Strangely, Im just under 6ft 2in and have a cadence (at 5k pace) of around 185 to 190. I've been working on slowing it and trying to lengthen my stride, but it's hard to change!
I was having trouble increasing my run cadence. I found a great tool to help me dial in my 180 spm cadence. I run with music and listen to 180 bpm playlists on Spotify. I just sync my running cadence to the beat of the music and I found that my running pace improved without any extra effort.
150 even for faster runs. My partner suggested a long time ago that I change my cadence but I never really thought about it too much. It just sounded harder to be fast when stepping more often. Had to try it after watching this though. This morning destroyed my 5km best with an average cadence of 170. Naturally lead to a much better posture too. Lesson learned. Really enjoy the videos from this channel; entertaining and inspiring.
I've found over my 40+ years of running that most efficiency gains are made during the flight phase, when the foot is in the air. Apparently, the ultimate way to do this is exemplified by Letesenbet Gidey, who actually starts the leg forward very fast after toe-off, allowing her to make the second half of her flight toward the next landing at a quite leisurely effort. She looks like she's running slow when viewed from in front, very fast when viewed from behind. Brilliant!
I’d just like to say a huge thank you ...particularly to Heather. I’ve been running a great many years including a couple of Marathons and after a bit of lay off I started again but I just could not get going it was hard, heavy legged, painful knees etc etc. I was on the verge of calling it a day. However I decided one last shot and to go back to first principles using GTN as my main source of rebuilding. A couple of priceless video’s were Heather’s shoe and form recordings (There are many others including stretches and foam rolling). Having now invested in a pair of Cloudstratus, my running has come on leaps and bounds. I won’t bore you with numbers, but suffice to say I’m absolutely back in love with running and starting to clock up some good miles. So a huge thank you GTN!! (CAVEAT: I should add I’m not suggesting any magic bullets here, like I said, I’ve been running years, and I listened carefully to their advice and followed it safely. Still needed to put the graft in ... but this is one hell of an amazing resource provided by accomplished athletes... for whom we should be humbled and grateful to).
Cadence is the thing I am currently working on. As a 6'6 tall runner my cadence was 150 for good few years. Few weeks ago I started working on it to improve my cadence. I do my runs with 160-165 cadence right now, which completely changed my running style. I went from heel striker to forefoot which is good. If I will be able to do marathons with cadence around 165 that would be good for me and I believe I''ll run faster! :)
Do you feel faster running with a higher cadence? I play soccer and am 6'1, but I have long legs and my cadence is low and when I try to shorten my strides, I feel weird, but more explosive.
My HM PB (1:34) Average cadence 193. Stride length 1.17m. I'm 162cm tall (short) and 57 years old (old). Slow runs at 5:30min/km is usually 182 cadence. Works for me.
I can (and often do, esp on longer runs) change my cadence and maintain the same pace. I feel like it uses slightly different muscles, so I can rest my muscles with a high cadence and rest my cardio with a lower cadence/longer stride
When I started running my cadence was 140-145spm . After about a year of running consistently my cadence now averages 160-165spm for easy runs and 170-175spm for harder efforts . I've never tried to change my cadence but I feel it is something that improves over time as you become a more experienced and efficient runner.
There are ways to increase stride length without physically reaching farther out with your foot. Knee drive, ankle drag, and other key techniques will increase your time in the air, and thus, stride length.
Fantastic work, love it. I've been trying to up my cadence a little bit the past few months. I've had back issues, and it does feel as if a slightly higher cadence for me lessens the impact force a little bit (perhaps better footstrike is part of it). Feels like my back has to work less in order to keep everything stable/balanced. I've been doing physio as well, so hard to say if it's the cadence and/or physio work that is starting to make a difference. My endurance run sort of pace (~5min/k) is @ ~175, while I was closer to 170/high 160s for that pace before. Not a huge difference, but I do feel it a little bit. I wasn't sure at first, it felt a little bit like I was deliberately sabotaging my stride (felt like constantly breaking). Not anymore, and the more it goes the more I actually quite the mechanics of it. I've also been doing partly minimalist shoes & partly regular trail shoe runs. On minimialist shoes, my cadence for the same pace naturally gets closer to 180, whereas I tend to be between 170-175 on regular trail shoes. THat's not a deliberate effort on my part, that's just the data that strava gets me if I compare the runs with different shoes on.
So after a long injury I changed my running technique for high cadence, which helped me to recover faster and improved enormously my running experience, but I had never recorded it, so I got my new running watch and after 3 running sessions of 5K, the watch said my average cadence is 195 spm
Nice video, it would be interesting to see mark's journey to higher cadence, and when he adapts to a higher cadence if his heart rate decreases a little. As atm he is using slightly different muscles which he is not used to using, hence this may be causing the heart rate to increase. Also, it would be great to see a similar video however off a steady bike and comparing which cadence is best for brick sessions and thirdly the effect of different bike cadences on the run/run cadence.
Is interesting that ultra runners like Jim Walmsley run in the 150-170 range. Even on flat. I think there could be a long run efficiency at a slower cadence.
I use the beginning of the fourth movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony to set my cadence to approximately 180. Allegro/Allegro vivace tempo. Before I used a small metronome to start increasing the cadence and eventually I could hear the music when doing a cadence close to 180.
