For most people, the specific combo of cadence and stride length adopted is the one that minimizes metabolic cost. Having too long a stride can have negative consequences, so there is more to it than just the ability to propel yourself forward.

For what it’s worth, my favorite short-vs-tall battle was Geb v. Tergat in the 2000 Olympics. This clip shows them duking it out in slow-mo, and it’s clear that Tergat has a longer stride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…. So that’s n=2, which is twice as good as n=1. :)

At my normal running pace of 7:30 my count is about 195.  For shorter intervals on the track it goes up to around 210.   My last 5K (17:15) avg’d 200.  

As for count vs Oxygen consumption I don’t think it’s a direct comparison, but something you can train.   It might be the same as seen in cycling.  Lance Armstrong after his cancer had to raise his cadence to 120 rpm due to the loss of muscle mass vs. the normal 90-95rpm.  It was interesting to watch Lance vs one his man rivals, Ulrich, going up the hills.  Lance would be almost dancing on the pedals, while Ulrich was muscling his way up at a much lower cadence.    Both guys had considerable success with vastly difference styles.

I agree – I find it helps a lot to “feel” each cadence and get used to that feeling. I think it is possible to have a cadence that is too low, particularly for an overstrider. But, unless you are really reaching with that lower leg, I think aiming for a particular target cadence may not make much sense. I definitely have my comfort zones, and my cadence obviously shifts pretty regularly with speed. My question though is why mine is so darned high!

Hi Mark,

The amount of incline you’ll need to replicate the cost of wind resistance will vary according to the speed you are trying to replicate, so a single value wouldn’t be appropriate.  The force of wind resistance goes up by the square of wind speed, so double your speed and you’ll have four times as much drag, and for small inclines the amount of incline for doubling the speed you’d need to quadruple the incline.

You also mention about the vertical elasticity of the treadmill effect things, and I would have thought that this will be the case, how much it might help or hinder your efficiency will depend on how it effects your gait and the forces you are applying and the energy loses associated with this vertical deformation.  It’s a complex system so could go either way and likely vary at different paces, so I’d can’t really make an educated guess whether one should incline the treadmill for it’s elastic properties – to answer this one would need to do experimentation like done in the paper you highlighted.  One thing for sure though – not all treadmills are the same so you’d need to calibrate separately for each type.

Robert.

Forgetting about what is ideal (some count on stride rate more the stride length and vice versa) I think the important thing to note is the simple fact that it seems the faster we all go the quicker the turnover so it is good to work at a lot of different speeds from easy down to race pace. Often our training is done too slow and then too fast, not much in between. Now forgetting about any physiology, which I love to read and learn about, thinking about running as a rhythm exercise, like a dance, is a simple way to break it down. You can’t get to the the performance without working the steps in between and adding more moderate paced workouts can make the transition to a quicker step much more comfortable.This post confirmed my thinking about training paces and how I explain them to my athletes – comparing running to other things they do, working on a jump shot, playing an instrument, or learning a dance, where they really do practice at different tempos to get it down. I coach kids so I am always trying to find ways to make it easier for them to comprehend, and for my own training too. I see some coaches teaching them to run 15 steps (per leg) every 10 seconds and to me it seems forced, especially for those not at 180 for that pace – running next others of different abilities. So I say who cares, eh, I’m too curious… how about, don’t stress about what the (best/elite) stride rate is! Just know it is different the faster or slower we go so work at many different speeds, do drills, plyos, and hills to improve muscle tension and strength to possibly improve stride length and ground contact time. Without even consciously attempting to turn the legs over faster they’ll do that on their own after adapting from a varied run and strength training. Also, along the way you’re feeling good about running slow, medium, and fast because you recognize how they are connected and support the goal of running at X pace.

In any case, having recently obtain a Garmin footpod to equivalently measure my own stride frequency versus pace it occurs that a treadmill test, versus a road test with data sampled over a much longer period of time, results in less accurate and meaningful data – owing to the inherent springiness of the treadmill’s bed, the absence of wind resistance, and the runner’s increased consciousness of their cadence being measured (i.e. the Hawthorne effect). As a knowledgeable specialty running shoe representative recently told me: “Any over-striding heel-striking runner can consistently land on their mid-foot when running the length of the store.”

Yes, the other thing about a treadmill is that you really cannot skid into your landing because the belt is actively moving toward your foot. I see a lot of people whose feet are still swinging forward a bit at contact on the road, but this seem to be rare on the treadmill. If you get a dataset send it to me Mark – I can let you know how I got mine off of SportTracks if you’d like – had to download a plugin.

Pete

Robert,

Comparing a treadmill to overground always baffles me for some reason! It feels completely different to me, beyond just wind resistance. Could it be that the belt changes speed slightly with every impact? This is why I need engineers like you to comment here!

Pete

There is some literature comparing treadmill vs. overground mechanics. Yet another topic to dig into!