To run fast you need three things. These needs are the same whether you are trying to sprint fast or run fast over longer distances:
If you can understand which of these three essential areas you need to improve and then work on it consistently for a while, you’ll be able to run fast. It might be one, or it might be all of them!
Good running form and posture
To run fast you need to have good running form. There’s no single perfect running form, but good runners all share a set of focus areas that work well.
You need good running form, so that your leg and arm movements aren’t wasting energy and to get power from your legs to the ground to keep you upright at whatever speed and effort you are trying to achieve. If you try to run fast without good running form, you’ll struggle to maintain your power effectively and even risk injury and muscles and tendons get overstressed. You need to drive your knee up and forwards quickly, while counterbalancing the action by driving the elbow on that side backwards quickly. Then you need to lock the knee in a slightly bent position with the hamstring so that the calf doesn’t fly too far forwards. Then you need to whip the bent leg back down to the ground again (rather than waiting for gravity) so that the foot lands close underneath you. Check the link for a detailed post about running form. We also have a course dedicated to this topic with videos and structured learning.
You need good running posture, so that the shape of your body while running supports leg movements without wasting energy. If energy is used economically, you can run fast. Running is falling forwards and taking fast steps so that your body stays upright. You are using gravity to assist you along. Therefore you need a slight forwards lean from the ankles at constant speed (to accelerate, you lean forwards a little more). Your core should hold your body in a straight line from your head to your feet, with a straight back, with head looking forwards. Joints should be relaxed and free to move. Check the link for a detailed post about running posture.
Power in the legs
To run fast you need to have power in the legs which comes from good running form combined with strength training for runners to move your legs fast, pistoning them up and down. Running itself builds strength but only in the exact mode of running, so it’s beneficial to work on overall leg strength to run fast, so that when you get tired, for example towards the end of a race, you can keep the legs moving as they should rather than using risky movements that are beyond your normal range of running training motion. It’s also worth improving core and upper body strength to that you don’t get injured by picking up a heavy box and have to take time off from running due to stuff that happens in life! Check the link for the basic strength exercises you should do to improve your running, including videos and a tracker to keep you on track.
Capacity to keep going
To run fast you need to be able to keep going without running out of energy. There are three main energy systems and you use them all every time you run, but in different ratios depending on the effort level involved. The “Alactic” energy system uses immediate energy stored directly in the muscles for very short sprints (6-12s). Any further than that and the “Lactate” energy system ramps up to help generate more energy in an inefficient but fairly fast process. As the effort lowers and you run more than a couple of minutes, more of your energy will start being produced by the “Aerobic” energy system as your body starts using carbs and fats in an efficient but much slower process. Therefore you need to train all of these energy systems, so if you spend too much time running too fast, you won’t train the aerobic system enough which is where some of the big gains happen. Read why you should run slow to run fast in a decent amount of your training.
To run fast in your target race, you’ll have to train these different energy systems, with amount of each depending on the duration of your race. Newer runners struggle with their capacity to keep going at any given pace because their energy systems are overloaded too quickly. Experienced runners that train consistently, without getting injured, building up gradually, find that they are able to keep going for longer at any given pace because their body is able to get energy to where it’s needed more efficiently. Since they can keep going longer safely in training, their fitness improves even more. It’s a little exponential. Small gains when you start running, but they start to stack up the longer you can train. Trust the process and keep going!
