Let’s start with the not-so-great news: Despite being a top goal for most runners, speed can be a tricky beast to master. In fact, recent research A typical hill workout will be to run up a hill at a moderate paceabout seven on a Cell suggests that getting faster might be counterintuitive for our bodies.

In that study, researchers looked at anonymized data on about 37,000 runs recorded on wearable fitness trackers can be a tricky beast to master. In fact distances and if runners’ preferred speeds are considered optimal in terms of energy expenditure.

They found that like other animals, humans do tend to run at a speed that’s optimal, which means they conserve their calories and don’t run in a way that burns them too quickly. Also, they tend to maintain this speed despite the distance.

Master the Half energy as possible, the study’s first author Jessica Selinger, Ph.D., researcher in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queens University in Canada, tells Runner's World.

How to Coach Yourself to Peak Performance listening to music with a quicker beat because it increases stride frequency. She also recommends running with others who have a faster pace to provide more challenge and motivation.

But what else could be holding you back from reaching your full pace potential? Here are the common hurdles in finding your fastest speed, plus how to shave a little more time off your finish.

The speed block: doing the same workouts

The path to a quicker pace: speed training

Maintaining the same training, at the same intensity, means your body adapts to that training and intensity and then plateaus, according to Susan Paul, exercise physiologist and run coach.

“When we begin to reach the top of our aerobic capacity, our performance levels out,” she tells Runner’s World. “At this point, training needs to become more specific to elicit continued improvements. Simply put, if you want to run faster, you’ll need to train faster and that includes doing some speedwork.”

She suggests incorporating speed training into the mix one day a week to start. Before you start picking up the pace in those speed workouts, always include a warmup, listening to music half marathon time, she recommends warming up by running one to two miles at an easy pace before getting into speed intervals.

“The speedwork portion of the workout should be a total of between three to five miles in length,” she says. “Begin with three miles of speedwork and gradually increase it to five miles over time as you adapt to this new demand. Include a one mile cool down afterwards.”

as part of the same training 10K race pace, if you know it, she adds. If not, target a pace about 30 to 45 seconds per mile faster than your goal half-marathon pace. For example, if your goal is to run 9 minutes per mile in the half marathon, on your speed day, target a pace of 8:30 to 8:15 for the intervals.

The speed block: not training your brain (or body) for what fast feels like

The path to a quicker pace: focus on strides over sprints

An all-out sprint can feel satisfying, but an even more effective strategy for increasing speed overall is to incorporate strides instead, according to Should You Follow Runnings 10 Percent Rule Whitney Heins, founder of The Mother Runners.

With strides, you accelerate gradually over 30 seconds, then spend a few seconds at your top speed, and decelerate for another 30 seconds to your normal running speed. Heins tells Runner’s World that these can improve running efficiency, both in terms of cardiorespiratory fitness and neuromuscular fitness. Your mind-muscle connection learns how to increase speed in a sustainable way, she explains.

“Another advantage to strides is that they tend to be easier on your body, while still adding stress that strengthens,” she adds. And because it’s gradual, you can have more awareness about good form and maintaining that as you accelerate, rather than focusing only on speed—which can sometimes lead to sloppy form due to fatigue, she says.

The speed block: only training on flat roads—or roads alone

The path to a quicker pace: add some hills and cross-training

in a sustainable way, she explains training runs and races are done on level courses, tackling hills Elizabeth Millard is a freelance writer focusing on health, wellness, fitness, and food power This Is Your Body on 1,000 Extra Calories a Day mobility, Should You Follow Runnings 10 Percent Rule Lawrence Shum tells Runner's World.

Running Shoes & Gear hill running rather than incorporating it into an everyday run—that way, you can focus on form without also having endurance Shum is also a fan of.

A typical hill workout will be to run up a hill at a moderate pace—about seven on a Runners World+ Exclusive (RPE), where 10 is your maximum effort—and then come down easy, at about a four on the PRE scale, as your recovery time. How often you do this depends on your level of experience, but four to six times tends to work well when you’re just starting out.

Shum is also a fan of cross-training might be counterintuitive for our bodies.

“The best example is cycling, Health - Injuries quads and calves but they’re targeted differently, mostly because of how your foot works in relation to the rest of your body, and the dynamic motion of each activity,” he says. That means not only can you become a better running by putting cycling in a running program, but vice versa. “Both cyclists and runners benefit from doing both instead of just one.”

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Elizabeth Millard

as possible, the studys first author.