Most people want to be faster runners. Whether you’re a weekend runner or training for your first marathon, running faster will make crossing the finish line that much sweeter. While there are many ways to become a faster runner, focusing on a few basic speed training drills for runners is one of the best and easiest ways to improve your speed and form.
By incorporating these simple speed training drills for runners into your regular routine, you will see a marked improvement in your speed and agility. Speed drills improve your neuromuscular coordination, which is the communication between your brain and muscles.
This communication is what allows you to run with good form and technique. The better the communication, the better your form will be, and the faster you will be able to run. The more you drill it, the more automatic it becomes. You get the point.
Speed workouts are easy to learn and can be done virtually anywhere, so there’s no excuse not to try them out! Make sure to incorporate speed training and speed work into your running workouts.
The 9 Best Speed Training Drills for Runners to Make You Faster
We’ll walk through 9 awesome drills that will help you run better, faster, and farther with less effort than before. We’ve also included a video with each item to help further explain the form and benefits.
1. High Knees
This drill is great for improving your leg turnover rate, which is the number of times your feet hit the ground per minute. This speed workout helps turn your legs over fast, therefore you will run faster.
To do this drill, simply bring your knees up high as you run. Aim to hit your thighs with your hands and drive your legs up. It’s very important for your spine to remain vertical and not lean backward while doing these.
Tip: Make sure to keep your feet in a “toes up” position while you perform the movement. If bringing your knees up causes you to lean back, don’t bring your knees up as high.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
2. Butt Kicks
This drill is similar to high knees, but instead of bringing your knees up to meet your hands, you kick your butt with your heels.
This helps to improve hamstring flexibility and strengthens the muscles needed for running fast.
Tip: Drive your heels into your glutes. This helps warm up your knees and your hamstrings. It’s also a great exercise to do as a warmup for any activity.
3. Skipping – A Skips, B Skips
Skipping is a great way to improve coordination and develop the muscles needed for quick, powerful movements.
To skip properly, jump off one foot and land lightly on the other before pushing off again. Keep your arms relaxed at your sides and focus on driving your knees up high.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
4. A-Skip – So Effective They Have Their Own Category
The A-skip is another great coordination drill that mimics the motion of running fast.
To do this drill, start by skipping forward on one foot and then quickly bring your opposite knee up to meet your chest. As you land, alternate feet and repeat the movement. Keep your arms relaxed and focus on driving your knees up high.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
5. Carioca
Carioca is a great drill for improving lateral (side-to-side) movement and developing the muscles needed for quick changes in direction.
To do this drill, start by standing with your feet shoulder-width apart. Crossing one foot in front of the other, step to the side and then quickly follow with the other foot. Continue stepping side to side, crossing your feet each time.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
6. Lateral Bounding
Lateral bounding is a great drill for improving power and explosiveness. This drill helps to develop the muscles needed for sprinting and quick changes in direction.
To do this drill, start by standing on one leg with your knees slightly bent. From here, jump laterally as far as you can and land on the opposite leg. Be sure to land lightly on your foot and keep your knees bent to absorb the impact. Immediately jump again to the other side.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
7. Strides
Strides are a great way to practice running fast without overdoing it. Strides help to improve your running form and technique and can be done at any time during your run.
To do this drill, simply pick up the pace for 100 meters or so and then slow back down to your normal running pace. Focus on maintaining good form and technique throughout the drill.
Do this for 10-20 seconds during your run.
Tip: Do these on a track. If you don’t have a track, utilize a flat grassy area or anywhere that is long and straight.
8. Speed Ladder
A speed ladder is a great tool for improving coordination and footwork. This drill helps to develop the muscles needed for quick, powerful movements.
To do this drill, set up a speed ladder on the ground. Start by standing at one end of the ladder and then quickly jump forward with both feet, landing lightly on each rung. Continue jumping forward until you reach the other end of the ladder. Then jump back to the start position.
Do this for 20-30 seconds before returning to your normal running pace.
9. Sprints
Sprints are a great way to improve your speed and explosiveness. This drill should be done at the end of your run when you are feeling fresh and rested.
To do this drill, simply sprint for 100 meters or so and then slow back down to your normal running pace. Focus on maintaining good form and technique throughout the drill. Do this for 10-15 minutes during your run.
