Run Faster Plan

Training harder to get faster puts new demands on your body, and what you eat plays a big role in how well you adapt. Fueling smart helps you recover quicker, hit high-quality sessions, and keep your energy steady across the week.

• Protein: Prioritize it daily to rebuild and strengthen muscles after speed sessions. Lean meat, fish, eggs, dairy, or plant-based sources work best.
• Carbohydrates: Your main fuel for faster running. Eat extra before interval or tempo workouts to perform at your best. Stick to complex carbs like oats, quinoa, rice, sweet potatoes, and fruit for sustained energy.
• Healthy fats: Avocado, nuts, seeds, and olive oil support recovery, joint health, and hormone balance - essential when intensity is high.

Pre-time trial nutrition
If you’re using a time trial to benchmark progress, fuel it like a short race:

• Eat a carb-rich meal 2–3 hours beforehand.
• Reduce fat, protein, and fiber to avoid sluggish digestion.
• Stick with foods you’ve already tested in training - no surprises on the day.
• A small carb snack closer to the effort can give you a final energy boost, but only if it’s something you know works for you.

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To run faster, your body needs more than just speed sessions - it needs the strength and resilience to handle them. That’s where cross-training and strength work come in. Together, they support faster running by boosting power, improving efficiency, and reducing the risk of injury.

Cross-training: Activities like cycling, swimming, or rowing build aerobic fitness without the pounding of extra miles. They strengthen your heart and lungs, give your joints a break, and add variety that keeps training fresh. Used on recovery days, cross-training lets you stay active while still protecting your legs for the harder sessions that matter most.

Strength training: The engine room of speed. Building stronger glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core improves stride power, posture, and running economy - meaning you’ll run quicker with less wasted energy. Even 1–2 focused sessions per week can sharpen mechanics, reduce fatigue late in workouts, and give you the explosive strength to hit faster paces.

With Runna, strength and cross-training are seamlessly built into your plan, so every session complements your speed work instead of competing with it.

Running faster isn’t about sprinting every session - it’s about learning how to control and distribute your effort so speed becomes sustainable. Pacing is the bridge between raw fitness and real performance.

The key is understanding intensity.

Hard sessions aren’t all-out sprints; they’re measured efforts designed to raise your ceiling without breaking you down. Intervals teach speed, tempos build stamina at higher intensities, and easy runs keep aerobic fitness on track - but it’s how you pace them that makes the difference.

Think of pacing as your rhythm: too quick early and you’ll burn out, too conservative and you’ll miss your potential. The sweet spot is starting controlled, settling into a strong but sustainable effort, and reserving just enough to finish hard.

Practicing this across training sessions builds the mental discipline to know when to hold back and when to push, so fast running feels natural, not forced.

With Runna, every workout comes with clear pace targets tailored to your fitness - so you’ll know exactly when to hold back, when to push, and how to finish strong.

Your running form is a key part of unlocking speed. Running efficiently will:

• Minimize wasted energy so you can hold faster paces for longer.
• Reduce impact stress on muscles and joints during harder efforts.
• Lower injury risk, especially as you add more interval and tempo sessions.

Form matters at every distance, but in speed training it’s the difference between hitting your splits and fading late.

• Run tall with a strong posture and relaxed shoulders.
• Keep strides quick, light, and efficient rather than long and heavy.
• Drive your arms powerfully to match leg turnover.
• Stay relaxed through your face, hands, and jaw to conserve energy.

Focus on form during intervals, tempos, and the closing stages of longer runs, when fatigue makes it hardest to maintain. Over time, these small adjustments will turn into habits that make you faster and more resilient.

Remember: Think of form as your foundation for speed - efficiency today is what allows you to push harder tomorrow.

Speed gains don’t come from the workouts alone - they come from how well your body adapts afterward. Recovery is what allows you to handle harder sessions, stay consistent, and keep building pace without injury.

Key areas to focus on:

• Sleep: Aim for 7–9 hours. This is when your body rebuilds muscle fibers, balances hormones, and locks in the benefits of speed training.
• ‍Mobility work: Yoga, Pilates, or dynamic stretching improve flexibility and keep your stride smooth after tough interval or tempo sessions.
• ‍Massage & tools: Foam rolling, massage guns, or sports massage can release tight spots and help you bounce back quicker between hard efforts.
• ‍Nutrition & hydration: Carbs replenish glycogen so you’re ready for the next session, while protein repairs muscle damage. Stay hydrated throughout the day, not just after training.
• ‍Active recovery: Light movement like walking, swimming, or cycling boosts circulation, clears fatigue, and keeps your legs fresh.
• ‍Flexibility: Listen to your body. If fatigue lingers, swap or skip a session. Protecting consistency over weeks is more important than forcing one workout.

The right gear won’t make you faster on its own, but small changes in comfort and efficiency add up when your goal is speed.

• Shoes: Your most important tool. Choose a well-cushioned pair for daily mileage to protect your legs, and consider a lightweight, responsive shoe (or carbon-plated “super shoe”) for faster workouts or time trials. Always break them in before testing them at speed.
• ‍Clothing: Technical fabrics wick sweat, reduce chafing, and regulate temperature during harder sessions. The less you’re distracted, the more focus you can put into hitting your paces.
• ‍Watch or GPS tracker: When working on speed, data matters. A GPS watch or running app lets you track intervals, splits, and overall progress, helping you pace sessions correctly. Runna syncs seamlessly with Garmin, Apple Watch, COROS, and Strava.
• ‍Accessories: A lightweight belt or armband keeps essentials close without breaking rhythm. On hot days or longer runs, hydration gear helps you stay sharp.
• ‍Sun protection: A high-SPF sunscreen, hat, or sunglasses makes speed sessions in bright conditions more comfortable and sustainable.

Golden rule: test everything in training. Comfort, support, and confidence in your gear let you focus fully on speed - not distractions.