So I am tall, and trying to increase my running cadence. I bought a metronome and set it at 180 and started running this morning. But as my feet were pitter pattering away, I began wondering if, as a tall guy with a long stride, if instead of having a high cadence maybe I ought to utilize my stride.
How does height influence cadence? If I have long legs (36" inseam), should I still be shooting for a 180 cadence on the run?
Follow comfort level, not a prescribed cadence level. I know many top runners who are tall and have a high cadence. Running is all about putting in the mileage and speed sessions - forget about the cadence, just run and YOUR optimum cadence will find you.
My bro is 6’9" with a 36 in inseam. He has a slow cadence that is very deceptive. He clocks off 8 minute miles and looks like he’s plodding along like a turtle. This may be diiferent for you. Try the high cadence thing for a year and see what it gets you. It’s good to have different techniques to compare and contrast. You might also want to switch up your techniques during longer races to avoid boredom or fatigue. Just like getting out of the aero position to releive pressure.
I seem to be pretty settled on a 170 cadence after many years of running, I did lapse into 130 for a while as a teen and I was slow - higher cadence helped a lot running off the bike. I have 37" inseam. My dad at 33" inseam runs with 210 cadence - works for him.
Dont just concentrate on cadence - work on developing an efficient stride at high cadence that you can then stretch out to go fast.
I’m 6’8" with a 37 inch inseam. I’ve settled in at around a 160-170 when running at 5k speed (6:00 to 7:00 mi, depending on conditioning). The higher cadence does definitely help when coming off the bike.
To consistently run at 180+ I’d have to cut my stride down to the point where it just doesn’t seem efficient or even realistic.
I do subscribe to the theory that your body will adapt and find it’s natural rythm as you run a lot. So I personally don’t count my cadence on any regular basis. I just try to relax and keep my stride comfortable.
I’m 6’6’'. Knees are shot (Doc who scoped 'em said stop running 6 I.M.s ago). I shortened my stride and increased my cadence considerably to extend my running life. It has helped immeasurably with my knees and, accounting for age, hasn’t slowed me down. My opinion is that if you are a tall runner with a long stride you’re probably a heal striker. You’ll wear out the chassis. Romanov/Zen style, higher cadence, mid-foot strike, helps keep you ticking. That said, we’re never going to have the same cadence as some of the little people.
That’s the way it should feel. I have a 36" inseam and run at 175 - 185. Even if I slow down to 10 minute miles, I’ll still run close to 180.
Henry Kipchirchir is the world’s tallest elite runner at 6’5" with a 40" inseam!! (no shit, I stood next to this guy). I raced against him and saw Alan Web race against him. In either case I did not notice him with a cadence any slower than the rest of us.
It will feel awkward for a while, but I feel that it IS something that you should work on. I can’t give you any scientifc “proof” that your cadence should be there, but it is likely that you are inefficiently plodding along and overstriding. I’ve never heard of anyone being successful who advising a low cadence. You’ll occasionaly here someone say, “Wow, with those long legs you’ll take one step to two of mine.” That’s BS. You just don’t have to open up your stride as much as shorter people.
while a cadence around 180 is a very good general recommendation there are always exceptions. I did a brief study on the top finishers at Kona last year and for most of the top 5 men and top 3 women they were all around 170 throughout the marathon. The one exception was Faris El Sultan what was consistently 140 throughout the whole marathon.
For the most part the whole idea behind having a higher cadence is to shift your center of gravity, where your foot strikes the ground in relation to both your knee and your hip. If you were able to get a still photo of a runner right at foot strike, you don’t ever want the foot to be forward of the knee and hip at foot strike. For most people, by shortening their stride and increasing your cadence, it does shift your center of gravity forward to bring your foot strike under the body instead of in front of it. As in the case of Faris, there are always exceptions as he still managed to have a good center of gravity in relation to his foot strike despite the low turn over.
Do you recommend changing your cadence on hills? Or keep the same pace all the time? Going downhill I feel like I could keep a quicker cadence, and uphill I must work to keep a high cadence.
Since I started doing triathlons about three years ago I always wondered why triathletes worry so much about running cadence. All the track and cross country coaches I’ve worked with in college and high school almost never mentioned running cadence. Why is it that runners don’t think about cadence, but triathletes do?
