SUPER CHARGE YOUR SPEED WITH SUPERSETS

Amplify your strength work to run faster and longer without spending hours in the gym.

- ASHLEY MATEO

WHEN MEGGIE SMITH, 35, lapped her Garmin watch at mile two of June’s New York Mini 10K in Manhattan, she was shocked: She’d just run faster than she had in a mile time trial the previous winter, and it felt effortless. She hadn’t started too fast (Central Park’s hills make that difficult); by the time she crossed the finish line, she had negative-split the course and taken more than five minutes off her best 10K time from the previous fall.

“I was shocked at how good I felt throughout the race, and how hard I was able to push myself,” she says.

Usually, a big performance leap like this comes from diligent, strategic speedwork. But intervals aren’t what Smith credits for dropping her 10K race pace by more than 45 seconds per mile. “The only thing I had been consistent with throughout my training—more so than running—was strength-training,” she says.

Smith, who lives in Nashville, had started working virtually with Runner’s World+ Coach Jess Movold in July 2020. The first change Movold made to Smith’s routine was adding strength work two or three times a week, including a session with supersets—exercises performed back-to-back.

Her progression was gradual: She began with bodyweight exercises, then graduated to dumbbells under 25 pounds. “As the weights got heavier, I started noticing this ability to tolerate more running volume and intensity,” she says.

Before strength training, Smith had a hard time running more than 20 miles a week without getting injured. But this past spring she was able to log 35 to 40 miles per week. “I had fewer aches and pains as I increased my mileage and added in speedwork,” she says. “With strength training, I was still feeling healthy and didn’t worry I was on the cusp of injury.”