I'm 183 cm with pretty long legs and when I first started running my cadence was around 160 for normal runs (always much higher on the treadmill though...). I steadily focused on increasing it, now my go-to training cadence is around 172 and my threshold/race cadence is 180-185. I've found that strides of 200+ spm at the end of easy runs are very helpful for me to make moderately higher cadences feel more comfortable. Similarly I always do my speed intervals at 190+ spm, it makes the threshold cadence feel super comfortable.
I've tried to increase my cadence to 180, but my body just doesn't like it; it feels more tiring. I'm not landing on my heels, so I'm not going to worry too much. Varies between 160 (slow runs)-170 (5K run), though faster when increasing pace to finish a run.
Good job on the message that cadence’s importance is inconclusive. “Higher cadence” being better/more economical/faster/less tiring etc. is a popular Internet myth. There is no scientific research to substantiate any of those claims. There is no reason to think that actively altering whatever cadence feels natural to you has any value. What the data does show is that a given person’s cadence is correlated with their pace, and across people, taller people are likely to have lower cadence (and higher stride length), both of which are pretty intuitive and likely only mean that cadence is an effect, not a cause of anything relevant for good running. One popular reason recommended to increase cadence is to reduce overstriding-induced heel striking, which makes sense to the extent you want to heel strike less (another overemphasized “Internet concern”), but says nothing about higher cadence being good in and of itself.
I've seen similar studies on trained v untrained but the findings were more that the trained runners had already naturally found their economical cadence. Whereas untrained athletes in general have more improvements to make in their running gait and some of those tend to end up with increased cadence. From everything I've read, cadence is more of a consequence of other elements you should work on rather than specifically something to target.
I'm an average height guy and even at my slower paces (easy runs) I'm around 167-170 spm. 10k pace I'm more around 180-185spm. I'm someone who runs more upright and uses more of my glutes so the higher cadence helps me achieve that.
This was so cool!!!! I have been shooting for a high cadence. Whenever I go high my 10k times are faster, and I just feel better over the distance. I am 188cms with long legs, so low cadence and long strides means a lot of effort. I also find that dropping my shoulders and keeping my arm swing close to waist helps turnover. Running with good posture and neutral head position helps as well. Thanks for this video!!!
Your low cadences are normal to me. Ran a half in training at the weekend in 1:21 with 159 cadence. Even racing a 5k I only get up to around 165. I am a lumbering oaf at 193cm though!
Could you please explain how Dan Lloyd will be able to run a sub 1:30h Half-Marathon if his plan contains only a maximum of 6 km at his goal HM race pace and a maximum of 20 km as the longest run?
Well there must be time spent in interval pace also, which will higher than the goal pace. I think Dan will be having sufficient endurance due to his pro cycling background hence the longest easy run being 20k. Just my opinion.
to run a sub 1:30 you barely need to break 7 min pace per mile no idea in km which is easy with consistency I would recommend building to doing long runs maybe20-27 km once a week
I ran sub1:30 HM and at that time I was only running ~40km per week. My long runs were never more than 17k and I never ran more than 9k at HM pace. I think most of the fitness came from the interval/VO2max and speed workout
Hi Klemen. There are actually numerous sessions in there where he will cover between 20-30mins at HM pace. Therefore he will regularly be running between 5-7.5km at HM pace. Which from my experience is plenty when teamed with the aerobic work and the intervals above pace. With regards to the longest run, you’ve also got to remember that this is a condensed 9 week plan. Dan and many of our viewers have never run a HM before, so to build them up to that, and do that in training prior to the big day all within 9 weeks could jeopardise the actual fast HM. Equally though, there is no definite need to cover it either, it’s more about the consistency and the volume - which he is definitely doing. Similarly very few marathon plans will have you run much more than 34-35km before a marathon. Thanks
Hi Klemen. There are actually numerous sessions in there where he will cover between 20-30mins at HM pace. Therefore he will regularly be running between 5-7.5km at HM pace. Which from my experience is plenty when teamed with the aerobic work and the intervals above pace. With regards to the longest run, you’ve also got to remember that this is a condensed 9 week plan. Dan and many of our viewers have never run a HM before, so to build them up to that, and do that in training prior to the big day all within 9 weeks could jeopardise the actual fast HM. Equally though, there is no definite need to cover it either, it’s more about the consistency and the volume - which he is definitely doing. Similarly very few marathon plans will have you run much more than 34-35km before a marathon. Thanks
I was always told that your cadence should be the same at all paces (except a sprint), whether it's 9 minutes per mile or 5 minutes per mile, and all gradiants, whether it's 0%, -5%, or 10%. Cadence, also, I've been told should be no less than 180 and no more than 205 (except for sprinting).
On a harder effort sometimes my cadence can be in the high 180s. Once I work more on my stride length mechanics, I’ll find myself to be much faster, I reckon!
