Strides and Bounding: Writing Speed Into Your Nervous System

Why Add a Few Strides After an Easy Run

Many training plans tack “4-6 x strides” onto the end of an easy run, and beginners often either skip them or treat them like an all-out sprint — both are mistakes. Strides are 60-120 meter runs that build gradually from a jog to roughly 90% speed before easing back down. The point isn’t cardiovascular training — it’s to stimulate the neuromuscular system at low fatigue cost, keeping your running form and cadence coordinated at higher speeds, so you don’t end up “only able to run slow” from a steady diet of easy miles.

How to Do Strides Correctly

1. Build gradually over the first 20-30m to about 90% speed (not a 100% sprint).
2. Hold “fast but relaxed” through the middle 30-40m — the key is keeping your shoulders, neck, and face loose, not tense.
3. Ease off naturally over the last 20m — don’t slam on the brakes.
4. Fully recover between reps with 60-90 seconds of walking or slow walking; let your heart rate settle before the next one.

Common mistakes: Treating strides as an all-out sprint (turns it into anaerobic training, accumulates fatigue, and loses the “relaxed” learning effect); insufficient recovery, which leads to grinding through later reps and breaking down form.

Bounding: Training Push-Off Power and Single-Leg Elasticity

Bounding is an exaggerated version of running — each stride tries to cover as much ground and hang in the air as long as possible, emphasizing a powerful push-off, hip extension, and the elasticity and stability of a single-leg landing. It sits somewhere between a drill and a plyometric exercise, and it’s very effective for improving stride mechanics and running economy — but the impact load is high, so you need a base of conditioning first.

Key points: Powerful push-off → full hip extension and backward swing → strong forward drive of the opposite knee → elastic single-leg landing immediately followed by the next push-off. The emphasis is on “bounce” and “distance,” not “fast.”

Progression principle: Build 4-6 weeks of basic strength and low-intensity jump rope or ankle-hop conditioning first before adding bounding. Start with 3 x 20m on grass or a track, and stop immediately if you feel any knee or ankle discomfort.

How the Two Differ and Complement Each Other

Programming Recommendations

• Strides: Place them regularly at the end of easy runs or before races, and maintain them year-round — they’re the most cost-effective “speed insurance” you can buy.
• Bounding: Place it after the warm-up for a quality session or on a dedicated strength/technique day. Avoid doing it right after a heavy interval session — doing high-impact work while fatigued is a recipe for injury.
• Quality matters for both: if your form starts to break down or you can’t stay relaxed, stop the remaining reps for the day.

Coach’s perspective: Runners who only do LSD eventually become “people who are very good at running slowly.” A few relaxed strides each week cost you almost nothing in recovery, yet they keep your legs “remembering how to run fast” — this is the year-round prescription I give every marathon runner, regardless of training phase.

Related Reading

• Strides Sprint Training: The Neural Benefits of 100m Accelerations After a Warm-Up
• Warm-Up Design for Speed Training: The Correct Sequence of Dynamic Stretching and Progressive Acceleration
• Optimizing Running Stride: A Scientific Comparison of Stride Length vs. Cadence
• Max Velocity Sprint Training: The Neural Activation Effect of 30m Flying Sprints on Cadence