Running Strides: Your Ultimate Guide

This running drill takes 5 minutes and gives a huge return

Personally, I put a lot of the improvement in my finishing kick in races down to the fact I started to implement strides into my regular routine. Strides take very little time and offer a lot in return, hopefully this article can convince you to take the next step in your running and add them to your routine so you too can reap the benefits!

So, your deep into your training, whether you are building your aerobic base with tempo runs and longs runs, or whether your in the heights of your training for a 5k or 10k, strides will play a huge part in achieving your goals.

However, I am sure you have a lot of the same questions which the athletes I coach have when they see 'strides' on their running program. But don't fear, this article has you covered, from everything from what they are, how to do them and what the actual benefits of running strides are.

So, if I have described you so far then carry on reading because this article might be the bridge between you and your new PB.

What are strides?

Strides or striders (if you just love pronouncing things wrong) are a short but fast effort of about 50-100m where your main focus is running with good form. The efforts should be at about 90% sprint speed, which you should slowly accelerate to throughout the rep, and you should try to run as relaxed as possible so you can get comfy running strides. These efforts should not take it out of you too much and they should have a nice 1-2 minute recovery as you slowly walk back after each rep.

Some people think that strides will cause you to sharpen up too soon due to the fact you are running fast paces, but the truth is you should never be going a whole week without running fast. Running strides will not cause you to sharpen as they are short efforts with long recovery, and because you will be using your ATP-PC system (more jargon you don't need to remember) you won't be sharpening up as you are not running for long enough to build up any substantial amount of lactic acid in your muscles.

What are the benefits of running strides?

The benefits of running strides are endless. By running strides you teach your body to maintain a longer stride length whilst running with the same cadence, and by getting comfy running at faster paces, all your other slower race paces will feel far more comfortable. Strides increase your running economy meaning that you will get better at using less energy to run the same paces, leaving faster paces available to you, you will also become less susceptible to injury. Strides can also improve your recovery as they loosen up your legs well when they are stiff or less recovered.

Other benefits of running strides include increase the speed of your finishing kick as you will learn to sprint faster, increasing the power in your stride and also if you are building your aerobic base then when it comes to adding in some speed training you will not be so far off as you will maintain your speed through your base training.

Overview of the benefits of strides

Increase stride length
Increase running economy
Makes race pace feel easier
Improved sprint speed
Gets your body ready for faster training
Reduced risk of injury
Improved recovery
Trains your ATP-PC system
Faster kick at the end of your races
Trains fast twitch muscle fibres
Improves neuromuscular co-ordination

When should I do my strides?

For me, I always add strides on my easy runs the day before I do a session, this is because it helps me to loosen up my legs so I feel better for the run the next. I usually don't just do them at any point in my easy run, I wait till I finish and then I run 6-8 strides at the end with a nice long recovery between all of them. If you are running strides on your easy run days then make sure you are properly warmed up for them first, this is why they are best added in at the end of your easy runs.

Strides also work great when they are implemented the day before a race. For a lot of runners the day before a race is a day in which they like to rest but running the day before a race increases your blood circulation (1) and prepares your body for what is to come the next day. Something which you can add to an easy shakeout the day before a race is a few strides, this will open your legs up properly to get your muscles ready for the next day.

Another great time to do strides is as a part of your warm up before your session, this helps to prepare your body for the faster running your about to do. I find when I do a session without strides I tend to run so much worse for the first few reps. If you are running strides as part of your warm up then be sure to warm up for 5-10 minutes with some light jogging and do a few running drills before you start doing your strides. Strides will wake up your neurological system to get you ready to ace your workout.

How to run with good form for your strides

Focusing on running with good form is one of the main things which you need to focus on with strides and it is where most of the benefits come from. Running form and biomechanics is a complicated topic but here are a few pointers to focus on for your next strides:

Be light on your feet
Drive your knees high
Focus on activating your glutes
Try to focus on not having an anterior pelvic tilt (an anterior pelvic tilt is where your hips are point down instead of being help at a neutral level)
Don't heel strike
Run with a long powerful stride
Keep your cadence high
Don't let your torso twist about too much- this wastes energy

Building up to doing a total of 16 strides per week means you will have run about a mile of strides, if you run these strides with as as good of a form as you can manage then your overall running form will improve loads over time.

Tips on running strides

Firstly, like with pretty much anything with running, it is best if you build up strides slowly especially if this is something which is new to you. I would recommend starting off with no more than 2 strides for your first try and it is probably best if you keep it at just 2 strides for the first week or 2. When your body adapts and gets used to running strides then you can slowly increase it to 4, then to 6 and then later to 8. Strides are great for helping your body to become more resilient to injury, but don't get injured chasing that aim by building up too fast.

One thing which I also really liked to when I became more serious about trying to develop myself as a runner, was adding in some plyometric exercises with the strides I was running. What this can do for you is further improve your running economy, improve your power, and your sprint speed. Plyometric exercises are a great practice which is skipped by many runners and I highly recommend you consider incorporating them into your workout routine. They go great along side your your strides but the thing is with plyometric exercises is a little goes a long way and a lot goes a long way to getting you injured, so be sure to not be doing too many and build them up slowly.

You may also like: Plyometric exercises for runners

Another thing which I think goes great with strides is adding some running drills and dynamic stretches before your strides. This helps to further wake up your neurological system to prepare your body for the strides and the benefits of doing drills and dynamic stretches for your running are great for improving your running. This helps to improve your running economy, mobility, flexibility and decrease injury risk.

Final thoughts on doing strides

There is a rule which works with many things and it is the 80/20 rule, this means that you get 80% of the benefits from 20% of what you do. You can keep your strides simple, you do not have to go the extra mile to get the benefits from running strides, just taking 5 minutes after an easy run or before a session once or twice a week will get you the benefits your after.