I am wondering if I need to work on my vertical oscillation which is a lot less than Mark or Heather at 6.5-7cm with GCT 276ms-230ms on almost all my runs & not changing much despite faster paces (measured using a Stryd). I thought that this was OK as it was more efficient: not bouncing so much = less wasted energy combating gravity (I am more focused on longer distances). But I am wondering if it actually means that I need to do more plyometric type exercises as perhaps I should be bouncing more rather than shuffling? ECOR at 6:17 min/K pace/172 spm was 1.0443 & at 4:30 pace/182 spm was 1.0159. The difference in vertical oscillation was only 2-4mm whereas with Mark it was 18mm. That seems a huge difference and suggests that I need to change something.
I think I'm the same runner typr as you, whatever the cadence i'm running I have a very small vertical oscillation. You end up using less energy to travel horizontal distance because you are maximising your energy to do that. It's just physics
@@yohansharp3040 That is what I had assumed. But the alternative explanation could be that my legs are that puny I am struggling to get any more airborne? Therefore am I sacrificing potential "push off force/power", a proportion of which would be directed forwards as well as up? Also there is the injury risk concern. Any path with stones bigger than 6mm in height and I am done for. Better cancel the Norseman application. Perhaps Mark can tell my the max Norseman boulder size though before I do cancel?
@@davebannister the problem is the more you "push" to "fly" for longer the more violent is the impact for you body amd therefore loss of energy starts to increase to much. I haven't done the maths or anything but i'm pretty sure it is the case
@@yohansharp3040 True. I am already a heel striker so as you say it could exacerbate that. However if the foot lands under the centre of gravity rather than ahead of it then the impact should be lessened. So with a good midfoot/forefoot gait would that danger still be more significant than the forward force gain? Mark & Heather both have significantly shorter ground contact times than me (likely due to midfoot/forefoot landing) which might explain why their extra bounce is not causing a higher injury risk perhaps? So should I aim for improving my gait/shifting my landing zone backwards to allow for extra bounce/forward propulsion?
@@davebannister Would definitely recommend Shane Benzie book “the lost art of running “. Covers those exact points around vertical oscillation in stride, ground contact time and foot contact. Website as well.
Jim Walmsley arguably greatest male Ultra runner going around cadence = 154 ...motto of story, do what works best for you considering, weight, age, height, gender, shoes, terrain, weather, etc etc.
I dont run for pace - I run for my heart and how it beats. I can run to music with a cadence from say 165 steps per minute to 185 steps per minute - if I am not running to music I can get up to 200 steps per minute (before I die) - but each one of those cadences seems to lead to different heart rate numbers (DUH!) - so while it might be better physically for me to run at say 180 spm, my heart may have different ideas about the wisdom of that :)
Thanks for your interesting videos. Just a note: Cadence (when you find you right cadence/stride length) shouldn't change a lot for every speed, maximum 5% (I said this for your data not for test). Bye
High cadence during a long time training = less muscle needed = less body weight to drag around. That's why all top runners have high cadence. ( Just pick any) Same in cycling if you look at all the best cyclists in 2000-- example chris froome but many many.... Actually also in triathlon, example Gustav Idén. Also high cadence gets less damage on muscles and less lactic acid...
And also... Heart rate is never ever the issue. Lactic acid build up and muscle tear is always the battle... Your heart could easily do 99% of max for an hour if you keep you cadence extremely high ( I have done it a lot of times on the bike 10 years ago ). But going a little slower on the cadence and going a little lower on the heart rate with a lot of lt build up is of course a lot faster...
I have been trying to increase my cadence . Set watch to buzz when fell below 170 then after a couple of months set it at 172. After hearing Mark's cadence wondering if I shouldn't leave it alone. I am 6ft tall with unusually long legs for my height.
Hi, very interesting, thank you. Is it the case that men have lower cadence than women? My cadence seems to be between 160 and 170. But a friend once told me the “optimal cadence” is 180. I once tried to raise my cadence, but found it almost impossible to go much beyond 172-173. I could probably do it for short-distance runs, but I doubt I could maintain a 180 cadence for a 10 km run. Anyway, after watching this clip, I might have another go at increasing my cadence, and see if it improves my efficiency.
@@heatherfell_oly haha hard not too as I'm the performance marketing manager here. Everyone at Finisterre loves seeing our products out and about and couldn't help notice.
Thank you for the video presentation, you guys are awesome! Did you use the SRYDE Power meter for the cadence calculation and other metrics or your watches? Your V.O looks VERY high compared to STRYD numbers, your G.C.T time very very low ....super Elite runners get under 2 according to STRYD. impressive! I was expecting you to also show your stride length. thanks again.
I have an average cadence of 147, finding it really difficult to reduce this. I feel it would drastically improve my 5k times as currently at 26ish minutes as a newish runner but can’t seem to get anywhere.
My cadence is around 198 with 80 cm stride length for my slow runs and 210 cadence with 89 cm stride length for my faster ones. The cadence and stride length goes even higher at intervals. But I am short 155 cm. I was wondering how that compared to a very tall runner and if there’s a chart that shows the correlation between the height of the runners.
I'm 6' 1" (1.85 m) and I'm 66. I usually range between 165 to 172 for cadence on most runs. I've been working on a bit higher cadence. I wonder if there any studies that specifically look at cadence as a function of age.
Everyone here seems to have extreme cadences. 165 and above. On an easy run I am at 144 and on my fastest 5k my cadence is 155-160 with a stride length of 1.55 m.
