Cadence + stride length = speed, point blank. If you increase one or the other, you’ll increase your speed. Let’s take a deeper dive into both and how they are both very beneficial to your running form!
What is Cadence?
Cadence is simply your number of steps per minute. It is the first building block for speed! On average, runners are in the 150-170 range, but an ideal range is closer to 180. You can find yours with most smart watches or just by counting the number of steps you take in one minute.
Increasing your cadence has several benefits. It will pull your foot strike back and reduce braking inefficiency. It can reduce impact on your joints. And once you’re used to a higher cadence, it can lessen the perceived effort and make running more comfortable.
When trying to increase cadence, do so in gradual steps! Changing your cadence suddenly, could put you at a higher risk for injuries. You can find music at your target cadence by searching for playlists at a certain BPM. These are available on almost all streaming platforms.
If you’re interested in finding out your cadence check out this smart watch that will calculate it for you!
What is Stride?
Stride length is the second building block of speed. It is measured as the distance between successive ground contacts of the same foot. For example, start with feet together at Point A. Step forward with your right foot, then take another step with your left, then another with your right. Where your right foot just landed is Point B. Measure between A and B to find your stride length.
When increasing stride length, try to propel farther forward instead of just reaching out farther with each step. If you move your foot strike too far out, you can add unnecessary impact and braking force. Think of it like pulling your heel up into your glute and driving forward with your whole body.
Injury Prevention
Increasing cadence can help with injury prevention! In a recent study, published in Current Sports Medicine Reports, the science behind a runner’s step rate were analyzed. They found that slight increases in cadence led to a decrease in loading on the knee, ground reaction force, and other detrimental effects. This helped them come to the conclusion that it might help prevent some of the most common running injuries.
Increasing Speed
Increasing stride comes from strength and power. To develop a safe increase to stride length, try incorporating hill workouts into your training plan. To keep your cadence up in an optimal range while increasing stride length you need to focus on propelling yourself further forward not just stepping further out. The goal should be to keep ground contact from creeping forward in front of you. Hill workouts are a great way to increase power and it will translate into a more powerful stride and ultimately faster speeds.
If you want to learn more about your running form check out our previous blog here! We talk about the 5 important aspects you can improve to improve your running form. Next week we will be taking a dive into rotational movement so be on the look out for that!
