6 Ways to Increase Your Speed in Cross-Country Running

Some would argue that the number one goal of running is to get faster. Set that new personal best (PB). Break the tape at the finish line. Smash a course record.

Running has so many natural benefits, including improving heart health and mental health and even making new friends. But when it comes to racing cross country — especially in high school or college — speed does play a factor in success.

So, how ‌do‌ you get faster at cross-country running? Is there a specific technique? Should you try different training routines? Are there high-performance shoes that can give you that edge?

Every cross-country coach has their own philosophy for training and getting faster, but we've tapped a few who share some quality tips for how to run cross-country faster below.

As with any running plan, improving your cross-country speed starts with building a base. The difference with a cross-country foundation is it normally takes a little longer and the timing can fluctuate. While cross-country races can happen at any time of the year, most high school and collegiate seasons happen in the fall, making the summer huge for base training, according to Cole Hester, assistant cross-country and distance track coach at Columbia University in New York City.

"It's like priming the pump to get the lawnmower going," he tells LIVESTRONG.com.

The main focus for these building-block months is to run consistently and occasionally add in some different types of workouts or strides (more on those below), which will eventually help you run faster in cross country.

Gaining aerobic fitness happens in the foundational phase, but also right near the beginning of the season, when the real training begins.

Aerobic exercise means your muscles are receiving an adequate amount of oxygen and energy to continue a long run, notes a February 2017 article in the ‌World Journal of Cardiology‌. That oxygen and energy output, when developed and matured, can set you up for higher physical conditioning, putting you in a good place to run even faster in cross country.

Cross country in general is a heavily aerobic event. "You're talking about trying to hit an energy system that's predominantly aerobic. And when you hit the other end, after the training, that's where you find yourself getting faster," Hester says.

Working on your aerobic capacity also offers the opportunity to build on miles without worrying too much about pace. The journey to speed actually ‌shouldn't‌ focus so much on the pace. In fact, Dave Ringwood, head coach for cross country and track and field at Cabrini University, says his athletes don't even run with watches or trackers.

Strides are short bursts (10 to 30 seconds) of a faster pace during a run. "They can sharpen the legs without doing a lot of work. You can do something a little bit quick for a short period of time, so when you do go faster, it's not a shock to the body," Hester says.

Strides are anaerobic exercise, which is intense activity for a short period of time, fueled by the energy sources within your working muscles (not by oxygen, like aerobic exercise). Training anaerobically comes in handy for that end-of-the-race kick, Ringwood says.

To get faster, you also need to mix up your training so your body keeps adapting to different types of stress. Coaches recommend mixing in specific workouts to your training plan, including tempo runs, intervals and fartleks.

Tempo runs are consistent efforts performed at about 15 to 30 seconds faster than your average race pace. Hester recommends doing tempo workouts between 5 and 8 miles long to train for cross-country racing.

Tempo runs are the "bread and butter that help you work toward that goal race pace," he says says.

While tempos are definitely increased effort runs, they are by no means all-out. "You're working more and improving aerobic capacity by developing your engine without overly stressing your body," Ringwood says. "You don't get a lot of rest, but that's how you develop — where you're never actually comfortable."

Interval training structures running into multiple sections with periods of either relative or complete rest. Intervals can vary in distance and intensity.

Running intervals improves your aerobic and anaerobic fitness and can help lessen your time to exhaustion, according to the American College of Sports Medicine's (ACSM) ‌ Health & Fitness Journal.‌ This, in turn, improves your cross-country times.

This type of run — which means "speed play" in Swedish — is a great tool to increase speed over longer distances.

Fartleks are slightly different from intervals in that you're playing around with different distances and speeds for the bulk of your workout versus sticking to one repetitive distance or pace.

This helps you build fitness and get quicker, and it prepares you for the uneven paces of a race, where you might run faster at some points and slower at others, Hester says.

Regular road-running shoes would sink entirely if you were running in mud or might slip on grass, which will slow you down, Ringwood says.

You'll want cross-country spikes to rip into grass and help keep you moving forward quickly, Hester says.

The terrain for cross-country runners is undeniably differently than road racing. Windy trails, steep hills, sharp turns, mud, grass. This is the kind of terrain that might seem impossible to gain speed on.

Ringwood recommends familiarizing yourself with the types of environments you'll be racing on, such as grass, trails and parks, so you know how to engage your muscles in a different way come race day.

Try to find a variety of workout locations to mimic terrain you might encounter in competition. "It's a good mental stimuli to approach from a different perspective, because during a cross-country race, every minute is going to be different," Ringwood says.

At the end of the day, one key factor to getting faster is to actually ‌not‌ focus on time, but on the race itself. Cross country is unique compared to road or track races in that you may find yourself running in a larger pack, Ringwood says.

"Be aware of your surroundings and who is around you, because you can work off of someone," he says. "Use them as a reference point and find that moment in the race to accelerate."

Results are also hard to speak to, because it's hard to put a time to any one course. When courses range from flat golf courses to hilly, muddy trails, it's more about the competition, not the time, Hester says.

"A track is flat and controlled, and at most 15 to 20 people [in a race]. But in cross country, you can have up to 200 people on the starting line and see all of them, and it's a mad herd of people you're trying to go up against," he says.

Focus on the race at hand and try not to compare your performance from one race to another, because each is so different.