How does body weight and fitness affect cadence? I’m overweight with BMI 32, not a fast runner and my cadence varies between 140 and 158, depending on the distance. Can I safely increase cadence even when being overweight?
I ended up after trying to find out if Asics Metaspeed Sky or Edge is for me. I am a bit confused about my run. I started running half marathons recently. I noticed that my stride length is higher/longer during the first hour or so. After that, I tend to take shorter strides and do not (unable to) lift my thighs as much as the first hour. Not sure about the number of strides per minute in either case... Am I a stride runner or cadence runner?
Guys, an you share your stride length from the video tests to give an idea of how you adapted to each cadence? Cheers keep up the great inspiring vids.
Great video, my brother always tells me my cadence is too low at 170-172, but if Mark is running that, then hopefully I'm not far off. Any tips for keeping the cadence high on slow/easy runs. Well done guys, it looked freezing out there and neither one of you mentioned it 👍.
That's where my typical training cadence has been. My race cadence has been typically about 175-177 and I'm very tall for a long distance runner (6'4" or 193 cm).
I'm a relatively new runner, but seem to have found my steady normal pace at around 170-171 looking through my Garmin stats from before I thought or knew much about cadence/stride length. I however do enjoy doing high cadence/shorter strides on my long runs as it seems to help me keep my heart rate in check. Any thoughts on high cadence/short strides combined with a low target HR as part of long runs during training?
My cadence is like 145 as seen on my phone. Highest 161 4'21" pace 1k, lowest 139 9'51" 1k. It's gonna be a tough journey to get the average to at least 160
Your running cadence isn't much higher than my walking cadence. Fascinating that such a low cadence can be accomplished. Would love to observe this to see what's going on.
Interested to know height difference. I'm 6'1 and my cadence is 162 but trying to get it up to 168 There was a hint in the video of how bouncy cushioned trainers might help maintain low cadence. I started with these type of jogging shoes as a teenager and now in my fifties I am moving towards less heel and more natural running. Also wondered if either you suffered much the next day after this experiment. Cheers.
My biggest knock on strava is they don’t track cadence, I know from experience it’s always 180-185 but as a paid sub that should be a simple standard feature instead of all the extra 🐂💩 I don’t and won’t ever use.
If you link free-Strava to intervals.icu (suggests donation rather than a sub) then you can add cadence as a field and get lots of useful statistics & graphs.
@@cannibalmanimal2336 What you mean "Strava dont track cadance" ? Your watch is tracking it and uploading to Strava. Dont use the mobile app for running.
@@Nonixification that’s my issue, all I use strava for is running w Apple Watch, the Nike app naturally keeps cadence but somehow strava doesn’t think it’s something we keep mind of. I’m trying to simplify my running and just use one app. The cadence is my only gripe but they won’t change it until enough of us bitch about it
Heather didn't the data actually show that your normal cadence was the least efficient? If this was the case and it was the highest number then wouldn't working on your "natural cadence" make a lot of sense?
I avg about 175-180 on easy days and go to 190+ in a 5k/10k , I wonder if mark would be faster or be more efficient by racing nearer the 180 spm. Such a hot topic
The pacing of the video is reflective of how cold it probably was, feels like they just want to get on and done with it. maybe shoot your videos on nicer days, if you have any... lol
Do you have a high or a low run cadence? What works for you? Let us know!
I use a high cadence and short stride. Easier on my old muscles and joints!
Strangely, Im just under 6ft 2in and have a cadence (at 5k pace) of around 185 to 190. I've been working on slowing it and trying to lengthen my stride, but it's hard to change!
Mine is usually about 160 at 5ft 3
You should make your videos shorter and a bit more understandable not all your audience is able to understand
AND IM GONNA UNSUBSCRIBE
I was having trouble increasing my run cadence. I found a great tool to help me dial in my 180 spm cadence.
I run with music and listen to 180 bpm playlists on Spotify. I just sync my running cadence to the beat of the music and I found that my running pace improved without any extra effort.
This has helped my cadence as well.
150 even for faster runs. My partner suggested a long time ago that I change my cadence but I never really thought about it too much. It just sounded harder to be fast when stepping more often. Had to try it after watching this though. This morning destroyed my 5km best with an average cadence of 170. Naturally lead to a much better posture too. Lesson learned. Really enjoy the videos from this channel; entertaining and inspiring.
These videos come out just in time as I'm contemplating not going for my run. Cheers guys keep them coming!!
I've found over my 40+ years of running that most efficiency gains are made during the flight phase, when the foot is in the air. Apparently, the ultimate way to do this is exemplified by Letesenbet Gidey, who actually starts the leg forward very fast after toe-off, allowing her to make the second half of her flight toward the next landing at a quite leisurely effort. She looks like she's running slow when viewed from in front, very fast when viewed from behind. Brilliant!
I’d just like to say a huge thank you ...particularly to Heather. I’ve been running a great many years including a couple of Marathons and after a bit of lay off I started again but I just could not get going it was hard, heavy legged, painful knees etc etc. I was on the verge of calling it a day. However I decided one last shot and to go back to first principles using GTN as my main source of rebuilding. A couple of priceless video’s were Heather’s shoe and form recordings (There are many others including stretches and foam rolling). Having now invested in a pair of Cloudstratus, my running has come on leaps and bounds. I won’t bore you with numbers, but suffice to say I’m absolutely back in love with running and starting to clock up some good miles. So a huge thank you GTN!! (CAVEAT: I should add I’m not suggesting any magic bullets here, like I said, I’ve been running years, and I listened carefully to their advice and followed it safely. Still needed to put the graft in ... but this is one hell of an amazing resource provided by accomplished athletes... for whom we should be humbled and grateful to).
