How fast are you running? That actually seems a little short to me. You're looking at roughly 6' per leg cycle.

If I take a workout we did this AM, our per quarter pace was roughly 85 seconds. If I assume I was taking about 90 rpm, which may actually be a little slow at that speed, then my stride length should be about 10.5 feet per cycle or 5.25 for each step. Assuming my math is correct.

Take the pace up to 8 minute pace, or 2 minutes per quarter. Now, assume that your turnover decreases to 85, since it will tend to do so at slower paces, and I get roughly 8 feet per cycle or 4 feet per step. That's 48" heel to heel, so 32"-36" seems a little bit short.

Rather than focusing on stride length, focus on keeping your cadence in the 80-95 range, just like biking. Your stride length will adjust to your speed. If you look at a lot of the top marthoners, they have a similar turnover regardless of their height, so their stride length is similar.

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Brandon Marsh - Website | @BrandonMarshTX | RokaSports | 1stEndurance | ATC Bikeshop |

Like the previous poster, I'd mostly concentrate on cadence and let stride length adjust up and down for that.

From a more technique-oriented angle, if you subscribe to POSE/ChiRunning kind of principles, then you'd want to make sure your feet land under your body rather than in front. In other words, try to avoid increasing your stride length by reaching out ahead of you with your feet, but rather let your feet come further out the back. As an example, watching the Kenyans on TV you can see how their feet fly out way behind them. Then the trick is to let the leg bend at the knee as you recover it so you don't have to swing such a long lever.

Have fun.

That seems really short. I'm your height and inseam and stride about 1.9m per leg when moving quick. I'd check your stride length by counting strides over a known distance on a track.

To make your stride longer run lots of hills to make you running strong, stretch your hamstrings and hip muscles, and do some strides/sprints (strides are better)/ short intervals to build muscle coordination and power.

Keith

Please don't tinker with your stride length. Stride length is a result of your cadence and your pace. Control those two things and stride length will fall to the exact right spot every time. If you run along thinking, "Stride farther, stride farther!" then your cadence will slow and you'll be "bounding" down the street getting very tired, very sore and very slow.

There have been some threads here recently on building cadence. If you are running any slower than 90 step cycles per minute, work on that. Once you've got a 90-92 cadence groove going, just focus on being smooth and relaxed and keeping your feet under you (ie, not heel-braking).

Your stride length will take care of itself. Leave it alone!

98% of all runners will self select the correct stride length. don't screw to much with it. You want your feet landing under your hips. Too far out in front and it actually brakes the body and can cause injury. faster cadences are usually more economical than slower cadences. when your feet touch the ground you want to get them off the ground as fast as possible. there are some running drills out there that can help with this. often on runs I will count my strides then try to add 1-2 stride cycles per min and do that for 5min.
Arm swing helps dictate stride turnover. want to run faster try swinging your arms faster. focus on minimizing punching motions, you know where your actually whacking the guy in front of you. This will help your feet land where they should. running fast 200's will help with your form and economy.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

What everyone else said. Plus:

I have tight hamstrings, and have been trying to get more flexible over the past few weeks. I've seen an improvement in my times for the same percieved level of effort, and I feel like I'm going further each step. Maybe the same would work for you. I learned a new hamstring stretch which seems to work better than the others I've tried: Sit on the edge of a chair with your feet shoulder width apart. Bend over and put your palms on the floor directly between your feet. Now stand up. You're supposed to be able to straighten your legs completely -- I can't yet. I've found that after holding the stretch for 30 seconds, my hamstrings start to relax/elongate and I can continually get straighter and straighter. I've gone as long as two minutes doing this and it seems to work pretty well. If you get dizzy, sit back down.

When you're running, you're basically doing three actions: throwing your leg out in front of you, pulling it back to contact the ground and propel you forward, and pushing off with your foot. If you concentrate on getting your leg further out in front of you, you'll end up overstriding and landing on your heel -- VERY bad. So instead, concentrate on pulling your foot back to meet the pavement, then extending your foot to push off. Your feet will land under your hips like they're supposed to, and your leg will swing forward to the right place on its own -- if your hamstrings don't restrict the swing.

If you want an extraordinarily detailed description of running mechanics, get a copy of "Explosive Running" by Michael Yessis.

Lee

Thanks all for the tips. I'll try them. I suspect I do need to do better stretches and I know I need to pick up the cadence a little. My times for a 5K are about 6:30/mi., in a sprint tri about 7:15/mi.

Thanks again.