Everything You Need to Know to Increase Your Running Stamina

You’re sweating it out on the Peloton Tread, getting in a hard run. You push as fast as you can but your legs just can’t seem to keep up the spinning belt below your feet. All your mind can think about is when it will be over. So you give in, lower the speed and wonder, Why is my running stamina so low? And, how do I increase it?

“Stamina is essential when tackling endurance running,” says Peloton instructor Jon Hosking. Not having enough can hold you back from hitting the PRs you’re after. But there are some straightforward (if not necessarily easy) strategies that can help. If you’re on a mission to find out how to increase stamina for running, here’s what you need to know.  

What Is Stamina and Why Is It Important For Runners?

Although the terms stamina and endurance are often thrown around interchangeably, there are some key differences, as The Output has previously reported. While endurance refers to your ability to comfortably sustain a repetitive or continuous activity over a prolonged period of time, stamina is specifically about keeping up a high-intensity activity like running. 

Stamina matters for runners because it’s the key to running faster for longer. “To be able to complete any endurance activity, we need to be able to produce force for extended periods of time,” explains Iain Hunter, professor of exercise sciences at Brigham Young University. But naturally, some of the physiological systems that we use to produce that force lose their oomph over time when we don’t let them recover, he says. If you can figure out how to increase stamina for running, you’ll be able to maintain that force that allows you to push off from one leg to the next without slowing down even as the miles add up.

“The improved transfer of oxygen from the lungs to the bloodstream enables a runner to have energy for longer,” Jon says.  

How to Increase Stamina for Running

Improving your stamina means there will be a number of changes going on in your body. “There will be more alveoli in the lungs, which are the parts of the lungs that allow oxygen to transfer to the blood,” Hunter says. “You'll have more mitochondria, which produce the energy within the muscles. You'll get more capillaries, so there'll be more blood flow.”

How can you make these changes happen? Through the training you do. Experts recommend these workouts in particular. 

Interval Workouts

Jon always recommends a varied approach for building stamina. “But my number one would be interval training, alternating high intensity with low intensity in a structured format,” he says.  

Emma Lee, a research associate who’s studied endurance athletes at the Human and Sport Performance Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, says that hitting high speeds in short bursts on interval runs does more than just improve your pace. “Those workouts will improve running economy as well,” she says. And that more efficient gait, in turn, will lead to more stamina. 

How long your intervals need to be depends on what distance you’re looking to improve your stamina for. “If it's for a marathoner, then we want to do a lot of things like two-mile repeats or even four-mile repeats at race pace or a little quicker,” Hunter says. “If it's an 800-meter runner, then we've got 200 meter and 400 meter repeats.”

Long Runs

Another solid way to build stamina? “Longer slow runs, incrementally increasing the distance over time,” Jon says. This allows your body to get used to putting in a sustained effort.

Lee says a general guideline is that a long run should be about 20 to 25 percent of your total weekly running mileage, and you can increase it by about 10 percent each week. “But it shouldn't just increase indefinitely,” she says. “It should increase for three or four weeks, and then take a step back so that you don't get injured or burned out.” After an easier week, you can start increasing the mileage again. 

Tempo Runs

Pushing out of your easy zone to a comfortably hard pace that you could maintain for about an hour can also help improve your stamina. Called tempo runs, these workouts don’t only have  physical benefits, but mental ones, too. “It's good to learn how to be a little bit uncomfortable for a long time,” Lee says. 

Weight Lifting and Plyometrics

It’s not only running that builds running stamina. “Strength training is also a fantastic way of making your running more economic whilst becoming less susceptible to injuries,” Jon says. 

Lee says that two of the best forms of strength training for runners are plyometrics, which build explosive power to propel you forward, and heavy weight lifting, which will make your muscles stronger. “They strengthen the musculotendinous junctions, so they help with energy transfer between the runner and the ground—you're basically running on springier springs,” she says. “And they can also help with better running form, too, so less energy is wasted.”  

Why Stamina Varies By Type of Physical Activity

If you’re generally fit but continually struggle mile after mile on the Tread, your body might just not be familiar enough with running. Even a champion swimmer with excellent stamina in the pool, might not see that stamina translate to running. “The main factor for this is technique and mechanics,” Jon says. “[You] may be naturally better suited to the demands of a swim rather than a run.” 

Or, it could just be a matter that you swim a lot more often. “You could have the lungs and the aerobic capacity to be a good runner,” Lee says. “But if your muscles are just used to the actions of swimming, then you're not going to be efficient when you run.”

The good news? “This is something that can be worked on and improved,” Jon says. Commit to those interval workouts, long runs, and strength work, and you’ll see your running stamina increase. “A more efficient and economic technique will lessen the demands on the body and require less energy to perform,” Jon says.  

How to Measure Stamina Over Time

Sometimes it can feel a bit tricky to tell whether your stamina is really improving, and if the work you’re putting in is actually doing its job. Jon suggests closely tracking your long runs to measure your progress. “Regulate a pace for a long run and test how comfortable this is over increasing distances, monitoring the improvement in your performance over time and really paying attention to your training,” he says. For instance, if you can run a 10-minute mile or six MPH pace for eight miles, see if you can comfortably keep that same speed as you start to run for 10 or 12 miles. 

Another strategy is to repeat a time trial (aka your own personal race to see how fast you can go) every few weeks. “Run a 5K now and then again in three months, and see how you do,”  Lee suggests. 

Or, if you have a heart rate monitor, you can keep a close eye on the metrics it’s telling you. “If you have a similar heart rate but a faster pace, that means your stamina has increased,” Lee says. 

How Quickly Can You Build Running Stamina?

Better stamina isn’t something you can order overnight. Jon says that, realistically, you could see improvement after a six to eight-week training block if you follow a dedicated plan. But if you’re not progressing within that time frame, don’t give up. “The process and the time it takes to build stamina will differ for every runner,”Jon says. 

Ironically, beginners are actually at an advantage when it comes to increasing stamina. “Someone that's new to running, then they can dramatically improve it—some books will say you can increase your aerobic capacity by around 10 to 30 percent,” Hunter says. An Olympic runner, however, will only see much smaller increments of change. 

Final Tips 

Aside from the training you put in, there are a few important components to keep in mind when it comes to how to increase stamina for running. 

For starters, good running form is critical. “Keep the arms moving forward and backward—not side to side,” Lee says. “I see a lot of people out there with excess arm movement and that energy could be better spent on the legs.” She also suggests focusing on staying tall (rather than hunched over) while running and thinking about activating the glute muscles to propel your stride. 

Also, your stamina will naturally take a hit if you’re not eating enough. Make sure you’re getting ample carbohydrates to fuel your muscles. “During those long runs especially, if you are not fueling properly, then you will run out of gas no matter how fit you could be,” Lee says. 

And as important as your workouts are, so is recovery. “It's the recovery time when you're actually getting stronger,” Hunter says. “And in running, most people can only handle one or two really hard workouts a week without getting injured. Otherwise, the body just gets broken down and becomes less fit over time.”

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