Congratulations Robin, that’s awesome. I’m sure Heather will be really pleased to hear that. Keep up the good work!
Cadence is the thing I am currently working on. As a 6'6 tall runner my cadence was 150 for good few years. Few weeks ago I started working on it to improve my cadence. I do my runs with 160-165 cadence right now, which completely changed my running style. I went from heel striker to forefoot which is good. If I will be able to do marathons with cadence around 165 that would be good for me and I believe I''ll run faster! :)
Do you feel faster running with a higher cadence? I play soccer and am 6'1, but I have long legs and my cadence is low and when I try to shorten my strides, I feel weird, but more explosive.
My HM PB (1:34) Average cadence 193. Stride length 1.17m. I'm 162cm tall (short) and 57 years old (old). Slow runs at 5:30min/km is usually 182 cadence. Works for me.
I can (and often do, esp on longer runs) change my cadence and maintain the same pace. I feel like it uses slightly different muscles, so I can rest my muscles with a high cadence and rest my cardio with a lower cadence/longer stride
When I started running my cadence was 140-145spm . After about a year of running consistently my cadence now averages 160-165spm for easy runs and 170-175spm for harder efforts . I've never tried to change my cadence but I feel it is something that improves over time as you become a more experienced and efficient runner.
There are ways to increase stride length without physically reaching farther out with your foot. Knee drive, ankle drag, and other key techniques will increase your time in the air, and thus, stride length.
Fantastic work, love it.
I've been trying to up my cadence a little bit the past few months. I've had back issues, and it does feel as if a slightly higher cadence for me lessens the impact force a little bit (perhaps better footstrike is part of it). Feels like my back has to work less in order to keep everything stable/balanced. I've been doing physio as well, so hard to say if it's the cadence and/or physio work that is starting to make a difference.
My endurance run sort of pace (~5min/k) is @ ~175, while I was closer to 170/high 160s for that pace before. Not a huge difference, but I do feel it a little bit. I wasn't sure at first, it felt a little bit like I was deliberately sabotaging my stride (felt like constantly breaking). Not anymore, and the more it goes the more I actually quite the mechanics of it.
I've also been doing partly minimalist shoes & partly regular trail shoe runs. On minimialist shoes, my cadence for the same pace naturally gets closer to 180, whereas I tend to be between 170-175 on regular trail shoes. THat's not a deliberate effort on my part, that's just the data that strava gets me if I compare the runs with different shoes on.
So after a long injury I changed my running technique for high cadence, which helped me to recover faster and improved enormously my running experience, but I had never recorded it, so I got my new running watch and after 3 running sessions of 5K, the watch said my average cadence is 195 spm
Nice video, it would be interesting to see mark's journey to higher cadence, and when he adapts to a higher cadence if his heart rate decreases a little. As atm he is using slightly different muscles which he is not used to using, hence this may be causing the heart rate to increase. Also, it would be great to see a similar video however off a steady bike and comparing which cadence is best for brick sessions and thirdly the effect of different bike cadences on the run/run cadence.
Is interesting that ultra runners like Jim Walmsley run in the 150-170 range. Even on flat. I think there could be a long run efficiency at a slower cadence.
I use the beginning of the fourth movement of Dvorak's New World Symphony to set my cadence to approximately 180. Allegro/Allegro vivace tempo. Before I used a small metronome to start increasing the cadence and eventually I could hear the music when doing a cadence close to 180.
It might be worth looking at cadence at different paces, e.g. the same cadence at 6, 8, and 10 mph and seeing what the effects are.
I'm 183 cm with pretty long legs and when I first started running my cadence was around 160 for normal runs (always much higher on the treadmill though...). I steadily focused on increasing it, now my go-to training cadence is around 172 and my threshold/race cadence is 180-185. I've found that strides of 200+ spm at the end of easy runs are very helpful for me to make moderately higher cadences feel more comfortable. Similarly I always do my speed intervals at 190+ spm, it makes the threshold cadence feel super comfortable.
I've tried to increase my cadence to 180, but my body just doesn't like it; it feels more tiring. I'm not landing on my heels, so I'm not going to worry too much. Varies between 160 (slow runs)-170 (5K run), though faster when increasing pace to finish a run.
Good job on the message that cadence’s importance is inconclusive. “Higher cadence” being better/more economical/faster/less tiring etc. is a popular Internet myth. There is no scientific research to substantiate any of those claims. There is no reason to think that actively altering whatever cadence feels natural to you has any value. What the data does show is that a given person’s cadence is correlated with their pace, and across people, taller people are likely to have lower cadence (and higher stride length), both of which are pretty intuitive and likely only mean that cadence is an effect, not a cause of anything relevant for good running.
One popular reason recommended to increase cadence is to reduce overstriding-induced heel striking, which makes sense to the extent you want to heel strike less (another overemphasized “Internet concern”), but says nothing about higher cadence being good in and of itself.
