Sprinting For Distance Runners

Distance running is not just an act of endurance. It is an act of speed and strength. Specifically, the ability to express a high running velocity. This was a lingering thought when I was at the NCAA championship this past spring. It is clear to me that the athletes that won are the ones that were able to express speed and strength despite fatigue. This was not a competition of simply endurance. This was a competition of who can sprint the fastest while under fatigue. Despite these facts, I do not believe current popular training methods and attitudes fit the requirements for such a competition.

During the 2023 NCAA Championship, in the final for the men’s and women’s 3k steeple, 1500m, 5k, and 10k, the top eight scorer’s fastest lap was their last 87.5% of the time. Only eight times did an athlete run their last lap slower than any lap in their event. This pattern showed up the least in the women’s steeplechase where only five of eight scorers’ last lap was the fastest. While all eight of the top finishers in the men’s 1500m and 5k had their fastest lap as their last. The rest of the events had seven of eight scorers run their last lap the fastest. Additionally, every single champion in these events demonstrated their speed prowess by running their last lap the fastest and typically achieved the quickest split amongst the entire field.

Due to the technical sit and kick race style that permeates championship racing, we must consider these demands in our training. Afterall, training is the act of preparing ourselves or our athletes for the demands of the sport. Additionally, even in races where athletes do not sit and kick, there are reasons to believe maximum speed is beneficial; this is because sprinting trains the brain to recruit muscle fibers that are not used at slower paces. This adaptation delays fatigue and allows for faster running because you essentially “unlock” the ability to use more of the muscle. Sprinting also improves tendons’ ability to store elastic energy that can be released back into your stride allowing for “free” movement. In fact, the majority of the energy needed for the running mechanic is the elastic energy that is stored in tendons as opposed to being produced by the muscles. Improving your ability to harness more of this elastic energy can give you enormous running economy benefits. Anyway you put it, distance running improves when maximal speed improves.[1] 

It is clear distance running is not merely about endurance but also about being able to express high sprinting speeds. But how can we make sense of this when it goes against the old thought that distance running is only an endurance activity? Every single runner in these championship races can easily run as fast as the winner’s last lap when they are fresh but failed to do so under similar levels of fatigue. How come? Well, obviously, there is a strong metabolic and endurance aspect to distance running. However, we have to get away from thinking of distance running as only metabolic and the ability to ward off fatigue. Endurance gets you through the first part of the race. Speed lets you win the second half. To understand this, we must understand the concept of speed reserve. I define speed reserve as the difference between race pace and maximum speed. The faster your maximum speed, the higher your speed reserve. Having a high speed reserve will allow you to tap into high levels of speed at the end of races. Afterall, if your maximum speed is high, it logically follows that it will be easier for your body to achieve slower speeds. For example, let’s say miler 1 is a 4:10 miler but the fastest he can run a 400m in is 58s. While miler 2 is a 4:10 miler that can run a 52s 400m. They race each other running the first 1200m at their race pace of 63s per lap. Miler 1 has 5 seconds of speed reserve to play with in their final lap while miler 2 has 11 seconds. I know who I am betting on. Miler 2 will find it much easier to have a fast final lap than miler 1.

What I see all too often is coaches and athletes only focusing on endurance, which can improve your race speed, but will fail to address or effectively correct the other side of the equation, maximum speed; leaving athletes with a low speed reserve. The biggest mistake I see runners and coaches making when it comes to improving speed is choosing methods that do not improve top speed.

It is common for distance runners to perform strides or intervals after their base run for around 150m at a submaximal sprint to improve speed. The problem is, if you do not run at your absolute maximum velocity your gains from the sprint work will be lower. Coaches and athletes often label this as “speed work” though this is misleading because it does not work on maximal speed. These workouts will improve other abilities that are important but not maximal speed. However, if you are trying to run fast, running slower for longer is not going to help –  if you are always raising the floor but not the ceiling, you are going to have some issues. This is why it is essential to perform true maximal speed work.

Running fast 150m or 200m will not increase your maximum speed like many believe. Even running “strides” do not cut it. For inspiration, we must take a look at sprinter’s training methods. To improve top speed, sprinters will prioritize being as recovered as possible before and in-between reps. They will also only perform short 8-15 second intervals. Given the demands needed to perform at top speed, speed experts have used drills like flying sprints for decades. Flying sprints are where you accelerate for a short 20m-30m interval and hold top speed for about 4 seconds. They will then take at least 3 minutes of rest and possibly perform set rests of about 8 minutes. These long rests are necessary because the work being done is maximal and extremely intense on the body. Even though it may not feel very fatiguing to a distance runner who are used to dealing with lactate storms, these sprint workouts cause massive adaptations to occur.

To improve your maximum speed, I recommend doing maximum speed before your run or early in your run so that you are as fresh as possible. Doing these while in a fatigued state, like after your run or workout, will interfere with your ability to perform them at your maximum speed which will blunt the adaptation. I like to do a 2 mile warm up with some movement preparation to start. You should sprint for about 8-10 seconds and do easy standing 3 minutes rests in between. Perform 3-8 reps. These will wipe you out if you have not done true maximum sprints before. After that you may finish your run. Perform these sprints once or twice a week. Keep it simple. Afterall, we are not sprinters, but we should take inspiration from them when designing speed development workouts.