How To Run Faster (WITHOUT RUNNING MORE)

[@sjfarrell2.0]

I had been trying to increase my cadence over the last couple of weeks because apparently 160 is too low. So I reduced my stride a bit and tried to focus on picking up my feet a bit more. I have ended up with muscle tears in both my calves that will probably take a month + to heal (I am 51 so slow to heal). I haven't had a running injury for over a year until now. When I am fit enough to go out again ill go back to how I used to run and just be content with no injury and a slow cadence.

[@dapwhu66]

Hi Ben. I’ve added strength training to my weekly training. I use a kettlebell and follow yours and others training ideas. 4 weeks in and starting to feel stronger. Great advice as always.

[@AdamP.Wright]

I feel creators don’t like to risk upsetting people by saying the most obvious one, so I’ll do it: lose weight. Specifically body fat. I recommend the book “Racing Weight” by Matt Fitzgerald. Does a great job of helping you to calculate your optimal racing weight as a rough guide and then tips on managing appetite, and losing excess body fat. Changed my whole approach and made it a lot easier. Weight actually has a bigger impact on performance than training unless you’re under a certain threshold, that most people won’t be anywhere near.

[@jmsanderson]

I heard its like 2 seconds over a mile per lbs or similar. Insane gain if half of that is true

[@OmahaTonyG]

How often wonder how much faster I would be if I lost weight. The biggest issue is that losing too much weight would have a detrimental impact on the other physical activities I enjoy doing.

[@AdamP.Wright]

@ Has diminishing returns after a certain point but yes, it’s massive

[@nberkel]

The key is losing fat. Do it wrong or for too long and you start whittling away at muscle...

[@jjndz3782]

Agreed. Losing weight helps a lot in improving pace.

[@matthiassventoest6800]

100% agree on your views about strength training especially as I’m over 40 luckily I come from a strength training background so I think that’s probably saved off quite a few injuries. Great stuff.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

Definitely helps with injuries but probably doesn't help with speed/stamina for anything over 1Km.

[@kitingholger9826]

Thanks for that video. A great overview.. especially on cross training and importance of adding some muscle building routines… In my own journey re-starting running at 54 half a year ago, I realize that especially recovery is real issue to deal with - Especially at the beginning when you realize that a couple of muscles are really weak from a desk over over a years. I’ve added a massage gun - which makes substantial a difference. And I do yoga from low intensity, recovery type to high intensity, muscle building type off routines . Yoga was the basis to bring my body in a shape to be able to run again - by removing imbalances especially in the hip - which resulted in Achilles and knee problems when I started running a few years ago and had to stop again at that time. And what is also very important for forget about this: ‘you can add 10% of mileage every week’. You need to take care of carefully increasing mileage and intensity - for me a rule of 5% per month was a good rule of thumb. I’m running three times per week always was a day in between the sessions, and I have now switched to a model of seven runs in 14 days always also with 1day in between sessions. Depending on how I feel especially from extended long runs, I use one to two officers sessions on my spinning bike. Additional calisthenics exercises are a bit difficult to keep consistently, because with all the yoga and running my agenda already feels quite quite packed for now if the amount of energy I can invest. But it’s clearly still her plan to add a couple of more run specific routines, although much of it is also part of my daily yoga. bodyweight: it’s another key point - I’ve taken in approach to slowly lose 1 kilo a month - I’ve not changed a lot on my nutrition, except staying away from a beer and stuff like this six days a week, the long slow runs half seem to have activated my fat metabolism in a good way.

[@thadstuart8544]

wonderful information sir.. I took notes about the different types of runs you recommended (intervals, tempo, strides, hills, easy, and long). thanks very much

[@misterbelll]

Great video....good to see cross training getting a good mention.....Very helpful 👍👍👍

[@charlesdurand1328]

Hey Ben! Longtime follower and client (I have a few of your hats). Great videos and helpful tips as always! They have help me gain better form and get faster. Quick question: I see you running with gloves quit a bit. Why is that? Are you just chilly or is their a specific reason... Thanks and keep up the great work, it's inspiring to watch you go!

[@steve24550]

Excellent content. Thanks for sharing.

[@ulfeliasson5413]

I am a classic burnout runner.- Too much too fast and that's it for 6 months until the next race draws near, then start over again.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

What's your monthly kilometerage? Running fast makes it difficult to stack up kms.

[@chucky1golf]

Nice top, and tips 👌

[@rayseetoe]

Thanks for the tips Ben!

[@ianjames3078]

Spot on Ben. Thanks.

[@lucianosouza8951]

Thanks, brother!

[@frankiew1922]

The life fitness arc trainer is a great one to replace a run. Add resistance and it’s a real banger

[@waxas1]

hi ! What i want to know the most is how to keep the feet healthy as a runner ? i am pretty new to running , other than wearing comfortable shoes , what do you do to not get blisters and be able to run almost every day ? I can run pretty long distances but get stopped because of blisters and bloody spots under my feet , do you usse like vaseline , or a specific product ? maybe tape the feet or toes a certain way ? thanks!