I've seen similar studies on trained v untrained but the findings were more that the trained runners had already naturally found their economical cadence. Whereas untrained athletes in general have more improvements to make in their running gait and some of those tend to end up with increased cadence.
From everything I've read, cadence is more of a consequence of other elements you should work on rather than specifically something to target.
I'm an average height guy and even at my slower paces (easy runs) I'm around 167-170 spm. 10k pace I'm more around 180-185spm. I'm someone who runs more upright and uses more of my glutes so the higher cadence helps me achieve that.
Charming guys; love you, Heather 🥰
This was so cool!!!! I have been shooting for a high cadence. Whenever I go high my 10k times are faster, and I just feel better over the distance. I am 188cms with long legs, so low cadence and long strides means a lot of effort. I also find that dropping my shoulders and keeping my arm swing close to waist helps turnover. Running with good posture and neutral head position helps as well. Thanks for this video!!!
Your low cadences are normal to me. Ran a half in training at the weekend in 1:21 with 159 cadence. Even racing a 5k I only get up to around 165. I am a lumbering oaf at 193cm though!
Could you please explain how Dan Lloyd will be able to run a sub 1:30h Half-Marathon if his plan contains only a maximum of 6 km at his goal HM race pace and a maximum of 20 km as the longest run?
Well there must be time spent in interval pace also, which will higher than the goal pace. I think Dan will be having sufficient endurance due to his pro cycling background hence the longest easy run being 20k. Just my opinion.
to run a sub 1:30 you barely need to break 7 min pace per mile no idea in km which is easy with consistency I would recommend building to doing long runs maybe20-27 km once a week
I ran sub1:30 HM and at that time I was only running ~40km per week. My long runs were never more than 17k and I never ran more than 9k at HM pace. I think most of the fitness came from the interval/VO2max and speed workout
Hi Klemen. There are actually numerous sessions in there where he will cover between 20-30mins at HM pace. Therefore he will regularly be running between 5-7.5km at HM pace. Which from my experience is plenty when teamed with the aerobic work and the intervals above pace.
With regards to the longest run, you’ve also got to remember that this is a condensed 9 week plan. Dan and many of our viewers have never run a HM before, so to build them up to that, and do that in training prior to the big day all within 9 weeks could jeopardise the actual fast HM. Equally though, there is no definite need to cover it either, it’s more about the consistency and the volume - which he is definitely doing.
Similarly very few marathon plans will have you run much more than 34-35km before a marathon.
Thanks
Hi Klemen. There are actually numerous sessions in there where he will cover between 20-30mins at HM pace. Therefore he will regularly be running between 5-7.5km at HM pace. Which from my experience is plenty when teamed with the aerobic work and the intervals above pace.
With regards to the longest run, you’ve also got to remember that this is a condensed 9 week plan. Dan and many of our viewers have never run a HM before, so to build them up to that, and do that in training prior to the big day all within 9 weeks could jeopardise the actual fast HM. Equally though, there is no definite need to cover it either, it’s more about the consistency and the volume - which he is definitely doing.
Similarly very few marathon plans will have you run much more than 34-35km before a marathon.
Thanks
Training for big distance ultras this year and I m conflicted with my cadance. Great videos.
I'll try to use my metronome in my FR945 on my next run, could be fun!
I was always told that your cadence should be the same at all paces (except a sprint), whether it's 9 minutes per mile or 5 minutes per mile, and all gradiants, whether it's 0%, -5%, or 10%. Cadence, also, I've been told should be no less than 180 and no more than 205 (except for sprinting).
I’m 6’4” and have an average cadence of 177. It definitely helps on the descents!
On a harder effort sometimes my cadence can be in the high 180s. Once I work more on my stride length mechanics, I’ll find myself to be much faster, I reckon!
I am wondering if I need to work on my vertical oscillation which is a lot less than Mark or Heather at 6.5-7cm with GCT 276ms-230ms on almost all my runs & not changing much despite faster paces (measured using a Stryd). I thought that this was OK as it was more efficient: not bouncing so much = less wasted energy combating gravity (I am more focused on longer distances). But I am wondering if it actually means that I need to do more plyometric type exercises as perhaps I should be bouncing more rather than shuffling? ECOR at 6:17 min/K pace/172 spm was 1.0443 & at 4:30 pace/182 spm was 1.0159. The difference in vertical oscillation was only 2-4mm whereas with Mark it was 18mm. That seems a huge difference and suggests that I need to change something.
I think I'm the same runner typr as you, whatever the cadence i'm running I have a very small vertical oscillation. You end up using less energy to travel horizontal distance because you are maximising your energy to do that. It's just physics
@@yohansharp3040 That is what I had assumed. But the alternative explanation could be that my legs are that puny I am struggling to get any more airborne? Therefore am I sacrificing potential "push off force/power", a proportion of which would be directed forwards as well as up? Also there is the injury risk concern. Any path with stones bigger than 6mm in height and I am done for. Better cancel the Norseman application. Perhaps Mark can tell my the max Norseman boulder size though before I do cancel?
