Cyclists with a "Running" Problem

[Wayne Potgieter]

Yup...I'm 6ft and with a mile run i did recently my avg cadence was 178, which equated to 1.6m strive length. I'm am all legs.. . so maybe should be working on increasing my stride length for the faster shorter runs

 

 

 

I am 1,78, for a recent 10km that I did, slower runs generally average 178 - 185 cadence.  With stride length you also have to be careful of over striding.

 

Running Dynamics

189 spm

Avg Run Cadence 

194 spm

Max Run Cadence

1.16 m

Avg Stride Length

 

On my fastest 5km, my cadence was 181spm and my stride length was 1.21m.

 

So Stretch is really living up to that username by stretching his stride to 1.6m (if you can stretch it 10 cm more, your stride length is the length of my body).

 

Basically I am short.

[Stretch]

On my fastest 5km, my cadence was 181spm and my stride length was 1.21m.

 

So Stretch is really living up to that username by stretching his stride to 1.6m (if you can stretch it 10 cm more, your stride length is the length of my body).

 

Basically I am short.

Ha ha... It's weird to think that you can have a stride almost the length of your own body now that you put it that way

[Vetplant]

I was wondering on stride length:

 

Is it something you work on or is it something you earn by putting the work in?

 

If I actively try to Stretch  my stride length during a run, I fear I might overdo it. Does it not increase as your body adapts from Track training sessions and other speedwork?  

 

My thoughts are it is a cool metric to look at, but the work to improve it is not as simple as trying to take longer strides? 

[SwissVan]

I was wondering on stride length:

 

Is it something you work on or is it something you earn by putting the work in?

 

If I actively try to Stretch  my stride length during a run, I fear I might overdo it. Does it not increase as your body adapts from Track training sessions and other speedwork?  

 

My thoughts are it is a cool metric to look at, but the work to improve it is not as simple as trying to take longer strides? 

Agree, I’m not even sure I would call it cool..... interesting yes.

 

There are other metrics and parameters that are much more relevant if you want to train and improve.

 

The only time I worry about stride is to try not over stride....in my experience that leads to injury, just stick to your natural stride.

I prefer to speed up by increasing cadence and arm speed... especially uphill I find shorter strides to be faster and less strenuous.

 

Yes arms, try fun fast without moving your arms

[Vetplant]

Agree, I’m not even sure I would call it cool..... interesting yes.

 

There are other metrics and parameters that are much more relevant if you want to train and improve.

 

The only time I worry about stride is to try not over stride....in my experience that leads to injury, just stick to your natural stride.

I prefer to speed up by increasing cadence and arm speed... especially uphill I find shorter strides to be faster and less strenuous.

 

Yes arms, try fun fast without moving your arms

Agreed, I also focus on keeping the cadence above 180 where possible. I do exactly the same on uphill sections, shorten the stride to keep cadence up.

[Dinamic]

Agree, I’m not even sure I would call it cool..... interesting yes.

 

There are other metrics and parameters that are much more relevant if you want to train and improve.

 

The only time I worry about stride is to try not over stride....in my experience that leads to injury, just stick to your natural stride.

I prefer to speed up by increasing cadence and arm speed... especially uphill I find shorter strides to be faster and less strenuous.

 

Yes arms, try fun fast without moving your arms

I happen to believe that stride length is a very important metric.

 

In fact I would argue that it is what differentiates between ave and top runners.

 

Brownlee when doing a 10km was recorded as 180 spm with  a stride length of 1.84m / stride ( approx 1/1 to height)

 

Mo Farrah on a 10000 183 spm stride length 2.01m/stride for a ration of 1:1.15

 

One of my Age groupers ( 17:30 5km ) 179 spm stride lenght of 1.59 with a ratio of 0.87

 

Just for ****s and giggles Rudisha in the 800m  ran at 194rpm with a stride length of 2.45!!! ( ratio of 1.29/1

 

Most age group runners have a  short stride length  and compensate by trying to increase cadence to increase speed.

 

The 180 spm came about from Daniels observations of top class track athletes racing at significant speed not running at easy or steady pace. 

 

Your cadence has to be in proportion to your speed/effort.

 

Lastly over striding ( ie landing with the knee significantly behind the landing point ) is often to due to lack of propulsion and limited range of motion and stability all things that can be worked on rather than deliberately shortening your stride to match an arbitary number

[rudi-h]

IMO stride length is an output.  The inputs are cadence and fitness...  I.e. you need to pin your cadence at a high level, i.e. 180(ish) spm irrespective of speed.  As you get fitter and run faster, your stride length will increase automatically. 

 

What neither your running, nor your knees need is you running a good stride length at 150 spm.

 

 

I was wondering on stride length:

 

Is it something you work on or is it something you earn by putting the work in?

 

If I actively try to Stretch  my stride length during a run, I fear I might overdo it. Does it not increase as your body adapts from Track training sessions and other speedwork?  

 

My thoughts are it is a cool metric to look at, but the work to improve it is not as simple as trying to take longer strides? 

[Stretch]

I

 

Just for ****s and giggles Rudisha in the 800m ran at 194rpm with a stride length of 2.45!!! ( ratio of 1.29/1

 

 

When I started reading your post. I immediately thought about Rudisha. Unreal stride. Edited March 23, 2021 by Stretch

[ridr]

17:17 is insanely quick(guessing you knew that already) out of curiosity, what was your stride length during that?