[@conradburdekin722]

Great tips - especially the strength - what you suggested actually looks doable to this 48 year old!

[@vacronda]

This was really helpful and clear, especially the discussion about x-training and strength training. Thank you!

[@jmsanderson]

I struggle with cadance. I have metranome on my watch and train specifically for it in runs, higher cadance at slow speeds seems impossible

[@philipabrams1744]

I feel the same way. As a beginner I’d rather build my base in zone 2 and not worry too much about cadence until I bring up my pace

[@ianjames3078]

I use a 170bpm playlist and have a 180bpm one as well. Found them easier than the metronome

[@therunophil]

well, that 180 steps myth is just that (even if some old school coaches still hold on to it). Studies show that also the pros have quite different cadences between each other and even in one person throughout a race. Yes, there is a cadence that you will be most efficient at, but that varies per person. Cadence and stride length are what determines your speed. If you want to always run at the same cadence, your steps would be ridiculously short at very slow speeds, and you would have to overstride at full sprint. There is a video I think from Frederick Zillen on how to determine your individual optimal cadence, but I would not worry if your cadence is roughly in the ballpark of 180 at goal speed, it's natural to be lower at easy pace and higher in sprint.

[@jmsanderson]

@therunophil I've had biomech tested and my natural running cadance is 140ish, I've struggled but got it roughly into 150, don't overstride or heel strike anymore which helps massively.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

​@@therunophilAbsolutely true. I would also add to it that cadence in a single runner during a race varies for several reasons. One of them is that changing cadence is a mechanism for the body to offset the load to different muscle groups. It would be very tiring for the body to run at a single cadence continuously.

[@ia3423]

i wanna see your review of the novablast 5, the 4 were absolutely amazing i did around 1600km and they still holding up great.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

I've heard it's a more bouncy lively version of the 4.

[@jameswhelan1149]

I'm not sure if you have one already but if not could you give your recommendations for marathon shoes. I currently have the Saucony Endorphin Pro 4. Would like to see if there's something I can take the distance with a bit more cushioning, thanks

[@sagsdothedu]

Good batch of essentials there Ben. Most important IMHO, for longevity, is cross training and strength conditioning. Maybe see you in Watopia some time 🤣

[@neiltimms9380]

its always summer in watopia!

[@mukeshmohanty4001]

Whats your views on plyometrics, should these be incorporated in training plan?

[@NomadicNine]

Ben, seperate question..........are you going to try and run the comrades marathon again next year?

[@HugoParedes]

I take an issue with the “run efficiently” best practices that everyone preaches about. For example, the 180 number is one of those things (like the 10.000 steps is a day) that has no correlation with the real life. And the arms swing, how many pro athletes don’t follow that and they’re super fast? Those things are very person specific

[@MrTttmmm]

Honestly, as a bigger runner, losing weight is amazing for running faster without running. If I lose 5-10 lbs I feel like I'm flying.

[@johndixon557]

If your doing hills and it's a very steep incline what % do you suggest I run at ? I made mistakes of going flat out about 3 weeks ago and legs haven't been right since 😅🤦🏾‍♂️

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

I have seen different types of advice regarding hill repeats but the one that made sense was that they are a sort of strength training for runners and so they should be performed at max effort and shirt intervals while the rest period should be long. As with all sorts of sessions in running you should build up to it not to get injured.

[@cafeque6662]

9:01 training in Brazil? 💚💛

[@BruceWayne-us3kw]

I use my rower to cross train.

[@durachoks]

well isnt it simple, cant do more volume? Increase the intensity, why even do easy runs if we run 3 times a week, we should be able to easily recover to do proper workouts...

[@mikhailstrokin8849]

The arm swing form proposed as optimal is questionable. The top marathon runners swing the arms in front of the body and the women tend even to cross the middle line of the body with their arms. With the pace up Ben also tends to swing the arms in the front (see here time stamp 2:08, 4:12).

[@Beariam24]

My problem is running one week then kids bring new illnesses from school the next week then run one week then illness again 😂 it’s like Groundhog Day.

[@dnice362]

My average is 165, is that a good cadence

[@gamemak0r]

Most my runs my cadence is 175-181 but in my last parkrun my cadence was 180-194. It was my first sub20. Should I be aiming to lower that cadence for my 5k or increase my cadence in my other runs?

[@JK-ev7fu]

Cadence varies naturally depending on speed. You probably don't need to worry about it at all.

[@therunophil]

and certainly don't overstride at high speeds to keep your cadence lower, that would be a recipe for injury.

[@Sturmgeweiht]

Stretching is unnecessary. We don't do Yoga or martial arts .You only Stress your muscles more.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

I beg to differ. Running makes joints and muscles very tight.