After you have a couple of 5Ks or similar under your belt your may
notice that your running times aren't getting much better.
It is time to find ways to increase your running speed. One would think
that increasing your running speed is as simple as putting your feet
down faster.
However no matter how hard you try to, your speed may not change. There
are simple exercises that may help improve your running and make you
faster.
Improving
your Turnover or Running Cadence
Running faster takes practice at.. yes.. running faster. Sound simple
enough? Not really. Turnover
or running cadence is the term that describes the
speed at which you put your feet down or how many strides you make
during a given time frame.
Changing your turnover is not easy and will require
extra effort coupled with extra pain on your part but it can be
done. Start running faster by increasing your turnover by
practicing running fast in forced situations.
One
easy exercise is doing downhill reps. Downhill running
puts a runner at speeds beyond their normal gait and forces you to
bring your feet down faster; inadvertently increasing turnover. After a
few downhill runs your body develops muscle memory and remembers how to
increase turn over on a level ground.
However, before attempting down hill runs make sure your are warmed up
and are in pretty good shape. Down hill running can cause a number of
injuries if you are not well prepared.
A
safer alternative to downhill running is spinning.
Spinning teaches quicker turnover or cadence. Research shows that
athletes coming off fast cycling exercises have faster turnover when
running.
A runner's bungee
is also a useful running tool. It acts as sling and propels a runner to
speeds that they are not accustomed to. This forces you to
develop better and quicker turnover.
Some Other
Ideas to Increase Your Running Speed
Practice
tempo running and running at different speeds a normal
part of your running program, as well as running cadence improvement
exercises.
Tempo running is particularly effective because it helps you increase
your lactate threshold, the speed at which you start developing lactic
acid in your muscles. When that happens your legs start feeling heavy
and you will have to slow down or stop. Tempo running is done at a pace
just below your lactate threshold. By increasing this
threshold you will be able to go faster without your legs getting
heavy.
Improving
your Stride
Different people have different strides and determining your perfect
stride comes with constant practice. Most runners think that opening
their stride out or making their steps longer will help them run
faster. All opening your
stride out does is slow you down.
A
longer stride than your body can handle forces you to expend
more energy while trying to bring your back foot forward. A
forced
stride changes your natural center making your running form awkward and
injury prone. Increased stride length is developed from increased
strength in your legs.
Uphill
running help's to develop muscle strength. The effort
needed to
propel a runner weight uphill works on both calf and thigh muscles
which are important in stride length. The same precautions for down
hill running apply for up hill running.
After your leg muscles are developed and you put the added power
in the push phase of your running, your stride length automatically
increases which in turn will increase your running speed.
So you see, there are definitely ways to increase your running speed.
Partly via working on your technique, your running cadence.
Partly via running at specific speeds, like tempo running.
And then also by developing more muscle power in your lower legs, which will
help increase your stride length.
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