I’ve been a casual runner the past 5 years running 5Ks, 10Ks, etc. I want to get faster and will do a marathon at the end of the year. To get faster, I know I need to do intervals, hills, etc., but have a question about cadence (foot turnover ← I guess it would be called).
I’ve been told in the past to concentrate on a nice long stride, especially going up hills… Is that totally wrong info? Now that I’m getting into tris and starting to ride bike, I’m paying attention to cadence and I’m thinking it’d make more sense to focus on my foot turnover. Help?!?
I’m kind of in the same boat as you. I’ve never run on a team or had my form analyzed. This year I’m training for my first IM, and inherently my first marathon. I was running with a relatively long stride, but I think I had been approaching it wrong. I had been trying to reach out farther with my leading foot, and landing on my heel with an almost straight leg. In the last few weeks, I’ve shortened how much I ‘reach’, increased my cadence, have tried to land more towards the center of my foot than the heel, and lean forward a few degrees more. It feels much better now that my running cadence is closer to my cycling cadence, less impact on the leg, and I was instantly faster (~8:10 min/mi to ~7:50 min/mi over 6-7 miles). I think after I get acclimated to this, I might try to lengthen my stride by pusing off harder with the trailing foot, and keeping the mechanics of the leading foot the same. Any true runners out there want to comment?
Biomechanics research has determined very little that can be broadly generalized for all runners regarding stride length.
But most research has found that, for a given runner, any intentional manipulation of stride length or stride rate almost always causes a DECREASE in running economy (i.e., it becomes harder to run at that same speed). This would be manipulation from the runner’s “natural” chosen stride length that they choose unconsciously.
On the other hand, as a runner progresses through life and speed, research has shown that his/her stride length makes small, slow, but significant changes as the athlete’s body trains and adapts (changes in bones, joints, connective tissue, tendons, muscles, cardiac fitness, body weight, etc.).
The bottom line: run lots, run naturally, and your body is clever enough to find the right stride rate/length for your speed, for the conditions, for your body weight, and for your training status.
Most coaches focus on turnover, probably because its simple to measure versus stride length. 90 stride/minute seems to be optimal. Short, tall man or woman most elites from 800 meters on up run @ 90 plus or minus about 3. The main problem with lengthening your strid is you dont want your foot to hit too far forward and act as a brake. Essentially your front foot should be moving back when it hits the ground, not moving forward.
The other thing a long stride or slow turnover does is cause you to move more up and down. This is wasted energy. Thing of two runners equal body dimensions and weight. On takes 90 strides per minute on 80. The 80 guy hast to “jump” higher to go long with each stride. If they weigh 150 lb and he is moving 1/4 inch higher with every stride he’s lifting 150 lbs 1/4 inch higher 12600 times during a 3 hour marathon.
Of course, the best thing to do is longer strides AND a higher turnover
I think I heard this from Sonni Dyer, I don’t know where he got it from, but try it: Run with a friend at a decent pace, get behind them but just off to one side, running at your regular speed, stride length, and stride rate. Reach your hand out towards your friend’s shoulder and shorten your stride…as if you were trying to make sure you won’t run into them. Notice, you sped up. Those slightly choppier strides combined with the weight of your arm and perhaps a little forward body lean all gel to produce a little higher speed than before. That’s the idea I try to think of when I’m running. It especially helps when I get tired…as I tend to run more upright…maybe it’s more accurate to say I lose my forward body lean. My stride rate also tends to drop when I tire. All I have to do is shorten my stride a hair to get my stride rate back up, and lean a little more forward, and BAM…the speed is back. Relatively speaking, of course, I’m no barn-burner at long distances.
From Joe Friels Training Bible, (in my words) Work on getting comfortable at a stride rate around 90 first b/c studies indicate that there is a narrower range neuro-musclar wise for stride rate. After you are comfortable around 90 stride rate, then work on length."
I have always read/experienced that you should shorten your stride when running uphill.
I saw an article recently about the Kenyans. One of the things you will notice when they run is that their heels kick up almost to their butt. It was stated that this is a method to increase your stride length. It takes a while to condition your hamstrings to be able to do this for long distances, but it’s something I have worked off and on, and it does seem to help.
I was able to talk with one of those Kenyans after a race here a few weeks ago. He won of course. He later drove across the state and won another race that night.
He looked like he weighed about 80 pounds and hadn’t eaten a meal in about six months. I offered to buy him breakfast on the condition that he eat it. He declined.
I say this because these guys are so different from any of us (OK Francois excluded) that it is a stretch to try to imitate them. It is kind of like trying to learn about cycling from Lance. What works for these guys doesn’t often work for us mere mortals.
I thought that minimizing ups and downs (bouncing) in your body and head were keys to efficiency??? (along with optimizing stride length). Someone with more running knowledge care to comment?
It is easy for Kenyans to do this because they are running sub 5 min. miles…The faster you run your heel will naturally rise closer to your butt…I wouldnt try to mimic this running nine min. miles. Wasted energy…
there’s a lengthy discussion on this on gordo’s site where I was firmly corrected by Dr. Coggan. http://www.coachgordo.com/cgi-bin/config.pl
Search for posts by ‘doug in co’ to find the thread.
The site seems to be down at the moment, or I could give an exact reference. Basically what the good doctor says is that considerable research on cadence and stride length shows that the optimal gait is naturally self-selected - no tinkering with it has ever been shown to be beneficial for endurance athletes (sprinting is different I think).
It is a good idea to try and minimize trunk rotation and bounding. If you watch efficient runners there is very little upper body movement, except for the arms. There are exceptions to every rule though.
Slower/beginner runners tend to sway their arms across the centerline of the body. The idea is to keep everything moving in a forward direction. Your abs/lower back are stabilizing your body every stride, so making them stabilize while twisting is wasting energy.
As far as up and down goes, it would seem that the foot plant is not centered under the body, thus resulting in the bobbing you would see. Either that or a very high cadence where the pushoff is actually going up instead of behind you. Once an optimal speed is reached, running kind of becomes controlled forward falling to an extent.
When you are running your foot is pushing off in more of a backwards pawing like motion versus up or forward. Anyone who has coached runners would recognize the benfits of ‘B’ drills for achieving that motion.
Making sure my foot lands no further out then my knee cap. This way, it won’t act as a brake with each stride.
Staying relaxed. Making sure that my face is bouncing with each stride. If the face is relaxed, the entire body is relaxed and this is a huge help when running - RELAX.
The only other thing I work on, during sprints, is that I use my arms to increase speed. I pay no attention to my legs. I run with my arms.
