EASY WAYS TO RUN FASTER

Build killer speed to blitz your final few races with coach Joel Enoch’s track-based session

Y ou’ve built base fitness, developed your strength and upped your threshold. Now, before the season finishes, it’s time to put a fine edge on your run performance by adding speed.

For many triathletes, especially those newer to the sport, run training tends to consist largely of building up the fitness required to cover the distance you’ll be racing over. Alternatively, you may have focused on increased volume, intensity or frequency. But to run faster, high-quality, short reps of speed development work are needed to improve the recruitment of muscle fibres – to produce more force – and produce neuromuscular adaptations – so your brain can tell the muscles to move faster.

Quality speed development work is rarely incorporated into training plans, but can bring huge gains for triathletes of all levels. These sessions are best done at your local running track due to the softer, consistent surface, but be warned, this is stressful training so only try this session if you’re injury free.