The race season is almost in full swing, and it is easier for runners to find a run without driving very far. The Texas Round-Up is today, and it will try to encourage people to start a healthy lifestyle. The easiest distance to run for a beginning runner, or even a fast walker, is the 5K distance of 3.1 miles. The 5K is a good speed workout for the more experienced runner and does not really take that much out of a runner so that they have to interrupt training to any great extent.

For a beginning runner, the first step is to just finish a 5K race and experience the satisfaction of entering a race and finding out what all these runners are talking about. At most races there is a clock that will tell you the time it took you to finish the race. Early on, the important thing is to finish; but after only a few races that time becomes something to look at. For a slow runner the first thing is to break 60 minutes in the 5K; then you look at 50 minutes and then 45 minutes. By the end of the summer the time factor is a challenge, and the pace per mile begins to be another item to look at. You find that you can run a 15-minute mile, then a 12-minute mile; and the runner then starts flirting with the idea that a 10-minute mile is a possibility for the race. Once you reach that speed, you figure you are a tried-and-true runner in the race; and you are absolutely right.

Running faster is a matter of two things. One is the stride distance of a runner. How long is the stride; and the faster you run the longer the stride, usually up to a point. Overstriding will not necessarily be better, and can actually slow you down and tire you out. The second factor is stride rate; how fast are the legs moving (or turning over as some runners say). I had a friend by the name of George Young with whom I shared an office, and George qualified for five different Olympic games during his prime. We were talking one day and he said, “When you want to run faster, you need to shorten your stride.” He was running on TV that night in an indoor meet for the two-mile. He encouraged me to watch him, and to specifically watch the last two laps and see what he meant. As I watched the race that night, the runners were all in a pack, when George suddenly shortened his stride and sprinted away from the pack and won by a large margin. He explained that with the shorter stride, he could apply more force or effort at a faster rate and therefore make him run faster, rather than using a longer stride and staying in the air longer between each stride. It made sense to me after watching him that night.

The easiest way that I have found to increase stride rate is to run on a slight downhill slope. The tendency when running downhill is to lengthen the stride, since you have gravity helping you out with the speed. Rather than lengthening the stride, try to keep the stride length the same. You will have to increase the stride rate when running downhill or else you will have a tendency to fall forward. It will feel as if you are shortening your stride length; but in reality you are close to the same length, but increasing the stride rate.

I read an article in the Harvard Medical Newsletter this week that reported on a study on the benefits of exercise by running and running with a weighted vest on. The runners started out with just 10 minutes of running and eventually built that up to about 45 minutes. The point the study wanted to find out was given by an example of walking across a street; but if you needed to cross the street fast, were you able to? The study wanted to look at the factor of power and how important was it in fitness.

When they compared the two groups, it was found that the group that wore a weighted vest for a little as 10 minutes was stronger and in better condition than the group that just ran for 30 minutes at a steady pace. While the group that ran with resistance improved more and had better results, the study did not recommend that everyone should go out and buy a vest to run in. The amount of weight in the vest was relatively light and had a gradual build-up from only a few pounds to about 15 pounds, depending on the runner’s size and body weight.

So whether you increase your stride length from short beginner strides or increase your stride rate as you improve, the idea is that both will help you run faster and more efficiently. If you do not want to try the weighted vest, a good alternative is to run uphill, because that will cause you to have a higher knee lift and also strengthen the leg muscles. If you are just starting out or if you have no desire to run fast but rather run for enjoyment, and want to start a collection of race T-shirts, the important thing is that you walk, jog or run a few races for a healthier lifestyle. Running fast is not as important as the running itself for most people.