How to use your warm-up to improve your running speed

Do you want to become a faster runner? To take your running to the next level, you should incorporate running drills into your training routine.

"Running drills will help improve your technique, rhythm and simply make your running stride more efficient. This will make you a faster runner,” says running coach and personal trainer Madeleine Nilssons in a recent Instagram post.

The track athlete has created a five-move routine based around variations of the A-skip—a fundamental running drill.

But how do skips help you run faster? Replying to a comment on her post, Nilssons explained that “they help improve co-ordination and running efficiency by working on your knee-hip drive, foot strike and arms swing. All these factors are important if you want to become faster.”

Madeleine recommends doing some kind of running drills before every running session, aiming for two 20-meter reps of each skipping drill as part of your warm-up.

How to do Madeleine Nilssons' running drills

Benefits of running drills

There are plenty of benefits to incorporating running drills into your routine, particularly if you want to run faster.

They are a great way to warm up for a speed workout or harder race, and along with strides, they prepare the body for quick movement and can improve range of motion in a way static stretches cannot.

Drills are also a really effective way to build strength in your hips, glutes and hamstrings, and they can help you learn how to run more efficiently and with improved form.

An important element of running is coordination, and drills can improve this, particularly during running-related movements. Certain moves, like the carioca, also known as the grapevine drill, can improve running form, speed, balance and agility.