Hi all,
Can anyone explain to me (in simple terms 😀) how to increase my cadence?? I’ve watched some YouTube videos but I’m not really sure what I physically need to do? Is it lifting my knees higher or taking shorter strides?? Can’t get my head around it?? And also what is the point of doing this?
Hi VG11, I'm no expert but what I do is shorten my stride so my feet have to strike the ground more often 👣
Thank you! I was on the right track then, I’ll try it but being small my stride is quite short already - I’ll give it a go tonight
Why indeed? The higher the cadence the quicker the leg turnover and the less time each foot strikes the ground which reduces risk of injury. A higher cadence is generally a more efficient way of running. So, some runners will make an effort to increase their cadence.
However, a word of caution. We each have our own natural cadence which can get higher the more we run and the more speed work we do, but this can take a long time and can be a risk factor for injury. Any effort to change your cadence should be done once a week only and maybe once a fortnight.
Shorter strides and quicker leg turnover is the best way to practice but you can get all sorts of training suggestions on YouTube.
But at the end of the day, the best way to change it is naturally through continuous running and some speed sessions 🙂
Great answer! Thank you
You may find this useful by James dunne !For me he has a great way of getting things across
kinetic-revolution.com/runn...
I purposely worked on increasing my cadence and reducing my stride length to help reduce the pace during C25K
It took a bit of getting used to but for me it was useful.
Thanks! I’ll take a look
I so agree with you about James Dunne - he’s my go to online running hero 🏆
Absolutely !He knows his stuff !
Generally it’s aiming for a shorter stride, making sure your foot lands underneath rather than way out in front of you. Cadence is set by your arms so think about pumping them faster. Using music with the required BPM might help, probably 165-170 or thereabouts.
What's your current cadence?
Mine's somewhere between 170 and 180, and my stride length is about 100cm. I do have long legs, though.
My cadence is around 150 and I’m quite short
Strewth, nowster!! That’s going some 🙀You must be one of those lightning Parkrunners.
My usual finishing time is around the 29 minute mark, usually about half way down the finishers table.
My maths must be wonky. I calculated that at that cadence and step length you’d be covering about 340 metres a minute (170m each foot).
I can manage 160 cadence at top speed which falls to 140 after 2 km. But I am very large!! 🐘
1m × 170 per minute is 5'53"/km.
Now I see. I thought that step length was a single step, not distance between the same foot striking the ground (which would be double).
Me too. We learn every day 😊
I recently discovered how to download all the data from my Garmin to Excel so I'm now as happy as a pig in, er, mud, playing with my spreadsheet (sorry, such a nerd).
I'm 5'4" and my legs are about average for my height. My cadence has hardly changed since June when I graduated c25k, the average 'average cadence' is 138 spm, while the average maximum cadence is around 172 spm. Range of average is 108-161, range of maximum is 134-184 spm with an average stride of around 79 cm (range 72-86 cm).Sometimes I do try and increase my cadence and it must work but I have to really think about it!
Sounds complicated! So is a higher or lower cadence better?? I know I am being dense 😂
Oh my goodness how do you download it? ooo I’ll have to find out and get my laptop out, I do love a spreadsheet
You go to the Connect webpage on your laptop connect.garmin.com . You can get a list of your activities and download as a .CSV file then Bob's your uncle!
Nice one thanks 😊
I'd love to get my data into a spreadsheet! I'm using NRC. No easy way I know of.
Sorry I can't help with that, but if I find out how to do it I'll share it here 
Thanks. I managed to pull a GPX file into Excel but didn't like the results. (Too many).
"in Google Maps. Hamburger-menu->Your Places->Maps->Create Map->Import". Will show you a map of your run and basic details.
There are metronome apps for cadence running. I’ve not used one but I think it might be more accurate and clearer than doing it to music.
You’ll probably want to try it over short dedicated runs. For your cadence of 150, set the metronome to 155, no higher to begin with. This is another reason to do short runs, and the intensity required will probably drive you nuts.
Unless you want to race (like the wind), I think 150 is just fine for a leisurely runner. As some have said, it will likely get quicker all by itself just by running regularly.
I downloaded an app called Soundbrenner. Its a free metronome app. Don't use it often or it will drive you nuts!Try running up a short gradual incline as your stride should naturally get shorter and cadence increases. On the hill, forget about your legs, and concentrate on driving your arms backwards. Your legs will follow what your arms are doing, like magic.
My cadence barely altered as I trained for 5 then 10k. However now I’m doing short runs every day and without doing anything my cadence has suddenly increased
week3run1 ✅. 3 x 17 mins with 1 min walks. 
How did your parkrun or (not)parkrun go?
