Using the Running Speed Formula as a Training Tool
In Part 1 of this two-part blog post, I said that understanding the relationship between specific variables and changing these variables in favorable ways can help runners run faster and meet their race day goals. Let’s see how we can use the running speed formula and the running pace calculator to do this.
Example: Your Cadence is On the Lower Side
What if you’re one of those runners who naturally has a low cadence but a powerful stride? What would happen if you trained to increase your cadence? Is this possible? Would it help you run faster? Is it even something you should think about?
Many running experts agree that running with a slow cadence can be problematic. According to kinesthesiology and running expert James Dunne, “This often forces them to over-stride and put more stress on joints such as their knees and hips.
In a recent blog post, fitness enthusiast, techie, and researcher Aravind Yarra analyzed the Strava data of all sub two-hour finishers of the ADHM (Airtel Delhi Half Marathon) in 2019 and concluded that “Faster runners on average had higher cadence compared to the rest. As the finish times got longer, the average cadence dropped, starting at about 190 and dropping to 170.” As a result of this research he concluded that improving one’s cadence can lead to injury prevention, better running economy, and better running performance.
Assuming that after reviewing research you decide you want to increase your running cadence, to beat your half marathon PR of 1:50. Let’s see what the math tells us.
You reviewed your data for the race in which you earned a personal record and saw that your average cadence was 160, and your average stride length was 1.2 m. Plug these numbers into the calculator, and you’ll see that your average pace was 8.38 (8:23) and your time for the half was one hour and fifty minutes (1.83 hours).
Update the calculator to increase the cadence from 160 to 165 and see what happens to your pace and half marathon time:
- Pace = 8.13 minutes/mile (8:08)
- Half Marathon Time = 1.78 hours (1:47)
In the above example, the math tells us that increasing your average cadence by five steps per minute, without changing your stride length, would shave three minutes off your half-marathon time. Now use the calculator to increase your cadence to 170, and you’ll see that you’d cut seven minutes off your PR without having to increase your stride length at all. The calculator tells us that even if you wanted to decrease your stride length to make it easier to take the quicker steps (as some runners do), if you increase your cadence to 170 and decrease your stride to 1.15 meters, you would still do the half marathon two minutes faster than your PR.
What do you do now?
Experts like Abe Ankers agree that the best way to increase your running cadence is to do it slowly and gradually. Try to be systematic about it and have a plan before you start moving your legs faster with each upcoming training run.
Here are some tips:
- Determine your comfortable cadence for your steady-pace runs (such as your long runs or tempo runs), and increase your cadence by only one or two steps per minute per week. For example, if your natural long run cadence is 165, in the first week you should increase it to 166 or 167; in the second week 167 or 168, etc., for the next several weeks until running at the higher cadence feels more natural.
- Use audio guidance and step to the beat to ensure you are running at your desired cadence. There are some metronome-like apps and devices you can use that will enable you to hear or feel a beat to help you do this, but I find the best way to do it is to use running music playlists or cadence-based workouts, such as the free ones I offer through my Off to a Running start website. Playlists where all of the songs are at the same BPM work best for this type of strategy, as do my two 180 BPM albums (Running to the Beat Volumes 1 and 2) and playlists such as this one that has music at 178 BPM.
- When running in a group, don’t try to run at the same cadence as your neighbors, as this may require you to potentially make drastic changes in your stride length to be able to keep the pace that the group is running at, which can lead to injury.
- And finally, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Don’t feel pressured to increase your cadence if you are happy with your fitness and running speed.
Here are some other ways to use audio guidance to increase your cadence.
Besides using music or audio-guided prompts to increase your cadence gradually, you can also try adding short bursts of higher cadence into your speedwork. One great way to do this is to find a song that you like that has a tempo that matches your desired step rate (for example, Ricki Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca is one of my favorite 178 bpm songs, and Aerosmith’s Love in an Elevator is a great one if you want to burst at around 185 spm). Keep the song on pause while you’re doing the recovery portions of your session, and turn it on when you’re doing the speed parts. Or better yet, use a workout that has been pre-designed to move you back and forth from a slow cadence to a high cadence and back again, such as my free cadence burst workouts.
Cadence can be a great training tool if you understand what your comfortable cadence range is, and use audio-guided beats to manage your cadence while training for a race.
Keep running to the beat! If you missed Part 1, you can read it here.
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