How Do You Get Fast?

For those suffering from slow, there are a number of remedies.

- By Prof. Ross Tucker

Simple question; complex answer. Made more complex because we neglect to define 'fast appropriately. We tend to think ‘fast' means ‘run like Usain Bolt, or like Joshua Cheptegei, or Dom Scott. But we should think of fast more as 'faster than I am today'.

Which is to say, it's all relative. Understanding this will open up a world of training; and if you can use it to get ‘faster than you are today' often enough, you'll end up fast.

Let's begin by considering what ‘faster' means, from its most basic starting point. To run faster, you either have to take more steps per minute, or each step must be longer. The former means moving your legs faster through the air; the latter means applying more force to the ground to propel you forward. Both require more work by your muscles, and this has a metabolic cost.

But in effect, these are outcomes. In order for either to happen, you need to adapt every system - from your head (literally) to your toes - changing your physiology to allow your muscles to do those two things without incurring a price that's too steep to pay.

So let's consider two extremes of running. On one end is pure speed: you sprint. A training session might consist of 10 repeats of 100m, where you run close to your top speed. If that top speed is a 10 out of 10 (say, you being chased by someone's rabid guard dog), then these runs would be done at 9.5. They're basically all-out sprints, with fairly long rest periods in between.