As a running coach, I’ve worked with runners of all levels, and I can tell you this: almost everyone wants to get faster.
It doesn’t matter if you’re chasing a new PR, racing your neighbor, or just wanting to feel stronger on your regular loop. There’s something incredibly satisfying about picking up the pace and watching your progress unfold.
So, how do you actually get faster?
It comes down to a smart mix of targeted workouts, consistent training, and a few simple tweaks that can make a big impact. Whether you’re aiming for a podium finish or just want to feel more powerful with every stride, our expert tips can help you build the right strategy to get you th
How To Run Faster: 15 Smart Ways To Build Speed
#1: Build Your Base
There’s no shortcut to improving your cardiovascular fitness.
Consistently and gradually increasing the distance or duration of your long run, along with building mileage through steady, general-distance runs, is one of the most effective ways to boost your endurance, aerobic capacity (VO₂ max), and overall running economy.
This slow, progressive approach allows your heart, lungs, muscles, and connective tissues to adapt safely over time.
Establishing a strong aerobic base is essential before introducing more demanding speed work, such as intervals or threshold sessions.
With that foundation in place, your body is better equipped to handle higher intensities, recover efficiently, and continue making long-term progress without unnecessary risk of injury.
#2: Follow A Training Plan
Choosing a training plan tailored to your race distance or time goal is one of the most effective ways to boost performance and stay on track toward your targets.
Haphazardly heading out the door and just going for an easy run every day or occasionally throwing in random speed workouts will likely not help progress you toward your goals.
The best training plans combine long runs, easy runs, cross-training, strength training, and speed workouts to develop all aspects of your cardiovascular and metabolic systems.
Your training plan should gradually build up in both training volume and running speeds without being too aggressive.
Remember, you need to build endurance before you can build speed.
#3: Include Threshold Runs
Threshold runs are one of the most powerful tools for building speed and endurance in distance runners.
Performed at or just below your lactate threshold pace—the fastest pace you can sustain for about an hour—they train your body to clear lactate more efficiently and delay the onset of fatigue.
When you consistently include threshold runs in your training, you improve your ability to run faster for longer by boosting your aerobic capacity, increasing your tolerance for sustained effort, and sharpening your mental toughness.
Over time, this allows you to hold a quicker pace more comfortably in races, making threshold runs an essential ingredient in any performance-focused plan.
#4: Run Hill Sprints
As a running coach, I find that many distance runners don’t take advantage of the benefits of hill sprints during a training cycle. Even if you are training for longer distances like the half marathon or marathon, hill sprints should be a foundational part of your plan as you build up towards race day.
Hill sprints are a powerful addition to any runner’s speed toolkit because they deliver both a high-intensity cardiovascular stimulus and a form of resistance training—all without the pounding that comes from sprinting on flat ground.
The incline forces your body to recruit more muscle fibers, particularly in your glutes, hamstrings, and calves, helping to develop explosive power and strength in your stride.
At the same time, the shorter, faster bursts improve your neuromuscular coordination, leading to better leg turnover and more efficient movement patterns.
Because the hill limits overstriding and naturally promotes proper posture and arm drive, hill sprints can also help refine your running form. Over time, incorporating these into your training not only makes you faster on flats but more prepared to tackle hilly race courses with confidence and strength.
#5: Do Interval Workouts
Interval training can be done on the track with fast repeats of a given distance at a specific speed, or on the road with fartleks or pick-ups built into distance runs.
For a fartlek workout, you intersperse bursts of faster running into a distance run without stopping between each one. For example, you might run 5 miles with 10×45 seconds at mile race pace or 5k pace incorporated in the run.
This type of speed workout is an excellent way for runners to build speed without having to do formal track workouts if they find those intimidating or don’t have access to a track.
Ensure you do a thorough warm-up and cool-down at either end of the fartlek intervals.
Track intervals such as 12×400 m, 6×800 m, 5×1000 m, or 3×1 mile are among the best workouts for running faster.
Generally, this type of interval training should be done at your 5k pace or a VO2 max pace unless you are closing in on race day for a half-marathon or marathon, in which case you might dial back to threshold pace or even half-marathon pace.
Here, again, it is important to do a warm-up and cool down. You generally want to do a full recovery after high-intensity intervals of shorter distances and a partial recovery when doing race-pace speed work.
#6: Take Rest Days
It may seem counterintuitive that taking a rest day would actually help you become a faster runner, but to run faster, your body has to be healthy and recovered. Rest days are essential for giving your muscles, connective tissues, joints, and bones time to recover and strengthen.
Beginners should start with a rest day every other day of the week. Even advanced runners should take at least one rest day per week.
You can do active recovery if you are healthy and experienced. Examples include walking, foam rolling, gentle yoga, Pilates, or tai chi.
