For both beginners and advanced runners alike, improving running form and technique is one of the most asked questions I get as a running coach. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most complex and variable components of training, both to adequately explain and for the runner to implement. Foot strike, turnover, paw back, knee lift, these are just a few of the terms used to describe the multitude of muscle movements, both conscious and subconscious, that go into every step you take. Isolating and improving these processes is difficult and can often distract a runner from the ultimate goal – running faster, running longer and staying injury-free.
Luckily, to get started on improving your running form, you can implement one simple trick that will help you develop a foundation for optimal running form and provide a building block for future improvements. So, what’s this “secret” building block? Improving your stride rate.
What is stride rate
Your stride rate is the number of steps you take per minute. Stride rate could also be called your running cadence or turnover. Calculating your stride rate is easy, simply count how many times your right foot hits the ground while running, and then multiply by two. This number is your stride rate.
Why is stride rate important
Improves your form
As previously mentioned, your stride rate is a fundamental building-block to establishing good form. By implementing the proper turnover rate, you increase your chances of striking the ground at the correct angle and moving through the proper range of motion when your leg moves back, up and forward.
Improves your running economy
Running economy is a measure of how efficiently you use energy when running. It’s exactly like the way a car measures miles per gallon. The more efficient you run, the longer you can go before getting tired, and the less effort you will use to run fast. Running with the optimal stride length maximizes your force on toe off (when your foot pushes you off the ground to move forward) and minimizes the time you spend in the air by controlling your stride length. These elements contribute to improving your efficiency.
Reduces your chance of injury
One of the main causes of running injuries is shock absorption, or lack thereof. If your stride rate is too low, you will spend more time moving up in the air, moving up and down as opposed to forward, and consequently land on the ground with more force. With the proper stride rate, you take lighter, quicker steps and reduce your chance of injury.
So what is the optimal stride rate?
The optimal stride rate is 180 steps per minute. That is 90 steps per minute with each foot.
Your stride rate doesn’t change when you run faster or slower. Your stride rate remains the same at most normal speeds (very slow jogs or all out sprints are exceptions). To run faster or slower, you simply change your stride length (a function of how forcefully you push off each foot) to speed up or slow down.
In 1984, Jack Daniels conducted a study on the stride rates of Olympic caliber athletes from 3,000 meters to the marathon. Daniels found that all elite long distance runners, male and female, had a stride rate unbelievably close to the 180 mark. It didn’t matter if they finished first or last, or ran the 5k or the marathon, the stride rates were almost all the same.
How to improve your stride rate
If you want to improve your stride rate, focus on developing a 180 steps per minute turnover during your easy runs. On easy days, you have less to think about than tempo workouts or speed days.
Visualize
Imagine you’re running on a road made of eggshells and you don’t want to break them. Picture yourself floating over the ground quickly, with light, purposeful steps. Focus on running over the ground, not into it.
Metronome
If you run with music or a smartphone, consider installing a metronome app that you can set to a 180 bpm range. Focus on taking one step for every click of the metronome. You’ll quickly fall into a natural 180 stride per minute rhythm and can turn off the metronome.
Likewise, music can throw off your stride rate. Many runners tend to naturally move to the beat of the music. If you want to improve your form, consider running sans music or with a metronome app instead.
Counting
If you’re like me and do most of your runs technology free, you can simply count the number of steps you take with your right foot. Count for a minute and see how close to 90 steps per minute you get. Speed up or slow down your stride rate accordingly and you’ll soon find yourself running in a natural rhythm.
Of course, you don’t need to be exactly 180. A slight deviation like 175 or 185 is ok too, as long as it feels comfortable for you. Stay close to the 180 range and you’ll be on your way to improved running form before you know it.
Do you have questions about stride rate? Have any cool tips or tricks you use to keep track of your rhythm? Let us know in the comments section, we would love to hear from you.
8 Responses
I downloaded Steinway’s free metronome app for the iPhone. Boy, I am WAY off. My legs were moving so fast at 180 BPM, it felt like I was practicing “Maniac” from Flashdance. Any tips on how to ramp up from my current 120-ish stride rate up to 180? I remember it took me a while to get my cadence up to speed when I first started riding a road bike, because I was used to just dropping it in a high gear, and pushing hard.
I am glad you found a good app to measure your stride rate and see just how of you were. Just like the biking, I think it’s just a matter of practicing for a few weeks and getting accustomed to that uptempo turnover. It definitely takes time, so try focusing on 140 bpm this week, 150 bpm next week and so on until you feel comfortable at that 180 bpm rhythm. I wish I had a secret strategy, but this one just comes down to practice, practice, practice.
Check out Lee Saxby on YouTube, has some simple “tuning” drills for getting the all important 180 bpm rhythm going. Good luck!
Thanks for the advice, David. I look forward to checking out those videos.
I’ve worn a Garmin footpod that measures cadence while running indoor track workouts, and I’m intrigued by the claim that elites run at 180 spm even when not going fast. My experience was that I could only get into that rate when at full 200m pace (roughly 35-36 seconds), and even then only after the first few reps. Interestingly, the first few reps were the right speed, but had a lower stride rate (say, 160-170, with the rest of the workout being around 180). And rest laps were always much slower, down in the 140s, as I remember.
Dear Coach Jeff,
congrats to your great website, the very interesting topics and articles rich in information.
But: Sorry, but I totally disagree on the 180 steps-per-minute-for-all-in-every-tempo-theory.
That ist sth that Posetech brought up more than fifteen years ago and it is wrong.
Stride rate (or steps per minute or cadence) is different for factors of height, velocitiy and running technique (form). A sprinter has a higher cadence then 180. A jogger has a lower cadence than 180. A 190cm tall man has a lower cadence than a 160cm tall man. A woman has more often a higher cadence than a man.
And a rear foot striker has a lower or higher cadence than another rear foot striker (as there is a variety of rear foot strikers as there is a variety in forefoot and midfoot strikers).
So why do you state one cadence for all runners would be the right cadence to save all from their running form problems? (I exaggerate.)
All people are all different, and I think all people deserve a range of cadences which suits their different heights, speeds, running forms etc. And IMHO every cadence is ok, as long as it is not directly related to a running injury.
I go more with the approach of Matthias Marquardt or an article on the Runblogger-Blog. Both say more or less that an increase of most (but defenitely not all) runner’s stride rate by 5-10 percent (from their current cadence) would improve running form and decrease the risk of running injury.
Kind regards. janedoemuc
PS. And pls keep up the good work with your website, I love reading it.
(BTW: who finds a spelling or grammatical error can keep it – I am not a native speaker)
Great article. JaneDoe the insight into 180 cadence is from observing Olympic caliber distance runners. Sprinting involves much shorter races and is outside of the observed group. Average Joes and Janes running at the local park are also outside of the observed group. However, the advice to run ~180 steps per minute should hold for any distance runner, including the average Joes. The reason is that we average Joes should be running with similar technique to the fast runners because the Olympic caliber athletes are doing it correctly (otherwise they would not be amongst the best in the world at it). If your are significantly taller or shorter than average or have some other physical limitation (ie one leg perhaps longer than the other) then the observation probably does not apply.