave it to you to decide whether to
supplement your diet with extra protein, creatine, powders, pills or potions.

A word on sleep: It is essential to get enough sleep if you are training hard, forget
about the ‘hacking sleep’ bullshit – you need sleep. Chronic lack of sleep will leave
you a physical wreck if you are placing high demands on your body. Some silly
people say they can perform optimally on only five hours sleep a night. I invite you to
give this a try for ten days; instead of your usual 7/8 hours per night, cut it short to 5
hours, see what happens – then you’ll find out for yourself. They believe they’re
performing “optimally”, they’re not.

Phase One Template (every week):

2 x Gym
2 x Intervals
1 x Circuits
1 x Hills
If you find this is too much, drop the hills. It assumes you are doing no other exacting
physical activity or sport – if you are, you are going to have to modify as you see fit.
Do this for 4-week blocks with a reduced week between blocks. If you do gym and
(running) intervals on the same day, do gym after intervals. Organise it so you don’t
do track/intervals the day after a heavy session in the gym. This is the ideal – it may
not always be possible, that’s ok.

Given the constraints of your normal working life, if you can compress into four days,
it means you will have three days recovery.

Example:

Mon – circuits
Tues – intervals & gym
Wed – rest
Thurs – hills
Fri – rest
Sat – intervals & gym
Sun – rest

Gym (general strength)

The main purpose of gym is to build strength. Don’t steer too far from that. Yes, there
are different types of ‘strength’ but the strength you should be concerned with is the
strength which enables you to lift a heavier weight in a given exercise. The rationale
of the athlete is to build general strength as well as strength specific to their athletic
pursuit. However, ‘specific strength training’ is very often just a deeper focus on the
further development of an area of general strength, for example, squatting
performance. In other words general strength is your ‘specific strength’.
.
Use these five exercises: squats, rows, bench press, barbell press and barbell curl – if
you’re not sure how to perform them, look on the internet. Use only these exercises.
The weight should be appropriate to the number of repetitions.

Session One

Squats: 5 sets – 8, 5, 5, 5, 8
Bench Press: 4 sets – 8, 5, 5, 4
Barbell Press: 4 sets – 8, 5, 5, 10
Barbell Row: 5 sets – 10, 8, 8, 6, 6
Barbell Curl: 4 sets – 10, 8, 8, 12

Session Two

Squats: 5 sets – 8, 6, 6, 6, 12
Bench Press: 5 sets – 8, 6, 4, 4, 3,
Barbell Press: 4 sets – 8, 8, 6, 6,
Barbell Row: 4 sets – 10, 10, 10, 10
Barbell Curl: 4 sets – 10, 10, 8, 8, 5

Have a light warm-up before each exercise then get straight into the work sets. It goes
without saying that you’re going to have to work hard. These sessions are fairly short
so you can give 100% effort and 100% focus.

Interval Training

Quite simply, interval training is running a certain distance, having a period of

recovery, then repeating. That’s it. How long the distance is, the amount of recovery,
and how many times you repeat it changes the nature of the session. For some reason,
the term, ‘high intensity interval training’ (HIIT) is used by non-athletes to describe
what has always been known as ‘interval training’. Got that off my chest.

As this is the preparation phase we don’t need to be too la-di-da with session
selection.

Block One (4wks)

Session 1: 4 x 300m. 4mins btwn reps

Session 2: 10 x 100m. 2mins btwn reps

Block Two (4wks)

Session 1: 5 x 200m. 4mins btwn reps

Session 2: 2 sets (6 x 60m). 2mins btwn reps. 1min btwn sets
Repeat if you do more than two blocks in this preparation phase.

Start off by just completing the sessions; as you improve over a few weeks you can
time the runs. Make sure you time the intervals (recovery sections) from the get go
though – you want to keep the recoveries consistent. When you do these sessions
concentrate on running at a fair clip, but run with a relaxed face and shoulders. Do not
try to ‘muscle’ any repetitions, it slows you down and wastes energy.

Circuit Training

Circuit training is an excellent way to get fit. It’s a quick and compact way of working
out. Try this:

1st Set

Push-Ups x 20
Tuck Jumps x 10
Chinnies x 20
Mountain Climbs x 36

2nd Set

Bench Dips x 40
Barbell Curls x 10
Burpees x 10
Waist (variations) x 20

3rd Set

Barbell Shoulder Press x 10

Split Jumps x 24
Side Raises x 20 (each side)
Push-Ups x 20
Chinnies x 20
The first set is performed three times in a row with a few seconds between each
exercise; then a five minute break before starting the second set x 3, and so on. I.e. 1st
Set x 3; 5min break. 2nd Set x 3; 5min break. 3rd Set x 3.

Circuit training is only limited to your imagination. You can add in your own
elements, but make sure you work the entire body.

Hills

I’ve included hills in this phase one as there are only two other running sessions per
week. I want you to try them out. Hills are fun (if you like pain) and inject variation
into an exercise program. A well-trained runner can run very, very close to max on
each rep without sacrificing the quality of the following rep (dependent on the length
of recovery between reps). Run hard, hill sessions are fearsome. This isn’t necessary
for you – a solid medium-effort session is all you need.

