The other day, a novice runner friend of mine asked me the age old running question: “How do I become faster?”  My response was in tune with what I always say, and that was to do interval training.  And I proceeded to list a couple different workouts.  As I was running today though, the words of Coach Bowerman ran through my mind.  When asked by a student of his on how to improve him times, Bowerman simply said, “Run Faster”.  And I realized that while my answer was not wrong, Bowerman’s answer was more right.  Don’t get me wrong; interval training is essential if you want to take it to the next level.  But for most runners, it’s not absolutely necessary.  The real answer is to simply run faster. 

Ok, so right about now, you’re saying that it’s not that easy, and I’m not going to lie…it isn’t.  But the hardest part is to mentally make yourself want to do it and actually follow through with it.  The problem with most people is that they just aren’t mentally ready to run fast.  People can come up with tons of excuses about why they can’t run one day.  Those excuses probably double when it comes to why they can’t run fast that day.  So the first thing that you need to do is to throw all those excuses out the window, and Just Do It.  If you go into your run thinking that you’re tired or hurting, then you’ve already lost the battle.  If you indeed are tired...then wait a little bit.  Try taking a quick power nap, or eating a snack.  Or maybe you just need some music to pump you up and get your mojo moving.  Get properly fueled…a good snack a half hour to an hour beforehand can help greatly.  Do the best you can to fully prepare your body, and treat your workout as if it were race-day.  You have one advantage though…because there’s no set start time that you have to hit.  It’s up to you!

So both your mind and body are charged up now, but what exactly are you running today?  Well let’s take a normal midweek route that you run.  Make sure you know where all of your mile checkpoints are in the route, as well as the halfway point.  Gmap-pedometer is a great resource to use to map out different routes.  You’ll be running this route faster than usual though, at what we call a “tempo pace”.  I like to define these types of runs as 75% race-pace effort where I’m working hard and steadily.  You should be breathing comfortably hard, and not be able to talk.  Usually at some point past midway, you’ll start feeling high, and when you’re finished, you’ll be in a very nice euphoric state.  Now your goal for these tempo runs should always be to beat your previous personal best for this route.  If this is your first time really trying to attack it, then let’s be somewhat conservative and shoot for a time that’s 5% faster than what you normally run.  So if it’s 45 minutes over 5 miles, then shoot for about 42:30.  Now that we’ve got your total time, calculate out your per mile pace, and determine what your elapsed time should be at each checkpoint.  Again, know where your checkpoints are, and at about what times you want to hit them.  Even if you’re running with something like Nike+, it may not be totally accurate, especially if you’re changing your pace up.

Now you’re at the gym…you’re mentally psyched, your gameplan’s laid out, you’ve got your shoes laced up, watch on your wrist, Ipod in your armband, chip in your shoe, shades propped up, so you’re ready to finally run, right?  No, we’ve got one more important step.  You need to limber up and be sure to stretch out those nagging injuries.  Below I have a series of dynamic flexibility stretches that will warm up your legs for some high turnover.  Once you’re done, it’s off to the races!

On to the run…start off nice and hard and keep that mental edge going for yourself.  Just don’t go shooting off like a bat out of hell though.  Remember, comfortably hard.  You want to be able to try and maintain this pace over the course of the run, but also have to really work in order to do so.  Now a big key during your run is to NOT STOP.  Stopping takes away a key ingredient that you need for your fast run, and that my friends, is adrenaline.  Once you stop, your body is really starting to tell your mind how tired it was, and starting back up (especially to go fast again) is a battle that is very difficult to win.  Many of us make excuses to stop at traffic lights saying “well I HAD to stop”.  No…you didn’t.  The very least you could do is make a right turn.  Yes…this could wind up messing up your pre determined route, at which point, you may have to run for a certain time instead, and take a guess about what kind of mileage you’re running.  You can always check the distance later online.  Another thing that you can do is before your run, map out your route.  Determine the points where you know you have had to stop due to traffic, and map out an alternate route.  These options not only keep you from stopping, but add some variety to your workouts. 

Now if you’re like me…you want to run the route you set out to do.  This strategy is not for the faint of heart, and requires trust in yourself, drivers, and a keen sense of your surroundings.  If I’m coming up on a light, I can usually tell at least 100 yards away whether I’m going to make it or not…giving me at least 20 seconds to think of my move.  If I know that later on this road, I need to make a left turn, I may turn left at the crosswalk, and hopefully after that I get the green to cross the street.  If not, then I’ll make my right turn but have a sense on what’s going on with the cars behind and to the side of me.  You know what’s going on with traffic going towards you since you’re running in that direction.  So while you’re running, wait for that opening, and then double-back and cross the street.  Sometimes, you can also time it so that you cross only half the street, and then run in the middle of the road for a little bit, and then cross the rest of the street.  Here’s my philosophy…you don’t HAVE to cross at crosswalks.  Remember this for other times that you know you’ll have to cross the street.  Sometimes, you may just want to get it over with earlier when the road’s totally clear.  Because it’s very possible that when you get to the crossing, you won’t have that opportunity.

Ok…so back to how you’re feeling…you’ll probably feel great for your 1^st quarter… Soon after though, you may begin to tire…but don’t give in…all you have to do is make it to that halfway point.  Because once you make it there, all you have to say to yourself was…that really wasn’t that bad…and now…all I have to do is less than what I already have!  Piece Of Cake!  The 3^rd quarter is usually the toughest in any race though.  This is where you need to really stay tough and gut it out.  You need to just tell yourself that this is where your race is won.  If you stay strong here, you WILL get the job done.  And once you reach the 4^th quarter, you are home free.  You can taste that Gatorade at the finish and being able to bask in your runner’s high.  Just knowing that you’re about to finish should get you to that end faster.  Now that you’ve finished though, your workout isn’t over.  Make sure that you cool down for at least 5 minutes, and then get a good stretch in.  Then, make sure that you eat within an hr of your run, even if you’re not hungry.  You need to replenish your body with glycogen lost, and your body is most primed to do this right after your run, but it needs food to do so.  This is where you’ll make some gains so that you’re ready for tomorrow’s workout!

I myself have gone through this glut recently where I just didn’t have the mental edge, and thought that if I just kept running easy, the speed would just come in time by itself.  Well…it doesn’t.  I completely forgot about my past formula for success, and that wasn’t to run complacently, but to go out there and run hard and with a purpose.