Improving your running speed and developing a longer stride complement one another: Developing a longer stride will in turn improve your top speed, particularly in shorter distances. Longer strides can also improve your running economy, requiring less energy to propel your body forward the same distance and at the same speed. Improving both your running speed and stride length are fairly easy, and you can see results in just a few weeks.
Step 1
Do hill workouts in which you run short sprints both up and down. This kind of workout benefits both running speed and stride length. On the sprints uphill, you are testing your body by forcing it to accelerate upward as well as forward. When you come downhill, force yourself to run fast and lean forward. Many people lean back when running down a hill and use it to rest, but when you lean forward you run faster and force your strides to extend. Repeated practice of stretching out your stride will lead to a natural improvement in length.
Step 2
Run on the balls of your feet and your toes. Repeat short sprints between 30 and 50 meters, making sure to lift your knees high and stretch your legs forward. Take a 15-second break in between sprints, and repeat this anywhere from three to 10 times. This will help out your stride and also improve your speed, since you are exercising your fast-twitch muscle fibers that are key to improving your top speed.
Step 3
Run three to six times a week, incorporating short sprints like those found in Step 2 at the end of practices two to three times a week. In these workouts you should run distances between 20 and 80 percent of the racing distance you prefer, and make the pace of these workouts faster than you would run them in a race. Give yourself rest time equal to the length of time you ran the previous interval, then continue onto the next leg of the workout. Run three to 10 repetitions of this distance each workout; the shorter the distance, the more repetitions.
Step 4
Strength-train three to four times a week in a weight room. Do a variety of lifts that use your legs, arms and back, including the squat, the rack clean, the leg press and dumbbell curls.
Step 5
Stretch before and after running. If you don't stretch and warm up your muscles appropriately, they may be too tight when you try to run at high speeds or extend your stride, increasing your risk of pulling a muscle.
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