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Increasing Cadence

946 Views | 7 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by Motot
Frok
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AG
I'm not an avid runner. Today I was playing around with Runkeeper and noticed cadence. I never realized I have the same cadence no matter how fast I run. I just thought the faster I ran the faster my cadence. After looking further into it I realized my cadence is probably too slow and that could be causing much of the soreness issues I am having because my form sucks.

Has anyone ever improved their cadence? If so how did you do it and how long did it take?

Just curious if anyone has any experience with this.
wcb
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I got a Garmin footpod a few years ago and realized I was a low cadence guy(140?). I hopped on a treadmill and simply shortened my stride and upped my cadence to the 160s. Be warned - your calves will hate you for the first few runs.

Mine is now anywhere from 160-180 depending on how fast I'm running. It is odd that yours does not change as you speed up. At a 9-10 minute pace I'm in the 160s; when I drop below an 8 minute pace it starts knocking on 180.
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ptothemo
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CastleRock said:

I've always been told don't worry about your cadence as long as you're not overstriding.
This doesn't make sense to me as I think that increasing cadence is a good way to keep from overstriding.

If you want to run faster, you can either take more strides at the same length or you can take the same number of strides that are longer. Increasing the number of strides at an appropriate length (good form, weight distribution, foot striking, etc.) seems to me to be the better of the two routes. I am obviously simplifying there, so maybe I am off base, I don't know.
ptothemo
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Back to OP, I really struggled with cadence when I was working back from injury. The thing that I found that helped me was getting on the treadmill to work on it. I would use the treadmill to help me with getting to the more consistent pace I wanted, and then really work on my cadence, form, and comfort from there. I was finding that my pacing was all over the place when running outside, so I wasn't as able to work on cadence and those types of things.
Frok
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CastleRock said:

I've always been told don't worry about your cadence as long as you're not overstriding.


That's the thing, I wonder if I am overstriding. I tried doing the quicker cadence on the treadmill yesterday. It felt weird. I'm going on a run tomorrow outside and I think the only way I could possibly keep up a quicker cadence is if I run to a metronome or find a music playlist at that BPM.

I just don't like the idea of that because I like listening to music I like. Not techno crap. And a metronome for 5 miles might drive me mad.

ptothemo
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What SPM are you currently running at and what are you trying to get to?
wcb
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Frok said:


I tried doing the quicker cadence on the treadmill yesterday. It felt weird.


Stick to the treadmill for about a week or two. It doesn't take long.
Motot
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I realized this same thing about 2 years ago. Cadence was about 160 or so then. Now 180+/-. Has helped with foot/shin/lower leg issues, and also more efficient.

To increase i pick times on runs to count one foots hits per 20 seconds - should be 30 strikes per the 2o seconds.

Also, if you listen to music, make sure the bpm of the music is high. If you look on spotify they have playlists that are 90/180bpm, I found that to help some when I am rarely on a treadmill.
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