@@davebannister the problem is the more you "push" to "fly" for longer the more violent is the impact for you body amd therefore loss of energy starts to increase to much. I haven't done the maths or anything but i'm pretty sure it is the case
@@yohansharp3040 True. I am already a heel striker so as you say it could exacerbate that. However if the foot lands under the centre of gravity rather than ahead of it then the impact should be lessened. So with a good midfoot/forefoot gait would that danger still be more significant than the forward force gain? Mark & Heather both have significantly shorter ground contact times than me (likely due to midfoot/forefoot landing) which might explain why their extra bounce is not causing a higher injury risk perhaps? So should I aim for improving my gait/shifting my landing zone backwards to allow for extra bounce/forward propulsion?
@@davebannister Would definitely recommend Shane Benzie book “the lost art of running “. Covers those exact points around vertical oscillation in stride, ground contact time and foot contact. Website as well.
Jim Walmsley arguably greatest male Ultra runner going around cadence = 154 ...motto of story, do what works best for you considering, weight, age, height, gender, shoes, terrain, weather, etc etc.
6:48: There is a problem with GCT, its probably 210/212/211
I dont run for pace - I run for my heart and how it beats. I can run to music with a cadence from say 165 steps per minute to 185 steps per minute - if I am not running to music I can get up to 200 steps per minute (before I die) - but each one of those cadences seems to lead to different heart rate numbers (DUH!) - so while it might be better physically for me to run at say 180 spm, my heart may have different ideas about the wisdom of that :)
Thanks for your interesting videos. Just a note: Cadence (when you find you right cadence/stride length) shouldn't change a lot for every speed, maximum 5% (I said this for your data not for test). Bye
High cadence during a long time training = less muscle needed = less body weight to drag around.
That's why all top runners have high cadence. ( Just pick any) Same in cycling if you look at all the best cyclists in 2000-- example chris froome but many many....
Actually also in triathlon, example Gustav Idén.
Also high cadence gets less damage on muscles and less lactic acid...
And also... Heart rate is never ever the issue. Lactic acid build up and muscle tear is always the battle... Your heart could easily do 99% of max for an hour if you keep you cadence extremely high ( I have done it a lot of times on the bike 10 years ago ). But going a little slower on the cadence and going a little lower on the heart rate with a lot of lt build up is of course a lot faster...
Fabulous video
172-174 = HM, 180-182 = 5k, 165-168 = normal training, 160=slow runs. Increasing cadence and decreasing stride length causes increased HR for me.
I have been trying to increase my cadence . Set watch to buzz when fell below 170 then after a couple of months set it at 172. After hearing Mark's cadence wondering if I shouldn't leave it alone. I am 6ft tall with unusually long legs for my height.
Maybe it's just me, but Mark doing the low cadence reminded me of watching Frodeno's running style.
He'll enjoy this comment 💪
Hi, very interesting, thank you. Is it the case that men have lower cadence than women? My cadence seems to be between 160 and 170. But a friend once told me the “optimal cadence” is 180. I once tried to raise my cadence, but found it almost impossible to go much beyond 172-173. I could probably do it for short-distance runs, but I doubt I could maintain a 180 cadence for a 10 km run.
Anyway, after watching this clip, I might have another go at increasing my cadence, and see if it improves my efficiency.
Is that a Finisterre hat I spot? Great choice of brand!
Well spotted!
@@heatherfell_oly haha hard not too as I'm the performance marketing manager here. Everyone at Finisterre loves seeing our products out and about and couldn't help notice.
@@liamhooper Keep an eye and you'll probably spot some more, last winter was a different version of hat but same brand :)
Thank you for the video presentation, you guys are awesome! Did you use the SRYDE Power meter for the cadence calculation and other metrics or your watches? Your V.O looks VERY high compared to STRYD numbers, your G.C.T time very very low ....super Elite runners get under 2 according to STRYD. impressive! I was expecting you to also show your stride length. thanks again.
My "some sort of" natural cadence is around 175.. i have pretty short legs and only height about 5'7"..
Why why would you not include stride length variation in your test? That seems like a incredibly critical metric to consider.
Between 156-164 for me working on increasing it now
I have an average cadence of 147, finding it really difficult to reduce this. I feel it would drastically improve my 5k times as currently at 26ish minutes as a newish runner but can’t seem to get anywhere.
My cadence is around 198 with 80 cm stride length for my slow runs and 210 cadence with 89 cm stride length for my faster ones. The cadence and stride length goes even higher at intervals. But I am short 155 cm. I was wondering how that compared to a very tall runner and if there’s a chart that shows the correlation between the height of the runners.
Question. Do your smart watches give you the data you posted screen shots of? I’d like to learn more geeky stuff. I have Apple Watch. Thanks friends.
I know lots of people say Jim Walmsley got a beautiful stride, for me its painful to watch. Probably he would be even better runner with +10-15 spm.
I'm 6' 1" (1.85 m) and I'm 66. I usually range between 165 to 172 for cadence on most runs. I've been working on a bit higher cadence. I wonder if there any studies that specifically look at cadence as a function of age.
I’m stuck at 140spm I’m 5’7” 220lbs. Ever since I started running I just can’t get my legs to go faster.
There’s cadence, and then there’s Tom Cruise cadence. No one can match the speed of Tom.
