Running Cadence

gilliatt

 I've not geeked out much on running cadence before, however reading some of the recent blog posts lately did make me dive into some of my WKO files since I bought a footpod last fall. 

Things I've noticed,

When I run slow my cadence naturally drops to around 86

When I run fast like a vDot test I sit right around 89-90.  

Anyone else notice this?

Tony Stocker

It's not unusual, most people automatically start running with a higher turnover when they want to run faster.  It's very difficult to train some people, or even convince them, that it's possible to run LRP/MP at a high cadence without increased effort.  I've worked pretty hard myself and at this point most of my runs tend to shake out at 88-90rpm no matter the speed I'm going.

Coach Patrick

There are two ways to run faster: longer strides or faster cadence. I choose cadence. I ran my marathon at 90-91 rpms, when my usual long run pace is like 88...that took some training, but it works. I think pace is a great "controllable" metric you can focus on for race day. Pace will be what it is, HR will go up, but you can maintain a good cadence (and therefore, form) for the whole run.

mancona

After a year of working on this my cadence is now on the high side, but it varies like you noted. Like P, most easy or long runs come out to the around 90. TP intervals are almost always around 95 for me. When I put the Five Fingers on is when it gets interesting. I only put my foot pod on them once, but I was at and average of 98 for a 20 minute run, IIRC.

It was pretty easy for me to get to 95 for short periods or running fast and much harder to bring my easy pace cadence up. The trick for me was to lead with my hips leaning slighly forward and focus on my foot striking under my body. It took a while of counting steps and then geting a foot pod to increase my cadence.

Now, I just check my form every 15 minutes or so during most runs making sure I have the slight forward lean and my foot strike is good and then cadence works itself out.

Al Truscott

I've got a friend who freaks out if he can't run with his Garmin cadence foot pod - his coach has told him this is THE MOST critical element of his training. But then, he's 6'2", and it's easy for him to slow down his stride. For guys like Matt and I, smaller guys, the quick cadence probably comes naturally. I'm at 90 +/- at any pace, except when I get faster than TP, then it can go as high as 97. I went thru a phase several years ago of coutning my cadence on the treadmill, but it was alwasy 90-92, so I stopped. This year, I checked again for the faster reps, and was shocked to count it at 96-97, but then I was going faster than I ever had before.

gjordan

Dan,

If you like running with music you can try and Podrunner music mixes that are made to different cadences.  There are a few at 180 bpm that gets you up to 90 cadence.

pbarker

I have been using Motion Traxxs



http://www.motiontraxx.com/

or down load directly through ITunes



Up to 190 BPM

 

Sounds like Al will need ~194 BPM

tgarson

I use an ANT+ footpod with my 310xt to measure cadence, and as you have found my cadence of course increases during harder efforts, my last VDOT test cadence was an average of 95 with spikes up to 99. For reference, my LSR cadence is about 93.

Now, the interesting thing I'd like to add about all of this is my Newtons. I know from feel and experience that my cadence has measurably increased since I started running in them but I do not have solid numbers to back it up because I did not get my footpod until after I already been on the Newtons for some time. I used to run with a Nike+ back in the day, I'm not sure if it records cadence but I'd like to see if I can measure the difference between them and normal shoes some day when I have time to play around. This is entirely subjective until I get some data, and it may also be very specific to each runner, but I feel as if my cadence has increased from the mid-upper 80s to the mid 90s since I've switched to Newtons. Again, I can't and won't claim that is due wholly or even partly to the shoes, I've made a lot of other changes to my running over the same time frame, but I feel as if they contributed.