6 Foolproof Tips on How to Run Faster from Experts and Athletes
Want to take your running to the next level? Try out these expert strategies.

For a moment, the pace slowed—or at least that’s how it seemed to Kaitlin Gregg Goodman. The Providence, Rhode Island-based runner had flown across the country for the 2016 Stanford Invitational to run a fast 10,000 meters. She could sense the chase pack slacking just a bit. Goodman felt strong, confident, and fast. She pressed with five laps to go, and the chase pack splintered.
Over the last mile, she flew until—with half a lap remaining—she found herself ahead of PR pace. Eyes locked on the finish, Goodman surged in the homestretch. The scoreboard showed 32:09.82, a 52-second personal best. Her family screamed from the stands.
Since graduating in 2010 from the University of California-Davis, Goodman had been waiting for a moment like this. She had been searching for how to run faster. In a four-year span, she alternated solid months of training with doubts about whether professional running was a realistic dream, given her PR of 33:01 for 10,000 meters. Full-time work beckoned.
But Goodman didn’t give up. She took a big leap. She trained for a marathon for the first time. Suddenly she was running more miles than ever, and on top of that, building workouts inside her long runs. This was uncharted territory, but the payoff was huge. Heading into the track season, she felt stronger than ever.
“The last 100 meters of that race is something I will remember to the end,” Goodman says. “It was a lot of validation of years and years of hard work, and work that wasn’t always translating into the results I wanted. Stanford is no Olympic stadium, but man, it felt like one.”
It’s one thing to dream of that momentous breakthrough—and another to create it. At some point you need to ask: What elements are missing from my training? What bad habits have I let sneak in? What have I resisted changing in my lifestyle?
If you're looking to take a big leap too, here’s how to run faster and get serious about your running.
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