CADENCE

by Coach Matt Giunta
At this point in the off-season, your motivation may be creeping back, and you might begin the process of setting some training and racing goals for 2006. Have you considered working towards improving your running cadence?
If your cadence is low, now is the perfect time to begin overriding the neurological pathways that connect the brain to the leg muscles. You may literally need to find a new internal beat for running, ideally in the range of 90-95 right foot strikes per minute. At first, shortening your stride and increasing turnover might have you feeling slower and less powerful as you sacrifice strength in certain muscles in order to build up others. Keep at it anyway! If you invest time during the Preparation and Base periods of your training to make some adjustments, the rewards will include faster run times, improved economy and endurance, and a much lower chance of injury.
Most of us will have to determine our run cadence manually by counting the number of right (or left) foot strikes per minute. As you get back on the roads, make the conscious decision to do a cadence check after every 10 minutes of running. Set an alarm on your watch if it helps. Count your steps for a full minute instead of using a smaller interval (sometimes rounding leads to errors).
Here are some skills and drills you can do to help improve your cadence:
Run on the front “ball” of your feet. No heel striking!
Keep your feet beneath you. Do not over-stride.
Hop on one foot, minimizing contact time for 10 reps. Switch legs and repeat. Build up to 3 sets of 30 reps.
Jumping rope can strengthen the muscles that stabilize the forefoot and can help teach rhythm.
Downhill strides of 100 meters broken up as: 30 meters build cadence, 40 meters high cadence (not a sprint), 30 meters decrease cadence.
Allow yourself four to six weeks of dedicated work to cement the changes of your new running style.