Start quickly

Starting a short-distance race quickly improves your chances against those saving themselves. A recent survey found that subjects running the first third of a 5km race six per cent faster than their normal starting speed finished 32 seconds quicker.

Run with music

Running with music significantly increases speed, energy expenditure and oxygen intake without an increase in perceived effort, according to a 2004 study.

Taper training

Spend time running slower than race pace. Runners in a US study who spent more than two-thirds of training at 70 per cent of their maximum heart rate improved their eight-mile cross-country times because they were better at pacing themselves.

Run more regularly

Split one long training run into two shorter ones. A US study found that over six months, two 15-minute sessions each day instead of one 30-minute workout increased VO2 max – the capacity to utilise oxygen during exercise – by 7.7 per cent compared with 3.6 per cent.

Lift weights

Rather than slowing you down, adding muscle can speed you up. A US study found that subjects could maintain their pace for an extra 12 minutes after a ten-week programme of squats, leg curls, leg extensions, leg presses, calf raises and deadlifts.

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