Why You Need to Run Fast

Everyone needs to run faster.

No, don’t worry, I’m not judging anyone for their pace, or suggesting that a faster time in a race is somehow better. What I mean is, to become a better, stronger runner, you should be incorporating faster running and speed work in your weekly training. Speed workouts should be a part of your training routine, whether you want to get faster or not.

Maybe you think about doing speed work or intervals or tempo runs as something only a runner chasing a PR needs to do. The truth is, it will benefit any runner, at any pace, whether they’re going for a PR or just want to enjoy running and racing. 

Here are 6 reasons you need to run fast to become a stronger runner:

Challenge Your Heart

Your heart is a muscle and working out and running improves that muscle and makes it stronger, just like all the muscles in your body. What speed work does for your heart is introduce a new stressor and challenges it to work harder in a different way. Our bodies are made so that when you get used to a certain pace and a certain routine of running, your heart actually adapts to your training and becomes more efficient. When you switch things up with your speed, your heart needs to work harder to become efficient at the new pace, making it stronger.

Strengthen Your Muscles

It follows that if your heart gets stronger from challenging yourself to run fast, all the muscles in your body benefit in the same way. Just like strength training is essential for runners to build a strong base for running, speed work makes your muscles build your intermediate and fast twitch muscle fibers. This not only helps you get faster, it will also help you when your body gets tired at the end of a long run or race.

Everyone has three types of muscle fibers – slow twitch, intermediate, and fast twitch. the exact make up is individual to each person – we are born with a certain ratio of fibers which for the most part can’t be changed, which is why some people are just better at sprinting and some are better at endurance running. When you go out for an easy run, it’s primarily your slow twitch fibers doing the work. As you get tired, the intermediate fibers start to work harder to take over for the slow twitch that are fatiguing. Finally, if you sprint the finish of a race, or have to speed up dramatically at some point, those are your fast twitch muscle fibers kicking in.

While everyone has a specific muscle fiber make up and slow twitch can’t be converted to fast twitch and vice versa, there is some evidence that intermediate fibers can potentially be converted to fast twitch with training. Regardless, training your fast twitch and intermediate fibers through speed work and faster running during training will only help you when you’re struggling in an endurance run.

Better Endurance

With your body better able to recruit intermediate and fast twitch muscle fibers as you tire, it follows that doing speed work will mean you become a better endurance runner. Better endurance means more successful long runs, which lead to better race performances.  

Improves Fitness

Maybe it seems like a given, but a stronger heart and more efficient muscles means your fitness will improve exponentially. Obviously this will make you a stronger runner, but the beauty of improved fitness is that it extends to your whole life. When you are in peak fitness, all the daily stressors of life are a little easier. Running for an elevator, sprinting upstairs, carrying heavy boxes, standing for long periods of time – when you are fit, all of this just becomes less of a struggle, something your body can just do easily. 

Greater Caloric Expenditure 

Good news for anyone who runs as a way to control their weight, or to lose weight – incorporating speed work once a week means you’re going to be using more calories during that workout than you would if you used the time for a long run, or a regular paced run. Even if it’s a shorter distance you’re running, a hill workout or speed intervals will torch calories because of the greater stress on your heart and muscles when you’re working hard.

And if you’re trying to lose weight, you should also be incorporating strength training into your workout. Check out this post for how to choose sets and reps for strength training, or this post for more info on how strength training benefits you as a runner.

And Yes, You’ll Get Faster

So maybe getting faster is important to you, or maybe it’s not. But incorporating speed work into your training routine once a week will make you a faster runner and racer.

Once per week, here are examples of workouts to try:

6 Speed Workouts for Runners

6 Hill Workouts for Runners

Runners, do you do regular speed training sessions?