Running to music....

I do this too. It helps to practice tuning out what's around me and staying at my own pace, which is exactly what I'm looking to do in a race.

If I remember correctly (people feel free to correct me on this) I think the most efficient cadence for running is somewhere around 90 (90 right foot steps every minute).  Of course this does varry from person to person, but it is a good place to start.

 The problem with podrunning is that their mixes go from about 130bpm to high 170s which is right outside of where you want your turnover to be.

 Although, I've never run with music, so I'm not really sure how much the music you listen to dictates your cadence.

85ish for slower runners (>8:30/mile, generally), 90ish for faster runners.

But the numbers are guidelines...your ideal cadence is whatever turnover rate gets your foot striking directly below your center of gravity (generally directly under your hips).

That's why timing your footstrikes to music is to me troublesome.

I'd heard a higher cadence was better for endurance running, so I started listening to speed metal- i'm no faster and my nerves are now shot.

They've done studies on elite runners, and they all have high cadences. They then extended that to say that everyone should have a high cadence. A lot of people try to achieve this and end up chopping their stride short, which actually makes them slower.

If you are running less than 6:00 miles, then yes, your cadence should be pretty high. If you're running 9:00 miles, not so much.

Most people pick the stride length and cadence that is correct for their body and speed naturally. You increase your cadence by getting fitter, running faster, and incorporating drills. You don't increase cadence by arbitrarily running to a glorified metronome.

John 

I'll submit that anyone running <85 cycles per minute is heel striking and *that* is what slows you. And also increases incidence of overuse injuries.

Ideally you don't increase your cadence much by getting fitter and faster, you keep your stride rate pretty constant while increasing your stride length.

Actually, heel striking is not bad.  Overstriding is bad.  There is a difference.

If the heel striking is a result of dorsiflexing your foot, and your foot is still landing under your center of gravity, then yeah, it's OK. If you're heel striking as a result of overstriding, then it's bad.

I'll restate: dollars to donuts, anyone with a cadence of <85 is overstriding.

Untrue - my natural cadence seems to fall around 180-185 (that's every footstrike). So as others have said, 90 is the "optimal", or half of that (every right footstrike, or every cycle). Higher cadence is more common for women, though, I believe, esp. smaller women.

And as stated, cadence has very little to do with speed. You can increase your cadence and still run slowly, if you don't apply much force.

This is just my own bias based on what we're taught on my tri-team; that 180 bpm (or 90, depending on how you look at it) is "ideal" - though most people fall a bit on either side of the spectrum, though there is such a thing as too slow- that's when you fall into overstriding, like Scout mentioned.

FWIW, I'm naturally a heel-striker...because of the leg-length thing, I used to overstride VERY slightly on the right. The lift has corrected this, though, thankfully.

No, increasing your cadence increases your speed assuming the same stride length.

There are only two things that determine how fast you go ...... how long your stride is and how fast you are turning that stride over.  To get fast you either 1) Increase your cadence while maintaining the same stride length, 2) Increase your stride length while maintaining the same cadence or 3) Increase both stride length and cadence.

That's it ..........

Lots of people run fast even though they aren't biomechanically perfect....they could just run faster with better technique.

Right, you just keep telling yourself that Jim.  I land directly underneath my body on my heel and my cadence is around 85 or slightly less.

And +90% of the elite distance runners heel strike.

Blanket statements are usually not your bag, I'm a little surprised by this .........

I think where people get confused is that the heel hitting the ground first is not necessarily "heel striking". The "striking" part of a stride is where the majority of your weight is coming down on the foot. I would suspect that you and I (And a whole host of others) have our heels TOUCH first, but our weight doesn't come completely down on the foot until around mid-fore foot, by which time it is under our center of gravity.

Heel touching first is not necessarily heel striking.

John 

Yes, but that is what people associate the term with.

Because we all know Crowie can't run for sh-t ....... and look what hits first.

(Crowie Heel Strike.jpg)

I'd love to see that from the side, cause it sure looks like he's overstriding...