#7: Incorporate Strength Training
As mentioned, strength training is a foundational component of your training, though it is often overlooked or neglected.
In addition to bodyweight exercises such as walking lunges, squats, push-ups, pull-ups, planks, and core exercises, the best strength training workouts for runners actually involve lifting heavy weights for fewer reps and focusing on building power and explosive strength.
It is important to lift heavy weights because if you think about the nature of running, you are already working with your body weight for hundreds or thousands of reps in a row.
Therefore, you are building good muscular endurance but not a tremendous amount of maximum strength for high-force production.
However, the primary goals of strength training for runners are to strengthen your musculoskeletal system to reduce the risk of injuries and strengthen your fast-twitch muscles for greater running power and maximum force production.1STØREN, Ø., HELGERUD, J., STØA, E. M., & HOFF, J. (2008). Maximal Strength Training Improves Running Economy in Distance Runners. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 40(6), 1087–1092.
Therefore, the best strength-training exercises for running faster incorporate heavier weights and dynamic, high-intensity power-based exercises such as plyometrics.
Examples include box jumps, weighted step-ups, heavy squats, Bulgarian split squats, kettlebell swings, and upper-body exercises such as chest presses, thrusters, lat pull-downs, and overhead presses.
Target all of the major muscles worked by running, including the glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, calves, shins, core muscles, upper back muscles, biceps, triceps, shoulders, and chest muscles.
Of course, you can still incorporate bodyweight exercises like lunges, squats, and push-ups into your dynamic warm-up, and core exercises are also beneficial for improving your running form. Make sure your strength training program includes weightlifting and plyometrics to build speed.2Saunders, P. U., Pyne, D. B., Telford, R. D., & Hawley, J. A. (2004). Factors Affecting Running Economy in Trained Distance Runners. Sports Medicine, 34(7), 465–485.
#8: Sprint With Strides
Strides are one of the foundational types of running drills that you can add to the end of a run to improve your maximum speed, neuromuscular coordination, and turnover.
As such, when working with runners of all fitness levels and distances, I almost always have my athletes run strides for at least part of one or two weekly workouts.
Adding strides at the end of a run helps build in faster running on an easy day to keep your legs sharp.
#9: Correct Muscle Imbalances
In addition to a dedicated strength-training program to build speed and strength through high-intensity exercises, it is also important to identify and correct muscle imbalances that might compromise your running form, technique, or economy.
For example, many runners have weak glutes, particularly the gluteus medius, a key hip abductor that helps stabilize the pelvis.
Weakness in this muscle not only compromises your running technique by causing excessive pelvic dropping during rotation, but also increases the risk of injury.3Semciw, A., Neate, R., & Pizzari, T. (2016). Running related gluteus medius function in health and injury: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, 30, 98–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2016.06.005
If you get injured from your training program, you won’t be able to consistently train or follow the running workouts you are slated to do.
Many runners who fail to meet their race performance goals fall short because they had to take time off their training plan due to an injury leading up to race day.4Videbæk, S., Bueno, A. M., Nielsen, R. O., & Rasmussen, S. (2015). Incidence of Running-Related Injuries Per 1000 h of running in Different Types of Runners: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine, 45(7), 1017–1026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-015-0333-8
Although you can often do cross-training instead of running workouts, missing too many speed workouts or longer distance runs because you are nursing an injury will generally compromise your potential race times.
#10: Dial In Your Diet
Talking about weight loss can start to tread into murky waters because body weight can be a triggering issue for many distance runners, as eating disorders are common in distance running.
However, working with a registered dietitian or nutritionist to safely and gradually lose weight can help you run faster if you are overweight.
On the other hand, if you are at a healthy body weight, trying to lose weight or failing to fill your body properly with enough carbs and calories, in general, will actually lead to worse race times, a greater risk of injury, poor recovery, low energy among other more severe health problems.
That said, whether you are trying to gain, lose, or support your body weight, fueling your body with nutritious foods is essential to staying healthy and running faster.
You not only need to follow a well-rounded diet with enough calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water, but you also need to fuel well before, during, and right after longer runs and hard workouts.
Particularly for marathon and half-marathon training, you should ingest carbs, electrolytes, and water or other fluids during your long runs and races.
Generally, if you will be running for more than an hour, you should be taking in at least some electrolytes.
As you approach 90 minutes or more of running, you should be fueling with carbs while you run.5Naderi, A., Gobbi, N., Ali, A., Berjisian, E., Hamidvand, A., Forbes, S. C., Koozehchian, M. S., Karayigit, R., & Saunders, B. (2023). Carbohydrates and Endurance Exercise: A Narrative Review of a Food First Approach. Nutrients, 15(6), 1367. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15061367
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), ingesting 30–60 grams of carbohydrates per hour during endurance exercise is ideal.6American College of Sports Medicine. (2009). Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 41(3), 709–731. https://doi.org/10.1249/mss.0b013e31890eb86
This equates to 120-240 calories of carbohydrates per hour. These carbohydrates can come from sports beverages, energy gels or chews, or foods such as dried fruit, pretzels, bananas, or honey packets.