😂 or the form
Everyone here seems to have extreme cadences. 165 and above. On an easy run I am at 144 and on my fastest 5k my cadence is 155-160 with a stride length of 1.55 m.
How does body weight and fitness affect cadence? I’m overweight with BMI 32, not a fast runner and my cadence varies between 140 and 158, depending on the distance. Can I safely increase cadence even when being overweight?
I ended up after trying to find out if Asics Metaspeed Sky or Edge is for me.
I am a bit confused about my run. I started running half marathons recently. I noticed that my stride length is higher/longer during the first hour or so. After that, I tend to take shorter strides and do not (unable to) lift my thighs as much as the first hour. Not sure about the number of strides per minute in either case... Am I a stride runner or cadence runner?
Guys, an you share your stride length from the video tests to give an idea of how you adapted to each cadence? Cheers keep up the great inspiring vids.
Is his filmed at Harvey Hadden cycling track in Nottingham?
Nope - It's here in Bath 🙌
Now do one for cycling cadence... Please?
Anyone running uphill a lot should try high cadence. It makes fearsome hills manageable.
I definitely second this - goodbye panting on uphills
Totally. I've been upping my cadence and the other day pretty much floated up a dreaded hill with a HR around 8 bpm lower than normal
Great video, my brother always tells me my cadence is too low at 170-172, but if Mark is running that, then hopefully I'm not far off. Any tips for keeping the cadence high on slow/easy runs. Well done guys, it looked freezing out there and neither one of you mentioned it 👍.
That's where my typical training cadence has been. My race cadence has been typically about 175-177 and I'm very tall for a long distance runner (6'4" or 193 cm).
I am 168cm and my normal cadence is 180, Would too high cadence create knee problems?
If you increase the test distance to 3km, would the data change?
I'm a relatively new runner, but seem to have found my steady normal pace at around 170-171 looking through my Garmin stats from before I thought or knew much about cadence/stride length.
I however do enjoy doing high cadence/shorter strides on my long runs as it seems to help me keep my heart rate in check.
Any thoughts on high cadence/short strides combined with a low target HR as part of long runs during training?
My cadence is like 145 as seen on my phone. Highest 161 4'21" pace 1k, lowest 139 9'51" 1k. It's gonna be a tough journey to get the average to at least 160
Your running cadence isn't much higher than my walking cadence. Fascinating that such a low cadence can be accomplished. Would love to observe this to see what's going on.
Interested to know height difference.
I'm 6'1 and my cadence is 162 but trying to get it up to 168
There was a hint in the video of how bouncy cushioned trainers might help maintain low cadence.
I started with these type of jogging shoes as a teenager and now in my fifties I am moving towards less heel and more natural running.
Also wondered if either you suffered much the next day after this experiment.
Cheers.
Use and recommend metronome beats app for phone. Fine for occasional guidance and increasing cadence.
So how do I increase my cadence?
Running much like cycling, cadence is king 👑
My biggest knock on strava is they don’t track cadence, I know from experience it’s always 180-185 but as a paid sub that should be a simple standard feature instead of all the extra 🐂💩 I don’t and won’t ever use.
If you link free-Strava to intervals.icu (suggests donation rather than a sub) then you can add cadence as a field and get lots of useful statistics & graphs.
Actually they do. Click on the run itself and then “view analysis”. Hope that helps.
@@AdvancedLiving tried it but to no avail, app or desktop, they say it’s only for cycling
@@cannibalmanimal2336 What you mean "Strava dont track cadance" ? Your watch is tracking it and uploading to Strava. Dont use the mobile app for running.
@@Nonixification that’s my issue, all I use strava for is running w Apple Watch, the Nike app naturally keeps cadence but somehow strava doesn’t think it’s something we keep mind of. I’m trying to simplify my running and just use one app. The cadence is my only gripe but they won’t change it until enough of us bitch about it
I found the older I have got the higher my cadence has got. So has the speed ?
Speed has got slower
Wheres fraser?
140spm 5'11''
My cadence is 150+ spm, but still run faster than who has 180+ spm. I feel that i dont over strides
Mark's 5k pace is twice as fast as mine, wow
Heather didn't the data actually show that your normal cadence was the least efficient? If this was the case and it was the highest number then wouldn't working on your "natural cadence" make a lot of sense?
running cadence
I avg about 175-180 on easy days and go to 190+ in a 5k/10k , I wonder if mark would be faster or be more efficient by racing nearer the 180 spm. Such a hot topic
I cant tell the difference. Maybe I'm just not understanding
Just run.
Elite athletes have higher cadence with Big stride length
The pacing of the video is reflective of how cold it probably was, feels like they just want to get on and done with it. maybe shoot your videos on nicer days, if you have any... lol
Here in the Uk it gets pretty nasty 🌧 We wont let that stop us from getting outside 💪
@@gtn good on you guys 🙌
3min per 1km for 5kms is fkin fast
Good news
For me, I hold on average between 180 to 190 on all my runs. Anything slower than 175 just doesn't feel right.
I just want 3 speeds
My cadence is pretty much 190 whether I'm running at 6 min/km or 3 min/km..
who caresssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss....
I noticed i have always been running at 175 now I have been increasing it to 180-3 i have increased my speed by about 20secs per km