Running Economy: How Becoming a More Efficient Runner Can Make You Faster

What if you could run faster without improving your cardiovascular fitness?

Most runners focus on building endurance, increasing mileage, or adding speed workouts to improve their race times. While these are important parts of training, there's another factor that can significantly influence running performance: running economy.

Running economy describes how much energy your body uses to maintain a given running speed. Simply put, the less energy you use to run at a particular pace, the more economical you are.

And research suggests that even relatively small improvements in running economy can translate into meaningful improvements in race performance.

What Is Running Economy?

Think of running economy like fuel efficiency in a car.

Two cars might travel at the same speed, but one uses less fuel to cover the same distance. Running economy works similarly.

Imagine two runners who both run at an 8:00-per-mile pace. Runner A requires more oxygen and energy to maintain that pace than Runner B.

Even though they're running at the same speed, Runner B is working at a lower metabolic cost.

This matters because the more economical runner may be able to maintain a faster pace before reaching their physiological limits.

Running economy is one of three major physiological factors commonly used to explain distance-running performance, alongside:

• VO₂max: Your body's maximum ability to consume and utilize oxygen during exercise.
• Lactate threshold: An indicator of the exercise intensity you can sustain before fatigue-related metabolic disturbances increase rapidly.
• Running economy: How much energy your body requires to run at a given speed.

While VO₂max gets much of the attention, running economy helps explain why runners with similar cardiovascular fitness can have very different race performances.

How Much Can Improving Running Economy Improve Your Race Time?

This is where things get interesting.

Researchers have investigated how changes in running economy affect running speed and race performance.

In a 2016 study, Hoogkamer and colleagues examined the relationship between shoe weight, running economy, and 3,000-meter performance.

They found that adding 100 grams to each shoe increased the metabolic cost of running by approximately 1.1% and slowed 3,000-meter performance by approximately 0.8%.

In other words, relatively small changes in the energy required to run produced measurable differences in performance.

A separate study by Kipp and colleagues in 2019 used mathematical modeling to estimate how improvements in running economy translate into faster running speeds.

Their model predicted that a 3% improvement in running economy could produce approximately a 2% increase in running velocity at elite marathon pace.

While this relationship varies with running speed and other physiological factors, it demonstrates the potential performance benefits of becoming a more efficient runner.

What Could a 2% Improvement in Running Speed Mean for Your Race Time?

Consider the following examples:

These examples illustrate the impact of a 2% increase in sustainable running speed, not a guaranteed result from a 2% improvement in running economy.

Still, for a runner trying to set a personal record, even a small improvement can make a meaningful difference.

How Can You Improve Running Economy?

Running economy is influenced by several factors, including your training history, neuromuscular coordination, strength, tendon properties, running mechanics, and footwear.

Fortunately, research suggests there are several ways to improve it.

A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis published in Sports Medicine examined the effects of strength training on running economy in middle- and long-distance runners.

The researchers found that high-load strength training improved running economy, particularly at higher running speeds.

Why does strength training help?

Running requires your muscles to repeatedly generate and absorb force. Improving your ability to produce force may reduce the relative muscular effort required during each stride.

Strength training can also improve neuromuscular function and the mechanical properties of the muscle-tendon system, potentially allowing runners to use energy more efficiently.

Exercises such as squats, split squats, calf raises, and deadlifts can all play a role in a well-designed strength program.

However, simply lifting weights isn't enough. The exercises, intensity, and progression should complement your running goals and current training demands.

These exercises involve rapid loading and unloading of the muscle-tendon system, such as jumping, hopping, and bounding.

During running, your muscles and tendons act somewhat like springs, storing and releasing elastic energy with each stride.

Plyometric training can help develop the neuromuscular qualities involved in this process.

Research has shown that plyometric training can improve running economy in certain populations, and combining plyometrics with strength training may be particularly beneficial.

Examples include:

• Pogo jumps
• Single-leg hops
• Bounding
• Drop jumps

The key is appropriate progression. Plyometrics place significant demands on the muscles and tendons, so they should be introduced based on the runner's current capacity and training history.

Running mechanics can influence the energy required to run. Factors such as vertical oscillation, leg stiffness, stride characteristics, and muscle activation patterns have all been investigated in relation to running economy.

However, there is no single running form that is most economical for everyone.

A 2024 systematic review examining the relationship between running biomechanics and running economy found that individual biomechanical variables generally explained only a small portion of the differences in economy between runners.

Additionally, research on gait retraining has not consistently demonstrated improvements in running economy simply by changing how someone runs.

This is an important distinction.

A runner who overstrides, has excessive vertical movement, or demonstrates asymmetrical mechanics isn't necessarily inefficient based on appearance alone.

Changing those mechanics may improve running economy in some individuals, but it can also increase the energy required to run, particularly while the runner is adapting to an unfamiliar movement pattern.

That doesn't mean running mechanics are unimportant.

A detailed running analysis can help identify movement patterns that may contribute to excessive tissue loading, recurring injuries, or limitations in training.

Over time, consistent training produces adaptations in neuromuscular coordination, muscle function, and the body's ability to perform repetitive movements efficiently.

This is one reason experienced runners often demonstrate better running economy than less-trained runners.

Running volume, training intensity, and years of experience can all contribute to these adaptations.

However, increasing mileage isn't always the best solution, particularly for runners who are already training near their capacity or struggling with recurring injuries.

Combining appropriate running training with strength development and individualized programming may provide a more sustainable approach.

Does Better Running Economy Always Mean Faster Race Times?

Not necessarily.

While running economy is an important determinant of endurance performance, race results depend on more than energy efficiency.

Aerobic capacity, lactate threshold, pacing, fueling, environmental conditions, and training consistency all influence performance.

A runner could improve running economy but fail to improve race performance if other factors become limiting.

It's also important to recognize that an intervention that improves running economy in a laboratory doesn't automatically guarantee faster race times.

That said, improving the energy cost of running can give an athlete a physiological advantage, especially when other performance factors remain relatively constant.

How Do You Know If Your Running Economy Is Improving?

Running economy is most directly assessed by measuring oxygen consumption or metabolic energy expenditure while running at standardized submaximal speeds.

This typically requires specialized laboratory equipment.

However, runners can also monitor practical indicators of progress, including:

• Running faster at a similar heart rate under comparable conditions
• Maintaining the same pace at a lower perceived effort
• Improvements in standardized workouts or time trials
• Improved race performance

These measurements aren't direct assessments of running economy because they can be influenced by fitness, fatigue, weather, and other factors.

But they can help determine whether your training is translating into meaningful performance improvements.

The Bottom Line: Becoming a Better Runner Isn't Just About Building a Bigger Engine

Improving endurance performance isn't always about increasing VO₂max or running more miles.

It's also about how efficiently your body uses the fitness you already have.

Research demonstrates that relatively small changes in running economy can have meaningful implications for running performance.

Strength training, plyometrics, and consistent running training are supported methods for improving running economy. Individualized gait retraining may also be valuable, although changes in running mechanics should not automatically be equated with improved efficiency.

At The Run Mechanics, we look beyond simply how much you're running or how fast you're going.

We evaluate your running mechanics, strength, mobility, injury history, and training demands to help identify opportunities to improve performance and keep you running consistently.

Whether you're chasing a new personal record, preparing for your first half marathon, or looking to become a stronger, more resilient runner, understanding how your body moves is an important piece of the puzzle.