Explaining Running Cadence & Stride
Many of us when we start running just put on our shoes and get out there. Eventually we start thinking about distance goals and how to achieve them. We think about pace and how to play with pace for certain goals. Then when you get way more into it and become an active member in the running community you start to hear people throw out words like cadence and stride. Like I did for many years, you’ll just go along with it and pretend you know what everyone is talking about. You’ll glance at your run summary on your Garmin and pretend like you understand all the feedback. Then one day you’ll get curious and think but ok what actually is running cadence and stride and should I care? For the casual runner there is no real need to be concerned with these two pieces of running data, but for the data-geeks out there or anyone trying to improve their running this information could be helpful.
What exactly is running cadence and running stride?
Running stride, we’ll start here because it is important to know what your stride is before you look into your cadence. Not to be confused with “strides” which is a type of running workout.
When we talk about stride we are talking about your running stride length. Stride length is one round through your entire gait cycle, it begins with ground contact of one foot and ends when that same foot comes back into contact with the ground. A deeper look, if you right foot strikes the ground (beginning) than your left foot will be behind you in the air, than the left foot will move through to strike the ground and now your right foot is in the air, and finally your right foot will move through and strike the ground again (end). Stride length is impacted by your height, age, gender and some variables like terrain, pace, etc.
How can you measure your stride? Wet your feet or paint them (go for it), measure the distance (in inches) between the first print of your right and the second. That is your stride length.
Measuring on a flat road or track terrain is recommended.
Running cadence, or stride rate, or further broken down the number of steps that you take each minute of your run. It is the speed at which your legs turn over.
Running cadence is impacted by your body composition, height, running style, and the type of workout you are doing. The speed at which you run is the result of running stride times cadence.
For a long time 180 SPM (meaning every minute each foot strikes the ground 90 times) was considered the golden standard for cadence, but that has since been knocked down a step. It has been shown that it is natural for cadence to vary from person to person and that there really is no golden standard for cadence.
Running with a shorter stride and faster steps may make you a more efficient runner. Over-striding can result in injury and unnecessary fatigue and so shortening your stride can make you a more efficient runner. Focusing on cadence can provide some valuable information and help to improve your running form. That said there is no need to focus in on cadence and try to perfect it as runner-to-runner variety is normal. There is no perfect number.
How to measure your cadence? Use a metronome and set a target goal for yourself and try to match the beat. This can also be done with a song that has a particular beat. Use your watch, most running trackers will include your cadence.
So while stride and cadence are factors to consider as a runner they are not the panacea. More knowledge and more understanding is always better, though.
