Whether you're a seasoned runner, a weekend jogger, or just getting started on your fitness journey, there's a good chance you've heard of drills and strides. These short but powerful additions to your running routine often get overlooked, but they shouldn’t. If you're aiming to improve your speed, efficiency, and reduce your risk of injury, drills and strides should become a regular part of your training.

What Are Drills and Strides?

Running Drills are specific movements or exercises designed to improve your running mechanics. They often mimic parts of the running motion but emphasize particular elements like posture, coordination, foot strike, and leg turnover. Our Coaches have put together a compilation of our favorite drills for you:

• -Toe Walking
• -Heel Walking
• -Rhythm Skips
• -Bounding
• -High Knees
• -Butt Kicks
• -Carioca

Strides are short bursts of fast running, usually lasting about 20 to 30 seconds or 80 to 100 meters, at around 85–95% of your maximum effort. They're controlled and smooth but they are not full-on sprints.

Why Should We Do Running Drills?

1. Improve Running Form: Drills help reinforce proper biomechanics. By isolating parts of the running motion, they teach your body to move more efficiently and in alignment, which ultimately translates to better overall form during runs.

2. Increase Muscle Activation: Many drills wake up muscles that may be underutilized during regular runs. For example, drills can help fire your glutes, improve hip mobility, and engage your core - key players in a strong stride.

3. Build Coordination and Balance: Good running isn’t just about strong legs; it's about timing and coordination. Drills develop neuromuscular control, helping your brain and muscles communicate more effectively.

4. Reduce Risk of Injury: Better mechanics lead to less strain on joints and muscles. Over time, this can reduce your chances of common injuries like shin splints, IT band syndrome, or plantar fasciitis.

How to Add Drills and Strides to Your Training -

Drills: We like to do a series of 3–5 drills after your warm-up jog. Fun fact, they are included in the Runcoach Workouts on our app. You can do these 2–3 times a week. Always focus on quality over quantity.

Strides: Add 4–6 strides at the end of easy runs or before speed workouts. Allow for full recovery (30–60 seconds of walking or jogging) between strides. We like these the day before a workout or long run to prep the body and give you some pop.

Running drills and strides are small commitments with big returns. They don’t take much time but can significantly improve your running efficiency, speed, and injury resilience. Think of them as the fine-tuning your body needs to run smoother, faster, and with less risk of setbacks. If you’re serious about improving as a runner, drills and strides shouldn’t be an afterthought—they should be a staple. Give a few of the drills on the list above a try and let your coach know what you think!

An active warm-up is a series of dynamic movements designed to prepare your body for exercise by gradually increasing your heart rate, improving blood flow to your muscles, and enhancing mobility. Unlike static stretching, which involves holding a position, an active warm-up keeps your body moving. Get started with these 9 dynamic movements to boost circulation, loosen up & get ready.

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Flexibility

1. Active Toe Touch - This is an excellent exercise to activate the hamstring muscles, engage the trunk, and loosen up the lumbar before a run or workout.
2. Lunges - Try this exercise to prime the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and hips before your run.
3. Active Quad Stretch - Targeted warm-up movement to activate the quadriceps muscles.
4. Active Hamstring Balance - Targets and activates the hamstrings, glutes, and core.
5. Stars - Activation for hamstrings, lower back, glutes and quads.
6. Scorpion Activation - Great active exercise to loosen the hips, back and trunk before a workout or run.
7. Calf Achilles Stretch - Various stretches for the calf muscles and plantar fascia.
8. Front to Back Leg Swings - Fires up the hamstrings and glutes to get you ready for your run.< /li>
9. Side to Side Leg Swings - Active exercise to engage the hips, quads, hamstrings and glutes before a run.

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Various stretches for the calf muscles and plantar fascia. Watch on YouTube.

Targets and activates the hamstrings, glutes, and core. Watch on YouTube.