Runners do talk about running economy or efficiency. One aspect of economy is your stride, and when cadence is discussed it is usually in relation to the stride. The best book I’ve found on running economy is “Programmed to Run” by Tom Miller. He does an excellent job at describing all aspects of running economy, and even touches on turnover. I recommend you focus more on running efficiently while running fast, and don’t worry to much about your leg turnover.
If you still feel a need to increase your turnover you need to focus on your arm cadence. The legs are a big pendulum that take a long time to move, while the arms can move faster since they are smaller pendulums. If you focus on moving your arms quicker your legs will generally follow. This is because your arms and legs want to remain in sync so you can stay balanced.
ErikV
So how does one focus on running economy/efficiency? I thought a higher cadence was more effective, so by focusing on it I would be focusing on economy. Is there something else I should be doing when I run?
Maybe I should just go out and run fast and not think so much.
Thanks Mike. I remember watching Faris. As soon as he started running I thought “Ewwwwww.” His form was pretty ugly…but he could run.
Thanks for the explanation in the second paragraph. That was a very informative.
I especialy focus on a high cadence up hills. Lift the knees, pump the arms, and quick, quick steps.
Yes, its even more important to keep a quick cadence going up hills. Its just like biking: you dont want to be stuck in a big gear going up a steep hill.
Running speed is made up of two base factors: cadence and stride length. I was always told (perhaps incorrectly) that it was important to increase cadence since it is the most difficult element to increase. So, you run at 180, and then when you need to increase speed, you simply lengthen your stride, an easy thing for a runner to do, even without training, or during a race. On the contrast, it is much harder to train at your “comfortable” stride length, with a lower cadence; and then expect to increase speed by further lengthening your stride. Eventually, speed increase will come only from increased cadence, which is difficult to increase without substantial training in order for those legs to turnover fast.
Now whether the optimal cadence is 140 or 180 is up to debate, but training cadence before stride length always made sense to me.
Doing strides after running is a great way to improve economy. Focus on good body posture (back straight, chest slightly forward), arm swing (foward NOT side to side), and leg turnover. I’d recommend 6-10x100m at a brisk pace. If you can do them barefoot, on a golf course or other nice surface, that is ideal.
QC, that’s probably the best advice given yet. I completely forgot about the whol issue of HOW to increase your cadence.
OP - I will sneak in 20 seconds of step counting into my normal runs. Look at your watch, count out 30 on one foot (=60 total steps). As you get close, look at the watch again. Try to get 30 in 20 seconds.
Zone2,
Running stride and cadence are only a couple of parts of the overall running economy. The primary thing about running economy is minimizing wasted energy. One way to look at it is if it doesn’t help you move forward then it is wasted energy. For example a lot of side to side arm motion, or a lot of up and down motion with each stride can be wasted energy. You can also be wasting energy if you have tense facial muscles. These muscles don’t help you move forward, so why spend energy making them tense. Try to relax areas of you body you don’t need to use. There are other things you can do to be more efficient, like improving form. If you get a book like the one I mentioned previously I’m sure you can get a lot more detail and information than I can provide in this post.
I think the reason why we don’t think about cadence as runners is because there are so many variables that go into determining your turn over that no single number can possibly be correct for everyone in every condition. Fore instance a tall person can cover the same distance in one stride that a smaller person needs two strides to cover. I personally believe that as you vary speed your stride and cadence naturally change to be the most economical for you. If this were not the case you would get injured quickly and frequently. You can try this out on a treadmill. Set the treadmill for a certain speed, and try changing your stride length. As you over stride it should feel somewhat unnatural.
ErikV
Thanks for the explanation.
Do you think, when people talk about how chainging your running gait can result in injury, that messing with cadence falls into the same category? Or is it safe to mess with running cadence?
Basically speed, stride, and cadence are all linked together, and if you change one you almost always have to change the other two. Also, your typically going to change cadence when your speed changes, by going up or down a hill or sprinting to the finish. I think you can safely mess with your cadence, but if your resulting change in stride doesn’t feel right you should change you cadence until you feel comfortable.
The comfort I’m talking about here deals with your joints and body, not the comfort/discomfort you feel when changing intensity/speed.