This will help ensure that you don’t fully deplete your glycogen stores for long runs, which can cause “bonking“ or needing to slow your running speed significantly.
Newer research even suggests up to 120 grams of carbs per hour at a high intensity if your digestive system allows.
The standard recommendation for carbohydrate refueling after exercise is to consume 0.6–1.0 g/kg carbohydrate within 30 min and again every 2 h for the next 4–6 h.7Jentjens, R. L. P. G., van Loon, L. J. C., Mann, C. H., Wagenmakers, A. J. M., & Jeukendrup, A. E. (2001). Addition of protein and amino acids to carbohydrates does not enhance postexercise muscle glycogen synthesis. Journal of Applied Physiology, 91(2), 839–846. https://doi.org/10.1152/jappl.2001.91.2.839
In terms of protein, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends that athletes consume at least 1.2–2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day.8ACSM Certification Blog and Articles. (n.d.). ACSM_CMS. https://www.acsm.org/all-blog-posts/certification-blog/acsm-certified-blog/2021/01/25/nutrient-ratios-for-strength-training
For example, a runner weighing 154 pounds (70 kg) should consume at least 84-140 grams of protein daily to meet their physiological needs.
#11: Cross-Train
Cross-training refers to any type of exercise other than running, such as cycling, swimming, aqua jogging, rowing, rollerblading, cross-country skiing, dancing, and using an elliptical trainer or stair stepper.
Most running coaches recommend that runners focus on low-impact cross-training exercises to reduce the musculoskeletal impact stresses of running.
Cross-training is one of the best ways for runners to build endurance and add volume to their training program while minimizing the risk of injury.
Essentially, cross-training can serve as a preventive measure against injuries by reducing the impact forces on your muscles, joints, bones, tendons, and ligaments, adding variety to the repetitive stresses imposed by distance running, and correcting muscle imbalances by strengthening opposing muscles used during running.
The best cross-training workouts for runners complement the muscular demands of running using opposing muscles or different movement patterns.
For example, cycling puts different demands on your quads, glutes, hip flexors, core muscles, and hamstrings, making it a good adjunct to running.
#12: Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is essential for recovering from all the mileage, speed work, strength training, cross-training, and everyday physical activity you do.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, adults need at least 7 to 9 hours a night, and distance runners often need even more sleep to recover.9Hirshkowitz, M., Whiton, K., Albert, S. M., Alessi, C., Bruni, O., DonCarlos, L., Hazen, N., Herman, J., Adams Hillard, P. J., Katz, E. S., Kheirandish-Gozal, L., Neubauer, D. N., O’Donnell, A. E., Ohayon, M., Peever, J., Rawding, R., Sachdeva, R. C., Setters, B., Vitiello, M. V., & Ware, J. C. (2015). National Sleep Foundation’s updated sleep duration recommendations: final report. Sleep Health, 1(4), 233–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2015.10.004
#13: Work On Your Running Form
If you run with poor technique or have biomechanical problems, you not only increase your risk of injury but also compromise your running economy and speed.10Anderson, T. (1996). Biomechanics and Running Economy. Sports Medicine, 22(2), 76–89. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-199622020-00003
You can get a form analysis at a running shoe store, and examining the soles of your used running shoes can also provide insight into potential running stride issues.
Working with a running coach and practicing drills focusing on aspects of your technique that need work can help you correct running form problems.
Some of the most common running technique mistakes I see in the long-distance runners I coach include shuffling the feet, excessive arm swing across the body rather than front-to-back, excessive hip or trunk rotation, overstriding, heel striking, and landing too hard on the ground.11Souza, R. B. (2016). An Evidence-Based Videotaped Running Biomechanics Analysis. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 27(1), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmr.2015.08.006
#14: Practice Visualization
Athletes often focus on the big-picture aspects of training for sports or competitions, namely workouts and diet.
However, while you certainly have to put in the work in your physical training and keep your nutrition on point to optimize athletic performance, there are other strategies you can employ to improve exercise performance, including sports meditation.
Visualization and sports meditation with positive imagery can potentially help improve running performance, calm your nerves on race day, and help you run faster.
#15: Work On Your Pacing
Doing race pace workouts—and frankly, getting out there and racing more often—will also help you get more comfortable with running faster and pacing yourself in races.
Consider working with a coach to find the most effective training plan to help you reach your running goals.
Here at Marathon Handbook, we offer free training plans and have a team of running coaches to help you run faster, longer, and stronger.
