POWER UP

CHARGE UP YOUR PACE BY BUILDING A BODY THAT CAN COPE WITH FASTER SPEEDS - HERE’S HOW YOU NEED TO TRAIN FROM TOP TO TOE

NEED FOR SPEED

WORDS: ELIZABETH HUFTON

You already know that, simply by training over a period of time and without injury, you’ll run faster. But do you know why? Understanding how your body translates your effort into forward motion can help you realise your full potential, as you move beyond pounding the pavements to develop a whole-body training method.

In simple terms, running speed is described as stride length vs stride frequency: maximising both without compromising either is the goal. But there are so many systems that need to support this action – and, after all, most of us aren’t training to hit our top possible speed (60-metre sprinters, stop reading now). For the majority of everyday runners, training is about hitting our best sustainable pace over a given distance.

BUILD A FAST BODY

Of course, some people are born faster than others, but we can all work at making the best of what we’ve got. You can train your respiratory system and muscles to become stronger and more efficient, so that you can run faster for longer differences. Other changes such as reducing body fat can be helpful: in running terms, body fat can be considered ‘excess baggage’ that your muscles have to carry around as you move – which is one reason women are at a slight disadvantage to men when it comes to allout speed. Biomechanics is another limiting factor: you may be more injury prone due to your natural style of running or body shape, or you may just have a natural limit to your top speed at certain distances because of the way you move. Again, you can make changes to this but you’ll need professional guidance and a lot of patience.