With the suffocating heat of
summer behind us, it's time to get back to an old friend, jogging. Throughout
the fall you’ll find the streets in Chicago, New York, and Washington full of
folks getting ready for their upcoming marathon. Heck, little ‘ole Greensboro
had 8 ladies short of 4000 participants in the October 1st Women’s Only Breast Cancer Run.
Talk about Girls on the Go!
As consultants to a few of these
runners, we’ve learned there are nearly as many different ways to train for
these events as there are participants. But all things are relative, and “One
man’s marathon is another man’s 10k.” Many factors play into how and why one
trains differently than another. With all the variation, one factor seems
consistent among those who do well: stride cadence.
Here’s what we tell folks about
it:
Optimal stride cadence (or "turnover", as some call it) equals 180
strides/minute, more or less. The science of this thinking is that tendons
allow for elastic recoil if cadence falls into this range, plus or minus 5
strides. Any faster and the muscles are moving faster than the tendons can
recoil. Any slower, the same potential energy stored in the tendons is lost.
This elastic recoil allows the muscles to work less, as proven by decreased oxygen
consumption at 175-185 strides per minute (2007 (R)-Midgley, 2006-Conoboy,
2005-Dallam, 2004(R)-Saunders, 1994-Hamill, 1992-Martin, 1990-Kaneko,
1989-Cavanagh, 1982, Cavanagh, 1982-Power).
Heels are made for walking!
For your stride to reach optimal
turnover, you should consider running on your mid-foot and not the heel-to-toe.
That method was a “hit” (get it? haha) with many sadistic gym coaches in the
mid 1900’s, but no more. Nowadays, we do drills like A-skips and high knees,
barefoot running and my fav, jumping rope to strike up elastic recoil and
improve cadence. Google: Evolution Running.
If the shoe fits…
And what up with those Five
Finger Toe shoes? You guessed it. They promote
mid-foot ground striking position
as well as condition the body from the feet up. All that EVA foam at the sole
of your sneakers elevates the heel and forces the foot to strike the ground in
front of the body’s center of mass (ouch!), not above it ( a-h-h-h!). EVA also
slows communication between the ground and your foot’s sensory receptors,
diminishing elastic recoil and increasing ground contact time. For this
reason, folks are starting to favor shoes that are more level to the ground.
Google: Newton Running Shoes.
No Brakes!
The idea is to make as little
work of running as possible. With optimal cadence our goal, the mid-foot, not
heal, is the preferred ground striking position. Elastic recoil at the tendons
means less braking, which means less impact and sweet stride turnover.
So if you want to make it look easy like the Kenyans, stop resting on those
heals and get your stride up to speed!
