Running Cadence - It's Not About Fast, It's About Efficiency!
When talking about the idea of increasing run cadence to my customers after performing a gait analysis, some would reply that if they could run faster they would have a higher cadence. This is a big misunderstanding about cadence and how to achieve the ideal stride length or leg turnover per minute. The example above outlines the very idea that running faster equals a higher cadence is simply not true, this is not to say it cannot happen, buts it's not the rule and it is certainly not the requirement. I searched this data from Garmin reports and found the perfect comparison as the mileage and time completion are fairly similar. The top left hand box shows my run pace at 8:33 per mile with a run cadence of 180 steps per minute, shown in the top right hand box. The bottom left hand box illustrates a slower pace for this run at an 8:56 Minute Mile with the right hand box revealing a higher cadence than the faster run at 185 steps per minute. Take note of the Average Stri