Drills for Distance Runners

Back in my hurdling and jumping days, I felt like half of our practice was spent doing drills. When I transitioned to distance running, this got pushed to the back burner. Now, I can barely remember any of them save for the skipping drills, and that's only because those were my favorite. This got me to thinking... form is surely important for distance running... I mean running lots of miles with poor form has disastrous consequences. Turns out, I'm right (it would be hard to write an entire blog post if I was wrong after all)... and there's science to back it up! Furthermore, drills help increase flexibility and power. So, what are some good drills?

• High Knees: Using a short stride and bouncing on your toes, raise your knees as high as possible on each stride. Concentrate on raising your knees vs. moving forward (but keep moving forward). Repeat for 30-50 meters.
• Butt Kicks (heel kick drill): Using a short stride and bouncing your your toes, raise your heels as high as possible (attempt to bounce your heels off your buttocks). Most of the movement should be in your lower leg. Again, there is little forward movement (but keep moving forward). Repeat for 30-50 meters.
• Skip w/ Leg Extension (B-skips): Pretend that you are doing high knees (except add a little skip), and fully extend the leg in the air before bringing it back down.
• Bounding: Drive your lead leg forward with a bent knee while extending your trail leg behind you (picture bounding up bleachers except on a flat surface... or you could actually bound up bleachers for an extra challenge).
• Speed Bounding: This is similar to normal bounding, except faster (concentrate on distance vs. height).
• Tuck Jumps: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Explode upward, bringing your knees up as high as possible (like you're doing a cannonball). As soon as you land, do it again (no rest). Keep your head up.
• Single Leg Jumps: Jump as far as possible on, you guessed it, one leg (concentrate on distance, not height). 
• Split Scissor Jumps: Stand with one leg in front of the other (one shoe-length between feet). Jump as high up in the air as possible and switch legs mid-air. Repeat (try and minimize ground time).
• Strides: Start off at a slow jog and gradually increase speed until you are running full out. Hold this pace for a bit, then gradually decrease speed. Aim to cover ~100m, hitting your "all out" speed around ~50m and holding it for ~25m.
• Quick Steps: Start off at a slow jog. Then, try and take as many steps as possible in ~25m. 

And then there's the standard sit-ups, push-ups, squats, calf raises, and lunges. Also "supermans", squat thrusts, plyometric exercises, and tricep bench dips are good for you too.