Ask the Expert: Improve Your Race Time

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Posted on: July 19, 2011
By: StacyAtZeel

Strength and Conditioning Coach Frank Baptiste has won his share of medals, partaking in a number of high-intensity competitions like the North American Strongman Competition and a nine-mile road race through Manhattan’s busy streets.

As Frank knows, one of the most exciting elements of competition is establishing—and breaking—personal records. “A lot of the time, you’re competing because you have some goal in mind,” Frank explains. “The next logical step is to do better.”

A man of his words, in 2010 Frank ran a mile in under five minutes during the NYC 5^th Avenue Mile, his fastest time ever. Can non-speed demons improve their race times too? Of course they can. Frank tells us how.

1. Most importantly, play up. Find a partner who’s better than you—someone you can run with who pushes you beyond what you’re comfortable doing. Even with a sport like tennis, you don’t want to play someone you can always beat. But choose a partner who isn’t so far out of your league. Otherwise you’ll just get discouraged.

2. The only way to get faster is to run faster. Frank recommends incorporating speed work and sprint training to increase your speed. Speed is determined by two factors: stride length and stride frequency. Strength and flexibility training can help to maximize both.

3. Choose optimal strength training for runners. Total body movement exercises like squats, lunges and anything that’s triple extension (movements that require the ankle, knee and hip to work together) are ideal. Stay away from machines. Instead, do functional movements like step-ups, dead-lifts and other exercises that involve single leg work.

4. Improve your flexibility to increase stride length. Frank finds dynamic stretching to be the most effective method of improving flexibility. Dynamic stretching involves taking the joint through a full range of motions. His secret weapon? The Big 3 (watch Frank demonstrate this here), a set of drills that stretch and work all of the muscles in the lower body, upper body and core.

5. When is it ideal to stretch while training? Prepare for movement with movement. If you’re doing flexibility training before a workout, hold each position for three to five seconds, switching back and forth. After a workout, hold your poses for 30 seconds to a minute each.

For personalized training programs, performance coaching and online consulting, book a private session with Frank through Zeel.