I’ve been working on my speedwork ALOT more (AKA adding more speed/fartlek) and I have realized that lately, my leg turnover has decreased significantly from what it used to be when I run fast. Its like the only way I can run faster now is to increase my stride length
What are some good ways to improve this? I ask this question also because I am alot slower when it comes to speedwork and I’m not just asking this question to “run like the pro’s”.
I’ve been working on my speedwork ALOT more (AKA adding more speed/fartlek) and I have realized that lately, my leg turnover has decreased significantly from what it used to be when I run fast. Its like the only way I can run faster now is to increase my stride length
What are some good ways to improve this? I ask this question also because I am alot slower when it comes to speedwork and I’m not just asking this question to “run like the pro’s”.
Would all out sprints help with this at all?
Thanks for the advice…
The way to increase your turnover is with more lift. Shorter objects swing easier, so bringing your foot up higher behind you will enable you to have a quicker and more powerful knee drive. Lift and rive, lift and drive. Stand up straight and press the hips forward while lifting and driving.
Faster running through greater lift and drive, NOT overstriding OR increasing your stride rate the faster you run.
ONE optimal stride rate + more lift and drive = off the ground longer = more distance covered per step = faster.
Count your cadence or buy something like a Seiko electroninc metronome. Stand up straight and press/roll your hips forward.
All out sprints will not help with aerobic run technique. The mechanics of running vs sprinting are different.
All of this can be practiced most effectively during strides. Short periods of somewhat fast running with a focus on posture, turnover, and ideal mechanics. Full recovery and do another. NOT an aerobic workout. A technique workout.
I’ve been working on my speedwork ALOT more (AKA adding more speed/fartlek) and I have realized that lately, my leg turnover has decreased significantly from what it used to be when I run fast. Its like the only way I can run faster now is to increase my stride length
What are some good ways to improve this? I ask this question also because I am alot slower when it comes to speedwork and I’m not just asking this question to “run like the pro’s”.
Would all out sprints help with this at all?
Thanks for the advice…
The way to increase your turnover is with more lift. Shorter objects swing easier, so bringing your foot up higher behind you will enable you to have a quicker and more powerful knee drive. Lift and rive, lift and drive. Stand up straight and press the hips forward while lifting and driving.
Faster running through greater lift and drive, NOT overstriding OR increasing your stride rate the faster you run.
ONE optimal stride rate + more lift and drive = off the ground longer = more distance covered per step = faster.
Count your cadence or buy something like a Seiko electroninc metronome. Stand up straight and press/roll your hips forward.
All out sprints will not help with aerobic run technique. The mechanics of running vs sprinting are different.
All of this can be practiced most effectively during strides. Short periods of somewhat fast running with a focus on posture, turnover, and ideal mechanics. Full recovery and do another. NOT an aerobic workout. A technique workout.
You have to be careful with increasing your stride length because you could develop an over striding problem which will slow you down also. Doing drills to increase your leg turn over will be the best. Things like, high knees, ass-kickers, quick steps, and bounding.
Hip should be flexed at the, short hip flexor to lift the leg up (the illipsoas) not the thigh/quad. Most runners rely on their quad to pull the leg through and this causes the runner to spend too much time on the ground and the swing leg travels way too far, reducing stride length and frequency. Remember, the knee and hip should flex and extend together, the illiopsoas will require some conditioning for most runners, but once it is conditioned, your running will be much better.
IMHO - best speedwork is tri specific speedwork. Which is long intervals, that is repeats of 3 laps, 1mile, 5 laps up to 12 laps (3 miles). Never exceeding 7 miles of intervals during a session, but never going less than 3.5 miles. The reason you want to do long interevals, is because in short intervals your form is a little different - more like a sprinters, and less like a distance runner. The more harder efforts you do at a longer distance (and distance runners form) the more muscle memory your body will create when doing this (not to mention the more specific muscle strength you will retain). The idea is, to use racing flats when doing these because they will make your feet want to hit the ball of your foot. This is because there is very little padding in the heel of those shoes. If you have a very padded heel in the racing shoe, it is usually not a very good one. Any time you are running you need to remember one thing - when your foot strikes the ground, your knee needs to be slightly bent (not locked), if it isn’t, running on the balls of your feet, will always be difficult.
*** Keep in mind ball of your foot is not your tippy toes // And, wearing shoes with an excess heel will further mimic downhill running and therefore will make it more difficult to strike properly on the balls of your foot. // If you need support in your shoe, fine, but that doesn’t mean you need a high heel. Running shoe companies have been lying about this shit for years. // Also, with regard to running downhill it is ok on some downhills to slightly run heel first, otherwise you may be over working. Keep in mind this is rare. ***
If you do this your cadence running will be faster. Any easy - moderate run you go on, count your cadence 3-4 times during the run for 30 seconds each. If you count 45 on one leg you would need to multiply by 4 (2 for both legs, then 2 again to equal a minute) and you would get 180 steps a minute (or 90 rpm’s). Any faster than this and your rpm’s are probably too fast. Studies show that expert milers run at this rate, and expert marathoner run at about 172 steps (both in training and racing // the only difference being the stride length). The average Joe usually hits about 160 in training and seeks to run faster in racing by increasing stride length and sometimes cadence (of which they can’t hold for very long), and usually wind up with a cadence of mid 160’s. Idea is to try to eventually aim between 43-44 steps on one leg every half a minute during regular runs.
I can only add to the previous posts that 90 rpm also coincides perfectly (at least for me) with 45 breaths per minute, meaning that steps and breathing are synchronized: 2 steps/inhale, 2 steps/exhale, 2 steps/inhale, etc. Before I learned about increasing my rpm to 90, my breathing was pretty out of whack with my cadence (low 80’s) and it seemed harder to maintain a constant pace/rhythm.