- Do you want to run less, yet run faster?
Yes, it sounds too good to be true, but stick with me
on this one because today I'm going to be explaining
how you can get fitter and stronger
without having to run any further.
Irrelevant of the distance that you're training for,
there will be ways in which you can change up your training
to help you run faster that doesn't involve running further
and actual fact, you might even be able
to reduce your weekly mileage.
So it's about making the running you do do count,
as well as a few extra exercises away from the track.
Combined, these will improve your running economy
and your speed.
(energetic music)
Strength as a runner might not be at the forefront
of your mind or your training program, but it doesn't mean
heading to the gym and getting big.
You can actually get stronger from running
and without having to run more.
So bring on the hills!
Hills will naturally make you work harder
and build that strength because thanks to gravity,
you're going to be working harder when you're going uphill.
You'll be turning on your quads, your glutes, your calves,
more than you would do if you were on the flat.
So even if it's going slowly up a hill
or maybe even walking up a steep hill,
you'll still get the benefits,
and if you're not feeling the burn
then just find a steeper hill.
We might question the relevance of doing hill reps
if you want to get faster on the flat, but the strength
you'll gain from this will transfer
to any terrain that you're running on.
If your glutes maybe aren't so good at firing,
then you're going to have to utilize them to run uphill,
and also, running uphill's going to help you to encourage
that better knee drive, which will correlate
to improved form when you do come back onto the flat.
And on top of that, just running uphill is going to increase
your heart rate more than running on the flat,
so you get a cardiovascular benefit too.
And as lovely as it is to head out for a run,
even on undulating terrain, that's still going to give
you some benefit, but to get the most
out of your time that you put in,
if you have a structured session and go to set hill
and you'll certainly benefit there.
For the warm up, it's a 15 minute steady jog
over gently undulating terrain if that's available,
and then five minutes of building to a strong pace,
followed by two minutes of easy jog
until you get to the base of your chosen hill.
And then for the main set, it's six slots of two minutes
really hard up the hill with a recovery jog
back to the bottom, and finally for your warm down,
just 15 minutes easy.
The angle of the hill doesn't really matter,
but do make sure that it's steep enough to cause you
to work hard, but it's not too steep that you can't
actually run up it.
Don't worry too much about the distance you travel on this,
it's more about the time, so if you've got a set time,
aim to run for that intensity and try and pick a point
that you can repeat it on each rep.
Running on the track is a great way
to be time-efficient with your training.
You've got no obstacles, you know exactly what to expect,
and it's really easy to pace yourself as well.
So it's perfect for doing speed sessions.
Just make sure when you do head to the track though,
you've got a clearly planned session with you.
Speed work will improve your running irrelevant
of what distance you're targeting.
Running faster than race pace will not only help
you get fitter, but it'll also make you more economic
when it comes to your actual race, and also, if you practice
running at a faster pace, when it comes to race day,
that pace should feel far more comfortable
than if you've done all your training at a set, steady pace.
And there's no need to complicate things here,
just make sure you've done a really thorough warm up,
so you're ready to run fast.
For the warm up, do four laps of easy jogging
and then two laps of building for 200 meters,
followed by a jog recovery for 200 meters,
and then a choice of warm up drills and dynamic stretches,
followed by four sets of 80 meter strides
with a walk back to the start, and then onto the main set.
For this, it's four 200 meters hard with 45 seconds rest,
two 400s with 90 seconds rest,
one kilometer with two minutes rest,
two 400s with 45 seconds rest,
four 200s with 90 seconds rest.
These all need to be at the same pace,
so as fast as you're able to hold for all of them,
but bear in the mind, the first couple of 200s
should actually feel really quite comfortable.
It's as you head into the 400s
that it'll begin to get tough, so focus on form
and run at a perceived effort of around eight out of 10,
but maybe keep this to six or seven for the first set.
Keeping that pace will naturally increase
the perceived effort.
For your warm down, two laps easy jog,
one lap barefoot if possible.
And then then finish off with some stretching
whilst you're still warm, you should really feel
like you've worked hard after a session like this
and don't be surprised if you feel it
a little bit in your legs the next day.
Leading on from a track session, drills are a great way
to improve your running, and they don't even involve
very much running themselves.
So it's working on your technique by improving your form
and reducing that all-important foot contact time.
Now obviously it does depend on what aspects
of your run you need to work on,
but this section of drills are a great place to start.
As it says on the tin, it's a simple yet effective drill
so start off on the spot by jogging,
getting your knees up to hip height.
Then as you get into that rhythm, start to progress
with a forward motion, the whole time thinking
of keeping your torso nice and upright,
really driving through as you bring your legs up.
This isn't your standard skipping with a skipping rope,
this is about skipping with height, so on each skip,
you're going to be reaching to the sky with your spare arm
and trying to get your opposite knee up to right angles
in that same position.
It's not about moving forward, it's about trying
to get height and power, as well as a short time
of contact on the ground.
This is all about reducing your contact time,
so that's the amount of time that your foot
spends on the ground for each stride.
So for this, if you start off with your legs
almost straight, and you're trying
to just land on the ball of your foot
in a backwards and downwards motion.
You want to try and make this stride very fast
and you're reducing that time it's on the ground,
and it should have a short and snappy feel to it.
Heading to the gym will help you get stronger and improve
your running without actually adding more pounding
onto your joints,
and going to the gym doesn't mean you're going to get big.
It does mean that you're going to get strong
and more resilient and therefore, easier able to cope
with the loading that comes from those quality sessions.
And adding in single leg work makes it even more specific
to running, as it's going to turn
on those stabilizing muscles and allow you
to have a smoother, more controlled gait.
Glute activation is key here, as well.
So look to include exercises such as deadlifts, squats,
weighted hip bridges, and also single leg versions of those,
as well as split squats, all of which are compound exercises
that are really helpful for runners.
But if you do want more details on what s&c to do
for running, we'll share a video on that in just a moment.
And then finally we've got your easy run,
which you can if you want, actually replace that
with an easy swim or a spin on the bike
to help for your recovery but make sure
that you do your easy easy
so that when you come to these quality sessions,
you can give 100%.
If you've enjoyed it, give us a thumbs up like
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all of our videos here at GTM.
And the s&c videos for runners I was talking about,
you can find it just over here, and if you want to learn
how you can cycle faster for doing less,
well you can find a video on that just over here.