Next Level Athletes - Brandon Lee, Erin St. Pierre, Austin Cunningham. Can you count how many steps you take in a minute? Candence can prevent injuries and help you run efficiently.

THE IMPORTANCE OF RUNNING WITH THE PROPER CADENCE.

Your running cadence is the number of steps you take in a minute while running. Find a steady conversational pace and count the number of times your feet strike the ground. All sports performance watches also monitor cadence, and you can set it as a data field on the watch. Being aware of your cadence is a great tool as cadence can be adjusted to improve your running technique and avoid running related injuries. It is important to use a higher cadence when doing long course triathlons because of the amount of training and wear and tear you put on your joints and body, and because it can improve performance. The following information was pulled from various articles on the subject including IRONMAN coach’s certification materials:

WHAT SHOULD MY RUNNING CADENCE BE?

Obviously, every athlete is different and will have a different body type and natural running style and cadence, but for long course running and especially for long course triathlon 180-190 (90-95 one leg measured) run cadence should be the goal. The combination of a 90-95 cadence on the bike leg and the same on the run leg is not only putting less pounding on the body but it is putting your body in a rhythm off the bike that tends to lead to better run splits. Over time and with patience and persistence athletes can use drills, metronomes from their watch, and other tools to covert to the faster cadence. Your coach should work with you to achieve this over time.

HOW CAN ADJUSTING MY RUNNING CADENCE REDUCE MY RISK OF RUNNING RELATED INJURIES?

There is a wide range of research relating to the relationship between running cadence and forces through certain structures of the body. We know that increasing your cadence (taking more steps per minute) can significantly reduce the forces placed on the lower limb. For example, a 5-10% increase in the cadence will result in:

15-20% reduction in knee load
9-11% lower demand on the hip abductors (muscle on the side of the hip)
10% reduction in foot and ankle loads
3.6% lower Achilles’ tendon force
20% or more reduction in vertical load reaction forces

So, to put it simply, increasing your cadence (taking more steps per minute) will result in less force going through the hip, knee, foot and ankle. Less force going through these structures each time we run means there is a decreased likelihood of developing running related overuse injuries if you can manage your training load appropriately.

Your Next Level Endurance Coach will work with you to slowly change your stride to a more efficient, effective, and injury avoiding cadence!

Additional References

Thrive Physio Plus blog on Running Cadence

FC Endurance Perfomance Coaching blog on Running Cadence