While your legs have the starring
role, getting your arms in on the action will provide momentum to drive
your body forward, says Carolyn Smith, M.D., sports medicine physician
at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and co-author of
Running for Women
(Human Kinetics 2012). "Your arms work together with your leg stride,
helping propel you onward so your lower body doesn't need to do all the
work."
Hill training increases leg muscle
power and improves the performance of your heart and entire
cardio-respiratory system, Dr. Smith says. Running up a slope requires
you to use your legs, arms, and trunk in different ways that fatigue
your muscles faster than running over flat terrain does. With time,
however, you’ll be able to tolerate a faster pace without pooping out as
quickly.
This funny word, Swedish for “speed
play,” is used to describe continuous runs where you vary distance,
speed, and recovery periods within the same workout. They help develop
and strengthen your running muscles and cardio-respiratory system
similarly to interval training, Dr. Smith says. Alternating easy and
hard running helps your body adapt to the faster efforts, but by
gradually stressing the system in a more-controlled environment, the
risk of injury is minimized.
Strength training and hoofing it may
seem incompatible, but lifting weights boosts your strength and power
so you can apply more force into the ground as you run, says Neal Pire,
C.S.C.S, founder of Inspire Training Systems in northern New Jersey and
author of
Plyometrics for Athletes At All Levels (Ulysses Press,
2006). "You'll increase your stride length and cover more distance with
each step." Plus, strength training enables you to bring your leg
forward more explosively, making for a quicker pace.
Plyometrics, or "jump training,"
includes exercises comprised of a lengthening of the muscle followed by a
rapid contraction, much like a spring. Jumping jacks and jumping rope
are examples of low-level plyometrics. "Jump training helps runners
accelerate quicker, as it increases overall speed and movement
efficiency," Pire says. However, advanced plyometric moves should only
be done if you're weight training and possess good core stability and
balance.
Since running is a series of
one-legged jumps, it’s important to maximize the strength of each leg
independent of the other, Dr. Smith says. Single-leg exercises require
your muscles to rapidly lengthen and shorten, and this improves muscle
power, making you a smoother, faster runner. "If you can increase the
rate at which you produce force, your running performance and speed will
improve,” she says.
Imagine trying to run away from
someone while they have hold of the back of your shirt. That's the
concept behind resisted running, only you use a bungee instead of
risking a tear in your clothes. The bungee attaches to an immovable pole
or a weighted sled loaded with 10 percent of your body weight, which
creates overload, but not so much that you're sacrificing form, Pire
says. Why hook yourself up to one of these? It’ll increase stride length
so you cover more ground with each step.
“Sprint drills break down running
into very basic components so you improve each of them,” Pire says. The
sum of those upgraded individual parts is better overall running skill.
Try wall drives (below) to enhance your ability to apply force backward
into the ground during acceleration, decreasing the time it takes you to
go from 0 to 60.
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