 

Also-to the rest of you- I am interested in your average stride length and your average pace. Share away.

I just run. Nice to have the stats, but I never look at them.

 

P.S. I'm 1.7m

Edited March 23, 2021 by ridr

[SwissVan]

I happen to believe that stride length is a very important metric.

 

In fact I would argue that it is what differentiates between ave and top runners.

 

Brownlee when doing a 10km was recorded as 180 spm with a stride length of 1.84m / stride ( approx 1/1 to height)

 

Mo Farrah on a 10000 183 spm stride length 2.01m/stride for a ration of 1:1.15

 

One of my Age groupers ( 17:30 5km ) 179 spm stride lenght of 1.59 with a ratio of 0.87

 

Just for ****s and giggles Rudisha in the 800m ran at 194rpm with a stride length of 2.45!!! ( ratio of 1.29/1

 

Most age group runners have a short stride length and compensate by trying to increase cadence to increase speed.

 

The 180 spm came about from Daniels observations of top class track athletes racing at significant speed not running at easy or steady pace.

 

Your cadence has to be in proportion to your speed/effort.

 

Lastly over striding ( ie landing with the knee significantly behind the landing point ) is often to due to lack of propulsion and limited range of motion and stability all things that can be worked on rather than deliberately shortening your stride to match an arbitary number

Anyone who runs at the speed of Brownlee and Farah will have large stride length in comparison to someone running at a more “normal person” speed.

If I go to the track and (try) smash a 400m lap at the speed they run I Guarantee my stride length would increase significantly.

 

My point was that training using spm specifically as a training metric (like effort or speed) is pointless, what is a persons goal spm?

 

It will happen naturally as your speed increases using the conventional training metrics.

I’ve yet to see a training program that tells you to go and run at a specific high cadence, 190 spm for example.

[Dinamic]

Anyone who runs at the speed of Brownlee and Farah will have large stride length in comparison to someone running at a more “normal person” speed.

If I go to the track and (try) smash a 400m lap at the speed they run I Guarantee my stride length would increase significantly.

 

My point was that training using spm specifically as a training metric (like effort or speed) is pointless, what is a persons goal spm?

 

It will happen naturally as your speed increases using the conventional training metrics.

I’ve yet to see a training program that tells you to go and run at a specific high cadence, 190 spm for example.

I don't disagree, and that is exactly my point, the difference between a lot of  20min 5km runners and a 15min 5km is not going to be cadence it is going to be stride length.  Your speed is simply stride length * cadence.

 

However a lot of athletes still hear the mantra that you have to run at 180spm and to do so they shorten their stride to achieve a cadence of around 180 thereby handicapping themselves. 

 

If you are running at your easy pace you should not generally  be running at 180 spm,

 

If you are running at 180 strides / min and your pace is say 6 min a km then your sl is going to be 0.92m/stride. 

 

Your limiter is not cadence your limiter is stride length.

 

Can we train to improve stride length?

 

Some Factors effecting Stride ( not exhaustive ) leg spring stiffness, ground contact time, range of motion, strength, muscle recruitment, running form, weight. and yes aerobic conditioning.

 

Some of these automatically will improve over time with consistent training but others would benefit from applied specific training.

[SwissVan]

 

Snipped

 

 

Some Factors effecting Stride ( not exhaustive ) leg spring stiffness, ground contact time, range of motion, strength, muscle recruitment, running form, weight. and yes aerobic conditioning.

 

Some of these automatically will improve over time with consistent training but others would benefit from applied specific training.

 

What the flip is " leg spring stiffness"

 

Can i change mine to softer ones as i get older...   

 

Sorry could not resist

 

Still would like to know what it is, thanks

Edited March 23, 2021 by SwissVan

[Dinamic]

What the flip is " leg spring stiffness"

 

Can i change mine to softer ones as i get older...   

 

Sorry could not resist

 

Still would like to know what it is, thanks

" Leg Spring Stiffness (LSS) is a model of elastic energy in the leg, assuming it acts like a spring. It is the maximum vertical force a person generates in a step divided by the displacement during ground contact time."  Hope that helps

[Wayne Potgieter]

I just run. Nice to have the stats, but I never look at them.

 

P.S. I'm 1.7m

THERE IS HOPE FOR ME YET!!!!

 

IF you don't mind me asking, how old are you and what is your VO2 Max?

 

I am fascinated by the stats. I think about them all the time while running and do mental maths all the time. I totally nerd out on the data.

[SwissVan]

THERE IS HOPE FOR ME YET!!!!

 

IF you don't mind me asking, how old are you and what is your VO2 Max?

 

I am fascinated by the stats. I think about them all the time while running and do mental maths all the time. I totally nerd out on the data.

 

 

Here's one for your next run... 

 

See if you can work out my stride length

Seems like my Polar and Strava don't do the math

 

[SwissVan]

How do you guys n girls with multiple running shoes keep an accurate track of each pairs km?

 

Polarflow... does not provide any automatic feature

Strava free... allows you to record multiple shoes but you have to manually select which pair you run in.