Home› General Training Discussions

How Valuable is Knowing Cadence When Running

David LeventhalDavid Leventhal
in General Training Discussions

I'm wondering how valuable knowing your cadence is when running?  Is it worth the money to get the Garmin footpod to use with my 910?  Am I missing some great training advantage by NOT knowing my cadence?  Or is it another nice, but not ultra helpful, data point?

Thoughts?  Educate me please.

Thanks

Comments

  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    I find it to very helpful, as sign that my form is slipping = lower cadence. But you don't need a gadget:

    1. Look at your watch and note the run time
    2. Count your left foot strikes for 1 minute. If you have a good idea of what your cadence you can basically count until you're close to it and then look at your watch to see if you've been counting for a minute. 
    3. # of left foot strikes in 1 minute = your cadence.

    Just do this every mile or so. Personally, If I'm counting my strides I'm also thinking about form so this is a good exercise for me to do often during my runs. 

  • Steve WestSteve West
    @ David, I use a Garmin foot pod. Initially I paid close attention to it a various paces and also calibrated it at the track for treadmill work.

    Now that I know my cadence for different paces I don't have it on any of my screens but I do collect the data and look at it after, especially for speed and hill work.

    In the end I know that

    80-82 is when I am shuffeling, suffering and/or bonking
    84-86 is my all day and MP pace when I am fit
    88-90 is my less fit MP pace
    90-92 is for hitting my 800 & 1200 repeats

    So, yes I find it very important to have that metric. If counting/timing work for you, great. I like the data points in my files for later analysis and review.
  • Dave TalloDave Tallo
    I think it's critically important. So much so, that there's not a minute of running that goes by that I'm not counting strides. I take the same general approach Rich describes above, but count to thirty in any given 20 second period.
  • Coach RichCoach Rich
    yeah, I used to do the same, count all the time, focus on my form. Now I run with a little fuzzy person who's always drifting in my lane, has his own plan for where he wants to go, etc....
  • David LeventhalDavid Leventhal

    Thanks guys - that's helpful information. 

    @Rich - Is this your running partner?  If so, I bet it's probably pretty easy to count strides....

     

  • Bruce ThompsonBruce Thompson

    Nice running partner!!

    I find counting strides to be very important too.  When I'm hitting my proper cadence, I know my form is good.

    I use a slightly different counting method.  I count both left & right foot strikes since this seems more precise to me. I look at my watch, start counting to 30, and I'm usually right at 10".  This way I can calibrate my stride 3 or even 4 times per minute.  If I'm right on 30 for 10", I know my form is good.

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott
    I count every stroke when swimming, so I'll be damned if i'll do it running, too. So I bought a footpod, and it did improve my cadence. I'm now at about 89 when doing the "ironman shuffle", 92-3 @ LRP, up to100 when doing mile repeats. I no longer need the footpod to stay on cadence, took about 18 months to train myself. At this point, I check now and then to confirm my feel, and I'm within 1-2 rpm every time.
  • MattAaronsonMattAaronson
    Critically important as others have said. I have programmed different screenes on my Garmin for different purposes and cadence is literally the only metric on every one of those screens. I used the footpod to train myself to run with a higher cadence, and over about a year raised my cadence from ~86 to ~90-91 for the majority of my runs. Like others have said, it's really good to know when your form is faltering -- when I see cadence dip to 88 or even 87 I know things are going south and I have something to focus on immediately. Counting my steps on the other hand, would not work for me. I'm usually thinking about a lot of other things when running!
  • cgres123cgres123
    I use a watch and count for 20 sec then X3 my goal is 90. I can not remember the number of books I read that preach 90 steps per min. In fact studies have shown that by doing a 90 cadence you are less likely to get an injury as you will have less foot time on the ground per foot. It is also a good measure to ensure that your stride length is correct as a 90 steps per min seems to make that happen.
    Coach P in his plans have you running strides at this pace too so I think he would agree.
Sign In or Register to comment.