What Are Some Running Drills for Beginners?
Beginner runners can benefit from doing a few specific drills. Beginners need to focus on form, and increasing their fitness, before getting a lot faster.
But, there are a few drills that help them do both.
The Hopping Drill
The hopping drill is important because it focuses on knee drive. It puts the runner into the position they are trying to obtain with each stride.
First, drive your knee up powerfully with a strong foot position (toes pointed up). You take off and land on the same foot and then drive the opposite knee. It should look like kind of a bunny hop.
The goal is to minimize contact with the ground and speed up the movement. When your feet are on the ground, you’re losing potential energy that you could use to help propel you forward.
Quantity: Do 2-3 sets of 20-30 seconds.
High Heel High Toe (Buttkickers)
To start, you jog in place and raise your heels up as high as possible. You should be standing on your toes when you do this.
As you bring your heels back down, you want to make sure that they land directly under your hips. This will help with proper form and increase your speed.
Doing this exercise helps improve the range of motion in your ankles, which can lead to a faster stride. It also helps build calf muscles, which are important for runners.
Quantity: 2-3 sets of 20-30 seconds is plenty for this drill.
Ankling
The ankling drill is important because it helps with proper foot strike. When you run, you want to make sure that you are striking the ground with the mid-foot or forefoot, rather than the heel.
If you strike with your heel first, it can lead to injury and will decrease your speed.
To do the ankling drill, you start by jogging in place. As you jog, lift your feet so that only your toes are touching the ground.
You should be moving quickly and lifting your feet high off the ground. This drill helps improve the range of motion in your ankles and build calf muscles, both of which will help you run faster.
Quantity: 2-3 sets of 20-30 seconds is plenty for this drill.
What Are The Benefits of Running Drills?
There are many benefits to performing running drills regularly.
Improve Running Form
One of the most important benefits of running drills is that they help improve your form. Good form is essential for runners, as it can help improve your speed, prevent injuries, and make running more efficient.
When you do drills regularly, it helps to ingrain good form into your muscle memory so that it becomes second nature.
Builds explosiveness
Running drills also help to build explosive power. This is important because it can help you run faster and with more force.
Drills that focus on sprinting or jumping are especially good for building explosive power and building up those fast-twitch muscle fibers. Fast-twitch muscle fibers are the fibers responsible for power and explosiveness.
The sum of the parts: Good form + Explosiveness = Increased speed
Of course, one of the main benefits of running drills is that they can help you run faster. When you incorporate speed workouts along with explosiveness, it helps your overall tempo pace and tempo runs. Good running form helps with overall running speed.
Doing these drills for 2-3 sets for 20 to 30 seconds each twice a week or so will help you see improvements over a few months.
Benefits of Running Exercises for Cardiovascular Health
Running drills are also great for your cardiovascular health. They help to increase your heart rate and get your blood pumping. This is good for your overall health and can help to improve your running performance as well.
Some of the best running drills for cardiovascular health are those that involve sprinting or other high-intensity movements.
So there you have it! These 10 Speed Training Drills for Runners will help you get faster in no time!
Be sure to incorporate them into your regular running routine to see the best results. And don’t forget to focus on form while you’re doing them!
Why Add Speed Workouts?
There are several reasons to add speed workouts in addition to the drills we discussed. Speed play, for example, is one you can use. Speed play is also known as interval training. It’s periods of slightly faster, or much faster and intense work followed by an easy pace or a slower pace for a while.
Speed Play: Interval Training in a Speed Workout
Once you recover a bit, you kick that it back up to a race pace where you are pushing it again. Interval workouts are great for developing aerobic capacity, top speed, and faster running in general. The cardiovascular system benefits from the rising and falling of the heart rate.
Speed workouts are workouts specifically designed to increase speed endurance at a fast pace. Strength training is a part of any good speed workout.
The Results?
Speed training drills for runners are a great way to improve your speed and form when running. By incorporating these running drills into your regular running routine, you will see a marked improvement in your speed and agility.
These drills are easy to learn, easy to mix into your running program and give you all the benefits of other types of training but without affecting your weekly mileage.
