- Run cadence, one of the most talked-about areas
of technique in running.
- So, what's the deal with it, and why is it so important?
(relaxed music)
- Let's take a look at Mark running here.
He's running at 160 strides per minute
at his comfortable, steady running pace,
and you can see that he's ever so slightly over-striding,
putting his heel out in front,
and this is sending quite a lot of impact
through his extended knee.
Now, there's been a lot of research into the
optimum running cadence.
The magic number is considered to be
180 strides a minute,
and that's the average among the elite runners.
That means that each foot must touch the ground
90 times per minute.
Rather than increase Mark's cadence to
180 strides per minute straightaway,
we're just going to up it by 5 to 10%.
So, here he is, running at 170.
His foot still lands in the same way,
but now he's not extending his leg out so much,
so there's less impact going through his knee.
If you think about it,
the more steps you take per minute,
the less time you spend in the air,
meaning a softer impact on landing.
This looks far more efficient, and comfortable.
(relaxed music)
- It's pretty hard to count every stride
to calculate your strides per minute,
so to make things a little bit easier,
you can count either your left or your right foot,
how many times it strikes,
double it, and that is your cadence.
Or, if you have a fancy watch like me,
you may be able to set one of the screens
to show your live cadence.
Now, mine is currently displaying my cadence for one foot.
So all I have to do is double that
to get my strides per minute,
then after this run I can sit down
and analyse all the data.
I can see my average cadence,
and even how my cadence changes for different speeds.
(relaxed music)
- Also, matching your running cadence
to the cadence of the bike can help minimise
that jelly-leg feeling coming out of transition.
So, if you're cycling at 90 revolutions per minute,
and you start running at 180 strides per minute,
that should equal the same turnover speed.
(relaxed music)
- Now, there's more to it than just moving your feet faster.
You're actually changing the positioning
of where your feet land.
They should land almost underneath you
underneath your centre of gravity.
This naturally decreases your stride length
and increases your turnover.
(relaxed music)
- So, here are just a couple of tricks
to help you improve your run cadence.
Doing some short sprints downhill
will force you to improve your run cadence.
These are a good exercise to put in
at the end of your run.
Accelerate into your sprints over 150-200 metres.
(energetic music)
Position yourself ready to run,
but you're gonna run on the spot,
as fast as you can, getting your knees up to 90 degrees,
and the idea is to run as fast as possible
with your feet touching the ground as quickly as you can.
You're gonna do this for about 20 seconds, rest,
and then go again.
(relaxed music)
If running has been your weak link in triathlon,
working on your cadence can help you see
a significant improvement on your running speed
in a really short space of time.
So if you want to see more videos from GTN
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- And to see a running skills video
just click up here.
And to see a cycling how-to video
just click down here.