Some thoughts on cadence

In article said:

I've been trying to increase cadence to the recommended optimum level of 180 strides per minute.
Not easy at all. Yesterday I went for an easy run and tried to increase my cadence from the normal
160-164 up to 180. The best I could manage was 176. Today I did some intervals and once again the
best cadence I could manage was 176.

THat's OK. DOn't force everything to happen at once. The main thing you want to avoid is the heavy
pounding "newbie steps".

Quoted message said:

Interestingly, I found it a fair bit easier to run up hills with the shorter, faster strides than
with my regular cadence. I also found it very weird trying to run at high cadence and low speed,
the steps are shorter than when walking and it must look a bit strange. Next day after trying the

No need to religiously insist on that cadence -- if you're going very slowly (10 minutes a mile or
slower), it may happen that slower strides are more effective. For exmaple, at 12 minutes a mile,
there's no way I'd use
180/minute. OTOH, for intervals I'd use 180/minute or possibly slightly faster. For the bulk of my
training (7-9min/mile), I'm on almost exactly 180.

Quoted message said:

higher cadence, I found my quads were a bit stioff and sore, I'm guessing that is a consequence of
trying to move my legs faster and at a slightly straighter angle. I also noticed that the slight
knee pain I was experiencing after running had decreased slightly although this could be down to a
number of factors - stretching, quad strengthening and inserts in my shoes.

Incidentally, the quad exercises seem to be kicking in now after a three week spell, can anyone
recommend any complimentary exercises to gently strengthen the hams without impacting on my
running?

Any worthwhile exercise for the hams will cause some DOMS until you adapt.

I'd suggest stiff legged deadlifts (make sure you do these properly! get help from your gym staff)
and power cleans (good all-roundquads/hams/glutes exercise).

Cheers,
--
Donovan Rebbechi pegasus.rutgers.edu~elflordOpen ↗

Quoted message said:

Incidentally, the quad exercises seem to be kicking in now after a three week spell, can anyone
recommend any complimentary exercises to gently strengthen the hams without impacting on my
running?

Any of them, provided you do not push them in the beginning, maintain good form and plan for
recovery before hard runs.

lunges, leg curls, deadlifts, squats, presses, climbing, etc.

ZB said:

I've been trying to increase cadence to the recommended optimum level of 180 strides per minute.
Not easy at all. Yesterday I went for an easy run and tried to increase my cadence from the normal
160-164 up to 180. The best I could manage was 176. Today I did some intervals and once again the
best cadence I could manage was 176.

Not everyone's "ideal" is 180. Make changes gradually. As a slow runner, I had my cadence up to
about 180 when on bike path, but I noticed when I counted steps, my shins seemed to tighten a little
- ie. slight change in form or something. After starting up again after summer, I didn't worry as
much about cadence, esp. on trails, and just relaxed more, but kept the form that I had developed.
For kicks, one night when the footing was reasonably decent, I did count my cadence. It was about
170, and I don't think I would've been comfortable speeding that up any on trails in the dark. FWIW,
I'm also one of those people that can't count breaths and run at the same time. Others apparently
can count steps or breaths and run without altering the form.

Quoted message said:

Interestingly, I found it a fair bit easier to run up hills with the shorter, faster strides than
with my regular cadence.

This is one of the reasons I like hill work, aside from the fact that I really like them. Always
nice when medicine tastes good 😉 I'm finding the hill runs really get me to do some things in form,
like pick up feet, that I get slack about with flat runs. I definitely find the form from the hill
run carries over to the next run.

Quoted message said:

Incidentally, the quad exercises seem to be kicking in now after a three week spell, can anyone
recommend any complimentary exercises to gently strengthen the hams without impacting on my
running?

pponline.co.uk0206.htmOpen ↗ pponline.co.ukmini7.htmOpen ↗

My PT has me doing the hamstrings of steel. If you don't have an exercise ball, you could just do it
with feet on chair or something, but it's not quite as effective. I tried. With the exercise ball,
you have to maintain balance also.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope

ZB said:

I've been trying to increase cadence to the recommended optimum level of 180 strides per minute.
Not easy at all. Yesterday I went for an easy run and tried to increase my cadence from the normal
160-164 up to 180. The best I could manage was 176. Today I did some intervals and once again the
best cadence I could manage was 176.

Not everyone's "ideal" is 180. Make changes gradually. As a slow runner, I had my cadence up to
about 180 when on bike path, but I noticed when I counted steps, my shins seemed to tighten a little
- ie. slight change in form or something. After starting up again after summer, I didn't worry as
much about cadence, esp. on trails, and just relaxed more, but kept the form that I had developed.
For kicks, one night when the footing was reasonably decent, I did count my cadence. It was about
170, and I don't think I would've been comfortable speeding that up any on trails in the dark. FWIW,
I'm also one of those people that can't count breaths and run at the same time. Others apparently
can count steps or breaths and run without altering the form.

Quoted message said:

Interestingly, I found it a fair bit easier to run up hills with the shorter, faster strides than
with my regular cadence.

This is one of the reasons I like hill work, aside from the fact that I really like them. Always
nice when medicine tastes good 😉 I'm finding the hill runs really get me to do some things in form,
like pick up feet, that I get slack about with flat runs. I definitely find the form from the hill
run carries over to the next run.

Quoted message said:

Incidentally, the quad exercises seem to be kicking in now after a three week spell, can anyone
recommend any complimentary exercises to gently strengthen the hams without impacting on my
running?

pponline.co.uk0206.htmOpen ↗ pponline.co.ukmini7.htmOpen ↗

My PT has me doing the hamstrings of steel. If you don't have an exercise ball, you could just do it
with feet on chair or something, but it's not quite as effective. I tried. With the exercise ball,
you have to maintain balance also. This is easy to do while watching tv or cooking dinner.

Dot

--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope