Very often, the question at the front of every beginning runner's mind is “What can I do to run faster?”. That's a good question, and luckily there are some relatively easy tweaks any runner can make to immediately improve their running speed. These small adjustments will allow you to run farther, faster, and with less effort. This in turn, will help prevent injuries, and will allow you to fully enjoy your run. The following tricks will help you run better:
Check your form
Your body position should be relatively upright with a slight forward lean from the ankles to initiate the push off the ground, and a slight forward lean from the waist to lean into the run. Both of these “leans” are used to facilitate forward motion, and should not be overly exaggerated. If you look at most of the best runners in the world, you will notice that their body position seems to be straight up and down, with their head above their hips. Your arms should swing front to back, not across your body. Any side-to-side motion throws your body out of alignment, and limits your forward motion...reducing your speed.
Increase your stride rate
Running speed is the product of two things, stride rate and stride length. Your stride can be lengthened by learning to apply greater force off the ground. Stride rate is generally easier for beginning runners to increase right away. Try to land on the mid-foot, instead of the heel. When you land on your heel, with your foot far out in front of you, your foot is in contact with the ground much longer, thereby decreasing your stride rate per minute. In order to maximize your stride rate, focus on your forward motion, and attempt to minimize the time your feet are in contact with the ground.
Relax your face
Your jaw should be relaxed, and your cheeks should appear “bouncy”. This is the hardest technique flaw to fix, and will require quite a bit of conscious effort on the runners part. The best way to practice this is to just focus on your cheeks during your long runs. You should be able to feel your cheeks flop around when you run...if you cannot, make a conscious effort to relax them. Relaxing your cheeks will also help keep your shoulders down. This will help you control your breathing.
Control your breathing
Try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Shoot for two strides per inhalation, and two strides per exhalation. This will help get you into a good rhythm, and will help prevent the infamous “side stitch” that can seriously hinder your running performance.
Focus your eyes straight ahead
When you lower your eyes and look at the ground, your head lowers with them, and that will in turn cause your entire upper body to slouch. Try picking a spot about 20 meters in front of you to focus on while you're running. This will ensure you keep your head and eyes up, and will break your run up into manageable segments.
If you make these simple adjustments during your next run, you should immediately notice you are able to run faster, for longer periods of time, all while feeling much less fatigued than normal. In the longer term, employing these techniques will help your remain injury free. To review, the five tricks you can employ to run faster now are: check your form, increase your stride rate, relax your face, control your breathing, and focus your eyes straight ahead. These adjustments are all relatively easy for most beginning runners to employ, and will add tremendous value to your next workout by improving your running speed now.
Check your form
Your body position should be relatively upright with a slight forward lean from the ankles to initiate the push off the ground, and a slight forward lean from the waist to lean into the run. Both of these “leans” are used to facilitate forward motion, and should not be overly exaggerated. If you look at most of the best runners in the world, you will notice that their body position seems to be straight up and down, with their head above their hips. Your arms should swing front to back, not across your body. Any side-to-side motion throws your body out of alignment, and limits your forward motion...reducing your speed.
Increase your stride rate
Running speed is the product of two things, stride rate and stride length. Your stride can be lengthened by learning to apply greater force off the ground. Stride rate is generally easier for beginning runners to increase right away. Try to land on the mid-foot, instead of the heel. When you land on your heel, with your foot far out in front of you, your foot is in contact with the ground much longer, thereby decreasing your stride rate per minute. In order to maximize your stride rate, focus on your forward motion, and attempt to minimize the time your feet are in contact with the ground.
Relax your face
Your jaw should be relaxed, and your cheeks should appear “bouncy”. This is the hardest technique flaw to fix, and will require quite a bit of conscious effort on the runners part. The best way to practice this is to just focus on your cheeks during your long runs. You should be able to feel your cheeks flop around when you run...if you cannot, make a conscious effort to relax them. Relaxing your cheeks will also help keep your shoulders down. This will help you control your breathing.
Control your breathing
Try to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Shoot for two strides per inhalation, and two strides per exhalation. This will help get you into a good rhythm, and will help prevent the infamous “side stitch” that can seriously hinder your running performance.
Focus your eyes straight ahead
When you lower your eyes and look at the ground, your head lowers with them, and that will in turn cause your entire upper body to slouch. Try picking a spot about 20 meters in front of you to focus on while you're running. This will ensure you keep your head and eyes up, and will break your run up into manageable segments.
If you make these simple adjustments during your next run, you should immediately notice you are able to run faster, for longer periods of time, all while feeling much less fatigued than normal. In the longer term, employing these techniques will help your remain injury free. To review, the five tricks you can employ to run faster now are: check your form, increase your stride rate, relax your face, control your breathing, and focus your eyes straight ahead. These adjustments are all relatively easy for most beginning runners to employ, and will add tremendous value to your next workout by improving your running speed now.