Hey all,

I recently remembered doing strides during my high school and college days and thought I'd work it into my routine. Here's an article about strides:

ADD STRIDES TO YOUR NEXT RUN
A simple way to improve your speed is to add several strides to the end of easy runs.

By Ed Eyestone

PUBLISHED 03/20/2008
In 1996, I spent 2 months training at 10,000 feet in Toluca, Mexico. My gracious host was two-time New York City Marathon champion German Silva. (If you think German is a fast runner, you should see him behind the wheel of his canary-yellow Mustang. Driving to our workouts left me just as breathless as our running.)

The volume and intensity of German's hard training days were just what I expected of a runner of his caliber. But the way he finished every easy run came as a total surprise to me: He'd always finish with 8 to 10 fast strides.

Strides Understood

Strides are those 60- to 100-meter "pickups" that runners typically do just before speedwork or races. In these instances, they generally warm up well, stretch, and then use strides as a finishing touch to ease into fast-running mode. The reasons for doing strides before a bout of fast running are multiple: muscles need to be flooded with blood, fast-twitch muscle fibers need to be recruited, and race pace must be briefly simulated to get the body and mind ready to run fast.

But why do strides at the end of an easy run? One answer can be found at the finish line of almost any race: People like to run fast at the end of races. We all do it, both the first-place runner turning on his kick in the Olympic 10,000-meter final, or the 450th-place runner sprinting to out-lean the 451st at a local Haul Around the Mall 5-K. Easy-day strides will improve that finishing kick.

Strides also improve your neuromuscular coordination, as the bursts of speed stimulate neural pathways. Just as a pianist's fingers fly over scales that have been practiced repeatedly, your coordination and form become more fluid from these short but frequent doses of speed tacked onto the ends of easy runs. Result: You become faster.

Strides as Speedwork

Strides are also a great, non-threatening way to begin speedwork if you've never done it before, or if you're coming back from some time off. Consider these eight points when you start running strides:

1. Finish your easy run at a smooth dirt trail, or a park with a flat, grassy area. A track or straight stretch of road also work well.

2. When you start in, gradually accelerate to about 85 percent of your maximum speed for the first third of the stride, hold that pace for another third, and then gradually decelerate over the final third.

3. Easy-day strides should not be timed, and the exact distance of each stride is not critical. About 60 to 100 meters is fine.

4. The easiest way to get a feel for this distance is to do strides on a track or football field. Count each time your feet strike the ground as you stride over the 100 meters. Then when you're away from the track, you'll know how many footstrikes equal 100 meters at a similar pace. For me, 55 to 60 footstrikes equal 100 meters. Therefore, when I do strides I accelerate for 20 footstrikes, hold that speed for 20, and gradually decelerate for 20.

5. A quick turnover is important for speed. Think "quick arms" and your legs will follow.

6. After each stride, walk around and shake out your legs for 90 seconds.

7. Then stride back in the opposite direction.

8. Don't run too many strides at such a fast pace that your easy day becomes another hard day. German Silva did 8 to 10, but you can start with five or six.

Easy-day strides alone won't make you a New York City Marathon champ. But over time, they will make you faster. At least fast enough to stay out of the way of that speeding yellow Mustang.

and another article about strides before a race:

BEFORE THE GUN
Strides are the best way to prepare your body for top performance.

By Ed Eyestone

From the August 2004 issue of Runner's World

At the starting line of any race, you're bound to see runners doing all kinds of odd stuff as part of their prerace rituals--everything from jumps and hops to weird breathing exercises. Some of these activities do help prepare the body for a fast performance; others are most valuable as entertainment for interested bystanders. While I don't recommend madly bouncing from foot to foot at the starting line, there is one effective method of preparing your body to run fast: strides.

When done before a race, strides--that is, 80- to 100-meter pickups--give your body a preview of the hard effort that's about to commence. Specifically, race-pace strides activate the fast-twitch muscle fibers that your body will call upon during the race, prepping you for peak performance.

Strides also improve neuromuscular coordination as the bursts of speed stimulate neural pathways. In plain English, that means you will feel less like a klutz when you try to run fast after you do a few strides. As your coordination improves, your running form becomes more fluid, making it easier to maintain that quicker pace. By rehearsing your race pace with four to six prerace strides, you'll also be more likely to settle into the proper pace early in the race instead of going out too fast or too slow.

Practicing strides is easy. First, find a flat stretch of road, trail, grass, or track. Then run your strides in thirds: Accelerate to your race-pace speed for the first third, hold that speed for the middle third, and gradually decelerate for the last third. If you run 30 steps for each third, you will cover about 100 meters. Catch your breath for 60 seconds by jogging or walking, then turn around and run a stride in the opposite direction.

When you do strides, try to run more like a sprinter. Get up off your heels and more onto your forefeet and toes. And rather than trying to lengthen your stride, try to increase your turnover. Pump your arms quickly and your legs will follow.

Of course, strides shouldn't be restricted to your prerace warmup. Once you've mastered strides, you can incorporate them into your training with the workouts on the right, which will give you the practice you need running fast.

The Workouts

Strides before speedwork: To prepare for any speed workout, long or short, it's important to run at least four strides at or slightly faster than your projected interval pace. As with prerace strides, strides before speedwork warm up your fast-twitch muscle fibers, nerve pathways, and cardiovascular system, making it easier for you to hit your times during your workout.

Strides after an easy run: At the end of an easy effort, try six to eight strides at 5-K race pace to "wake up" your fast-twitch muscle fibers that otherwise remain inactive when running at a relaxed pace. These strides help teach your body to run fast when we all like to run fast--at the end of a race.

Strides as a workout: For those who find typical speedwork boring, strides are a creative way to add quality to your training. Head to a track and stride on the 100-meter straightaways while jogging the turns. Start with four laps (eight strides). Add two laps every two weeks until you can run eight to 12 laps or two to three miles. This kind of workout builds the strength and endurance you need to run longer intervals.