Block One (4wks): 2 x (4 x 200m) – walk back between reps. 10mins btwn sets

Block Two (4wks): 3 x (100m; 200m; 300m) – walk back btwn reps. 10mins btwn sets

Repeat, depending on how many blocks you do in this phase.

This is pretty straightforward - what did you expect, rocket science? Training doesn’t
have to be complicated.

Obviously, you have to find a suitable hill, one which isn’t too steep, and which is
long enough – if there isn’t one, be creative with the session. There is no need to time
the runs, but remember – solid medium-effort.

Note: A good shoe grip is essential for hill training, on road or off-road; there’s
nothing worse than the sensation of slipping, plus it wastes your energy.

**********************

You can see this phase is quite exacting. I don’t want to scare you off – according to
your age, fitness and commitments, you can modify. Three 4-week blocks should be
enough for most people. If you feel you want to continue with this stage, be my guest;
it will get you super-fit, dynamic and robust in itself – and you will have got faster.
If you are slim it’s good to put on a few pounds of muscle whilst putting on strength.
After a certain point you want to get stronger in key areas (posterior chain and mid-
section) at the same bodyweight. In other words, increases in relative strength.

By the end of this phase you may not look like Asafa Powell! However, you will be
fitter, leaner, and more muscular – ready for phase two.

PHASE TWO: SPECIFIC TRAINING

Now you are going to intensify your training. The previous stage was pretty heavy,
but the focus shifts to more specific development. You will feel fatigued through this
phase; however, you shouldn’t feel devastatingly fatigued – that only increases your
chances of injury, makes you miserable and will mean you are constantly training
‘with the brakes on’. If you get the plods you will need to back off for a while to
recover and adapt.

We drop the circuits and hills and concentrate on two gym and three interval sessions
per week (in 4-week blocks). If you want to add in extra, you can if you think you’re
up to it – however, I have to state again, if you are not a serious competitive athlete
what’s the point of doing the volume of a competitive athlete?

Before we go into details let’s talk a bit about running and sprinting:

Viewing the split data in the table below, you’ll notice that top speed is not reached
until around 60m. These are elite sprinters so doesn’t apply to you, but what does
apply is that you have to accelerate! The most common fault with non-sprinters is they
go from starting to running upright far too quickly, this makes it more difficult to
accelerate. Ok, so you’re not going to be in a sprint race, you just want to get faster,
but don’t cut off your top speed by not accelerating properly.
 Elite sprinter 10m split data

How a sprinter runs - an analogy:

If you had a bike as a kid you've probably done this. Bike upside down (you may have
had to fix a puncture) you spin the wheel with your hand on the tyre. Initially, hand
strokes are long to accelerate the wheel – as the wheel gets faster your hand-strikes get
quicker, until at top speed the contacts are quick 'taps'. 1/ The quick hand-strikes or
taps impart enough force to keep the wheel turning at top speed i.e. stops it slowing
down. 2/ The sharp taps are more at right angles to the wheel (vertical) than the initial
horizontal strokes which accelerated the wheel. 3/ The taps are necessarily short; any
longer you would impart a braking force.

Ground contact times as speed increases.

The text below describes the difference between running and sprinting.

From ‘Speed Trap’ – Charlie Francis/Jeff Coplon (1990)

A runner runs on the ground – a sprinter runs 'over' the ground. The faster a sprinter
gets the more time they spend in the air. Cadence or strike rate (how many steps in a
second) doesn’t change much with training but stride length increases due to the extra
relative force being applied to the ground. A common misconception is that the athlete
is pushing the ground back behind them (horizontal force), when in fact it’s the
vertical force of gravity which the athlete needs to overcome. Research shows the
vertical component becoming dominant very soon after starting

The above image from Ken Clark highlights the importance of vertical force
application and how a sprinter differs from a fast runner.
Springs & Stiffness

Stiffness is the extent to which an object resists being lengthened. Stiff springs have
greater rates of forces development - they transmit forces quickly. Less stiff or
compliant springs have lower rates of force development, they absorb energy.
Strength training leads to increased tendon stiffness and increased rates of force
development. Think of a bicycle type fully pumped to the limit or half-pumped, or a
sports car’s chassis – the stiffer the better for speed. Heavier loads when weightraining
produce greater increases in tendon stiffness than lighter loads – sounds good.

What we are looking for is increased force production via strength training, plus better
technique (the application of that force). Poor force application is like a leaky bucket,
your energy goes to waste. The result of a net increase in mass specific force (in the
vertical vector) leads to greater stride length. A great stride length with a fast cadence
leads to a very fast runner. Cadence without stride length is like a ‘fiddlers elbow’ –
you see this with children during a school sports day. Like a rocket, we need to
increase net thrust to accelerate and get faster.

It’s entirely possible to be a fast runner without being a sprinter, in the same way one
can be a very good tennis player without being on the ATP tour. You may never run
like a sprinter – most people don’t. However, it’s a good idea to know what’s
involved.

