Specific training outcomes, such as increasing running speed and distance, rely not only on practicing those exact skills but also on finding complementary exercises that support your goals. Because stretching your muscles and adding muscle mass can help you run more efficiently, reduce fatigue and avoid injury, such exercise strategies also help you run farther. However, the ability to run for increasingly longer periods comes from building cardiovascular endurance.
Yoga
When you practice yoga, you'll get the usual benefits, such as stretching tight muscles, improving balance and reducing stress, making it a useful counterpart to running workouts. But it's the benefits to your posture and form that make yoga essential to increasing speed. If you force an upright posture when you run, you're essentially tensing your muscles and detracting from your speed. Leaning too far forward or back can shorten your stride. A relaxed, natural posture, which yoga promotes, enables you to run faster, allocating your energy to speed and distance rather than to leaning in or holding a tight upright posture.
Strength Training
Your ratio of muscle to fat affects your running, and strength training helps you increase your lean muscle mass. The stronger you are, the more power you can apply to your running strokes, speeding up your foot turnover. Training with free weights at home also boosts physical stamina, which helps you avoid fatigue that can slow you down during running or shorten your workouts. Work your upper body, abs and lower body with weights that fatigue the targeted muscle after 10 repetitions, performing one set of each exercise. Perform strength training that targets every major muscle group one to two times a week.
Running Workouts
Train yourself to run longer with one weekly long run. Make your first long run 10 percent longer than your longest run to date, adding 10 to 15 percent to your mileage every week to two weeks. Run at an easy pace; the goal is to build your endurance for longer aerobic workouts.
Perform hill repeats and tempo runs once a week to build your speed. For hill repeats, try to maintain your normal speed, run uphill ideally for 200 meters, and jog down slowly, repeating 10 times. Set aside 20 minutes for a tempo run, with the goal of maintaining your racing speed for the duration of the workout.
Cross Training
You do need to push your endurance capacity during one long run a week, but you will also benefit from one to two cross-training workouts each week. It doesn't matter if you choose bicycling, swimming, walking, dancing or aerobics, the purpose of the workout is to increase your cardiovascular capacity with one hour of moderate aerobic activity. Incorporating cross training also helps you avoid possible overuse injuries from too many running workouts.
References
- Gill Athletics: Strength Training for Speed Development; Harry Marra
- DC Road Runners Club: Speed Training FAQs; Edward Grant
- American Running Association: The Benefits of Cross-Training; Paul Krause, MD; 2009
- Enhanced Kinetics: Interview With Jeff Galloway About Running; Michael Rucker; 2009
- Carvey Running Tips: Increase Running Speed; Scott Carvey
- PC Coach: Efficient Running Through Better Running Form; Jeff Galloway; 2003
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