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Most beginner runners get faster simply by running more consistently — the first 3–6 months of regular running produce rapid improvement regardless of training structure, because the body is adapting to a new stimulus. After this initial phase, improvement requires more specific training if you want to keep getting faster.
This guide covers the most effective ways to improve speed, in the order they should be applied.
Step 1: Run More Consistently
The single most effective way to get faster is to run more often. Speed improvements come primarily from aerobic base development — and aerobic base develops over time with consistent running.
If you’re running twice a week, moving to three times a week will produce faster improvements than adding any specific speed workout. If you’re running three times, moving to four (with adequate recovery) will produce more improvement.
Before adding speed work: Be running at least 3–4 times per week, consistently, for at least 8–12 weeks.
Step 2: Add Strides
Strides are short, fast accelerations of 20–30 seconds, done at the end of an easy run. They’re the most accessible introduction to faster running for beginners.
How to do them:
– At the end of a normal easy run, gradually accelerate over 5–6 seconds to approximately 90% effort
– Hold that effort for 20–25 seconds
– Ease off completely for 90 seconds–2 minutes
– Repeat 4–6 times
Strides improve neuromuscular efficiency — training the nervous system to coordinate fast running — without the recovery demands of a full interval session. They don’t feel like hard work but produce measurable speed improvements over time.
Add 4–6 strides once or twice a week to your current easy runs before doing anything more structured.
Step 3: Run Easy Days Easier
A counterintuitive speed improvement: slowing down your easy runs.
Most beginners run everything at a moderate effort — not hard enough to be a quality session, but hard enough to accumulate fatigue that prevents proper recovery. The result is constant mild tiredness that caps how hard you can push in your speed sessions.
Running easy days at a genuinely easy pace (conversational — you can comfortably hold a full sentence) allows proper recovery and lets the body adapt to each training session before the next one arrives.
If your easy pace feels embarrassingly slow, it’s probably right.
Step 4: Add Interval Training
Once you’re running consistently and have added strides, interval training is the most effective tool for getting faster.
A beginner interval session:
– Warm up with 10–15 minutes of easy running
– Run hard for 2–3 minutes at an effort where you can only speak a few words (approximately 5K effort)
– Recover with 2–3 minutes of easy jogging
– Repeat 4–6 times
– Cool down with 10 minutes of easy jogging
This session improves VO2 max (your cardiovascular ceiling) and trains your body to run faster for sustained periods.
Start with once a week. Two interval sessions per week is sufficient for most recreational runners, even advanced ones.
Step 5: Add a Tempo Run
A tempo run is a sustained, “comfortably hard” effort for 20–40 minutes — faster than easy pace, slower than interval effort. The feeling: you can speak, but only in short phrases, and you’d rather not.
Tempo running improves your lactate threshold — the pace at which your body begins to produce lactate faster than it can clear it. Raising this threshold allows you to sustain faster paces for longer.
A simple tempo session:
– Warm up 10–15 minutes easy
– Run for 20–30 minutes at tempo effort (85–90% of maximum effort, roughly 10K race effort)
– Cool down 10 minutes easy
Add this once a week, replacing (not adding to) your interval session for variation.
What Not to Do
Running fast every session: Every run at moderate-to-hard effort doesn’t produce speed — it produces fatigue. The “hard day / easy day” principle exists for a reason. Easy days recover you for hard days; hard days produce the adaptations; you only improve during recovery.
Comparing pace to others: Running pace is heavily influenced by age, body composition, aerobic history, and genetics. A competitive 30-year-old and a beginner 50-year-old will naturally have different pace ranges. Progress should be compared to your own previous times.
Adding speed work before a base exists: Running intervals when you only run twice a week is premature. Build the engine before pushing it.
Strength Training for Speed
Running-specific strength work improves speed by improving force production and running economy:
- Single-leg exercises (Bulgarian split squats, single-leg RDLs) develop the strength for powerful toe-off
- Calf raises (particularly single-leg) build the power that propels you forward with each step
- Hip and glute work (glute bridges, lateral band walks) improves stability and reduces energy lost to lateral movement
Two strength sessions per week alongside running produces measurable speed improvements over 8–12 weeks.
Summary
Getting faster requires the right training in the right order:
- Run more consistently before adding speed work — base development produces the biggest early improvements
- Add strides to easy runs — the most accessible and low-risk introduction to faster running
- Slow your easy runs down — the biggest mistake beginners make is running everything at moderate effort
- Add one interval session per week — 4–6 repetitions at 5K effort is sufficient
- Strength training helps — calf raises, split squats, and glute work improve speed by improving force production
Next read: What is interval training for runners?