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Phase Two Template (every week):

2 x Gym
3 x Intervals

Example:

Mon – gym
Tues – intervals
Wed – rest
Thurs – intervals
Fri – rest
Sat – intervals & gym
Sun – rest

Gym

Notwithstanding what I wrote earlier about general and specific strength, I suggest
some changes to your gym session; it is now more intense and dynamic.

Session One

Squats (parallel or butt to floor): 4 sets x 6 reps

Jump Squats (barbell ½ to 100% b/w): 3 x 6
Squat Jumps (30 secs after each set of J.Squats): 6 reps
Chin-Ups: 3 x 20
Parallel Bar Dips: 3 x 25
Power Cleans: 4 x 5
Various Waist

Session Two

Bench Press: 4 sets – 10, 8, 6, 4

Barbell Row: 3 x 8
Push-Ups: 3 x 25
Barbell Curl: 3 x 10
Alternate Dumbbell Press: 3 x 10
Various Waist

If you want to include some deadlifts and partial (quarter) squats, you can. Just make
sure you don’t do too much work in any one session. You are not training to be an
elite athlete!

I’m in the ‘get strong, run fast’ school. I believe that a lot of so-called power
development exercises and modalities are overplayed. However, a sprinter has to mine
all potential improvement protocols. For you as a non-sprinter who wants to run faster,
there is no need to to waste your time doing ‘fancy’ sessions. Basic training will make
you run faster – everything else is icing on the cake – try other stuff if you like.

Interval Training

If you want to get better at something, you have to do that thing! Whatever I have said
about strength and mass specific force, all that will be useless if you can’t transfer it to
running.

Three areas of focus:

1 Acceleration
2 Top Speed
3 Speed Endurance

As you are doing three running sessions per week, you can do one from each category.
There are three sessions within each category; one for the first block, the second and
the third block. Three blocks is a total of fourteen weeks (this includes the one week
rests between blocks). Needless to say, for any accurate assessment of improvement
the repetitions need to be timed, and the rest intervals between the reps and sets needs
to be strictly adhered to.

Each of these areas requires comprehensive mining (for the track sprinter). These
sessions are more than adequate for you.

Acceleration

The main advice here is to ‘come up slowly like a plane’. As you accelerate, look
down. If you look up too early your body will pop up, cutting off your acceleration
mechanics. Use your arms vigorously!

Session 1: 5 x 40m. 4mins btwn reps

Session 2: 2 sets (3 x 60m). 5min btwn reps. 10min btwn sets
Session 3: 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 60m. 4mins btwn reps

Top Speed
The number one technique is relaxation at top speed. Upright, ‘tall’, face and
shoulders relaxed. When you have hit top speed you cannot go any faster – wasting
energy slows you down. Think ‘flow’.

Session 1: 5 x 30m. (Gradual build up to top speed, ‘hit’ for 30m; hold form). Full
recovery
Session 2: Hollow runs x 3. (30m medium speed; 20m fast; 30m medium; 30m fast)
Session 3: 4 x 60m. Full out. Full recovery.

Speed Endurance

There is little benefit to be gained from building endurance at 6m/sec if your top speed
is 10m/sec. It’s called speed endurance; therefore, endurance should built in at a high
pace. These are the most exacting sessions as they invite you to make friends with
acidosis (the accumulation of hydrogen ions). I will not go into the energy systems
and the nature of fatigue, that is far beyond the focus of this guide. Just to say that you
have to stress a system for physiological adaptation.

Session 1: 4 x 300m. 4mins btwn reps

Session 2: 2 sets (3 x 200m). 3min btwn reps. 10min btwn sets
Session 3: 4 x 150m. 3mins btwn reps

Extras

You can try these for fun. These are performed over various distances; the amount of
resistance or assistance can be changed according to the focus of the session

Resistance:

Pulling sleds, tyres or parachutes. Harness runs (someone holding you back). Wearing
weighted jackets. Running up slight inclines (2-4%)

Assistance/Overspeed:

Downhill running (2-4%), tows, 20m elastic ropes (tied around waist). Running with
the win.
You can also try plyometrics, box jumps, depth jumps and other jumps and bounds, if
you so wish. But don’t overdo them.

Below is a table for your interest. From it you can get an idea of the sort of times you
should be running for various distances; so if you can run 8seconds flat for 60m (say),
you should be able to run around 26secs for 200m.

From ‘Sprints and Relays’ – Frank Dick (1987)

It goes without saying that the type of surface you run on, and the type of trainers you
wear, will affect your speed. The ideal is wearing spikes on an athletics track (plus the
distances are clearly marked). However, as long as you have non-spongy trainers with
a good grip (on a hard surface) you will get an idea of your true speed. You can train
on grass, that’s fine – it’s easier on your legs, but if you want to do a proper time-trial
to assess your speed do it on a track or hard surface.

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My opinion is that running fast is the supreme physical stress test. Repeated fast
dynamic contractions test the integrity of the muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves,
more than anything else. The body is in good order. It’s something you need to retain
as you age. Your ability to run goes before your ability to walk, so keep
running…fast!

Finally, please do not take this as a complete guide to running faster – I’ve only
discussed the basics. I hope it has given you enough information to make a start.