Increasing your range of motion through exercises can lower your run times.
As with many other exercise regimens, runners have been known to plateau, reaching a certain point in their running where they fail to continue improving. These plateaus can be frustrating and lead to a runner developing bad habits or ending training completely. Focusing on particular aspects of your training, such as improving muscle strength and flexibility through stretching exercises and weight training can help you lower you overall time when running miles.
Increasing Your Range of Motion
Do a series of light stretching exercises prior to running to loosen up your muscles. Follow it up with more lengthy stretching exercises after your run to help increase your range of motion. Focus on stretching your hamstring muscles (such as lying on your back and grabbing your thigh with both hands and pulling toward you), quadricep muscles (such as grabbing your ankles from behind you and pulling them upward) and hip muscles (such lying on your back and moving your legs into an Indian-style sitting position). Loosen your calf muscles by pushing up against a vertical surface, such as a wall, while bending your knees.
Hill Training
Build up your strength, which will help you run faster later in your runs and increase your overall speed, by adding hill running to your training regimen. Time your hill work to coincide with the middle portion of your runs so that you're fully loosened up but not so tired that you risk injury. Start off with small hills and work your way to steeper climbs. If you don't have hills where you live, use stadium bleacher steps as an alternative.
Short Run Bursts
During long runs, set aside different sections within the run to increase your pace. This will allow you to increase your stamina and improve your overall time. Determine a time goal to complete a specific distance, say 1,500 meters. Reach your starting point and time yourself during the part of the run containing that length. Do the same length of runs over a series of consecutive training periods to see if you've improved your times. Move on to other lengths. After a few more training runs, go back to the previously run lengths and check your times against your previous times. You will likely see improvement. Use different lengths over the course of several runs to determine how your times differ over longer and shorter runs.
Weight Training
The use of light weights and high repetition while doing leg exercises will strengthen your leg muscles, making them capable of providing extra bursts of speed when necessary. Weight training will also give your legs and lower body overall strength and muscle improvement. Running only develops a definitive series of muscles; weight training can fill in the gaps for muscles that aren't being developed as much while running. This can also help prevent injuries. Weight training workouts should be short, no more than 30 minutes a session. Your workouts should be done with light weights and include several repetitions and sets. Focus on muscles such as your quadriceps, which are developed during runs.
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