Counting the Steps...

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours…

Cadence, that is. Running cadence. Do you know yours? Should you?

As amazing as it sounds, there is a common characteristic found in the population of elite distance runners that is apparently unrelated to the distance of the event. From 800 meters to 26.2 miles, the front of the pack has a high cadence, and they're leaving us behind! Here's why and what you can do to work on yours.

Running cadence is the measure of how many foot strikes either the right or left foot makes in one minute, and it's one of two factors involved in your overall speed. There are only two ways to get faster on the run: take longer steps and/or take more of them. Interestingly enough, however, observational research has shown that a runner's cadence is the least variable of these and most elite runners maintain a cadence of 85-95 regardless of pace or distance of the event. What happens is that runners adjust stride length to gander speed, and the same quick turnover with a slightly longer stride results in a faster race.

Does that mean we should all work on leaping through the air like Baryshnikov in order to increase our stride length? Actually, no. One of the most common mistakes novice runners make is over-striding, which is landing the foot fall too far in front of their center of gravity, actually reducing momentum and increasing chance of injury. The stride adjustments made for the sake of speed seem to be automatic and not the result of deliberate over-reaching of the foot fall. It appears to be one of those things our bodies just "know", and the best way to improve stride length is to increase muscle strength in the legs (via hill repeats and resistance training, for example). What we should do, though, is work on maximizing the efficiency of our cadence, so that when we do unconsciously adjust the stride length for speed, we do so at an optimal turnover rate.

As mentioned earlier, there is a magic number for cadence, and it appears across the elite distance running population, regardless of distance, age, gender, or breakfast cereal. On a flat course, 85-95 is common, with the ideal slowing to 60-65 on uphills and increasing to 100+ on downhills. This cadence is high and necessarily implies fairly short strides, minimizing time and the air and reducing the force of impact between the foot and the ground upon contact. Stride rate does not change easily, but if you can train your body to be comfortable at a faster cadence, you will be able to sustain it in all of your runs, maximizing your performance.

In order to determine your own running cadence, do this quick assessment. On a normal training run, time yourself for 1 minute and count the number of times your right (or left) foot hits the ground. Repeat this 3 or 4 times to find an average. How close are you to 85-95? If you are below 85, you are possibly over-striding and should to work on increasing your leg turnover and shortening your stride. If you're much over 95, you might want to consider training with the Olympic team.

A great drill to incorporate into your regular training is to run strides. Just as with swimming, you can use drills to improve your running technique, paying great dividends in your race performance. Be sure to set aside time to do drills -- with a good warm-up, long recovery interval and concerted effort on form -- at least once a week.

All this talk of cadence might have you pondering that other leg of the triathlon -- the bike. Does your cycling cadence have any impact on the run? In fact, the answer is yes. A Colorado study actually found that a faster cycling cadence results in a faster run cadence after getting off the bike. In the study, triathletes increased their cadence and decreased their 2 mile run times by almost 1 minute (at equivalent heartrates, no less) by simply increasing their cycling cadence by 20%. There's your next workout. Get spinning!