It’s important to get on a structured training schedule to run faster. The reason for this is simple. Different types of workouts have specific effects on the body. In order for the body to adapt to training in a positive way, careful planning of workouts must be the foundation of your training.

Let’s look at some of the basics that you must follow. First, in order to run faster, you must practice running fast. This is just common sense. But some people will run workouts at less than full speed and expect to get faster. That isn’t going to happen.

For this reason, when doing speed work, you must allow full recovery between runs. Also, because speed training also exhausts the Central Nervous System, you can’t do it every day. In fact, it takes between 36-48 hours to properly recover from an intense speed workout. So if you train speed on Monday, wait until Wednesday before you do a similar workout again. This fact should be the central theme when creating a training schedule to run faster.

Every plyometric exercise must be done quickly and absolutely correctly. Because of the increased physical challenge, there is also a higher risk for injury. There cannot be any shortcuts for both safety and effectiveness. As athletes begin a plyometrics program, it is recommended that they carefully monitor their progress and program as well as further research plyometrics and plyometric programs.

Here is what your training schedule for a week looks like, based on what we have covered so far.

M: speed
T:
W: speed
TH:
F:
SA: speed
SU: rest

In addition, part of your training schedule to run faster should contain strength development as well. After all, you can’t run faster if you are not actively getting stronger. Strong legs can move your body faster and easier than weak legs.

Well, strength training taxes the same areas of the body as speed training, so you must do those types of training on the same day. Otherwise, your body will not recover properly and that will lead to slower times, fatigue and injuries.

So now your training schedule looks like this:

M: speed, strength
T:
W: speed, strength
TH:
F:
SA: speed, strength
SU: rest

Within speed work, you also must address the speed endurance elements of training. Speed endurance generally consists of runs of about 100 – 300 meters at between 90% – 100% intensity. You have to get full recovery between repetitions because you want to be able to maintain a pace that falls in that 90-100% training zone.

If you shorten the rest, the pace will drop to less than 90% and the workout becomes more of a lactic acid producing conditioning workout than a workout that develops top speeds. The aerobic and anaerobic demands of the sport you are training for will determine how much time you spend working at the 80-90% threshold versus the 90-100% threshold.

For example, a soccer or field hockey player or a middle distance runner would require fairly extensive training in the middle intensity range where a football player, basketball player or track and field sprinter would be better off spending training time focusing on the high intensity workouts.

In examining your training schedule designed to help you run faster, it’s clear that traditional conditioning must be addressed.

On Tuesday, Thursday and Friday you will add your conditioning elements. Again, what you’ll do here depends on the sport or event you are creating your training around. If you are involved in a sport that requires a large aerobic demand, such as the aforementioned soccer, field hockey and mid distance, then these are days that you would include your tempo/endurance runs. Basically it when you would do your road work or mileage.

If working on the track this would be where you would run your repeats at a slower pace so that you can do a large volume of repetitions.

However, if you are involved in a highly anaerobic sport like football, basketball or track and field sprinting, you don’t have nearly the need for high volumes of low intensity training. So for one of these athletes’ training schedules, they would do much lower volume aerobic work. These workouts are meant to improve aerobic conditioning. Yet, they are equally involved as recovery work to help flush metabolic waste out of the muscles from high intensity strength training, speed work and speed endurance.

Another element you could add as aerobic conditioning/capacity work would be body weight circuits. Now you are getting strength and core work as well as aerobic capacity, recovery and work capacity training.

So your final, one week training schedule to run much faster would look like this:

M: speed/endurance, strength
T: aerobic conditioning
W: speed/endurance, strength
TH: aerobic conditioning
F: aerobic conditioning
SA: speed/endurance, strength
SU: rest

Finally, there are a few extra things to note. First, core work (abs, lower back, hips and glutes) must be addressed several times during the week. Second, every 4th week in your speed training schedule, you should back off and back of the amount of work you do in practice. Lastly, mix up your workouts and the days that you do them so your body doesn’t adapt to doing speed endurance every Saturday.

Put your schedule together like I showed you and you’ll be running faster in no time!