Paces

[Austen304]

On the C25k+ podcasts Laura sets a number of strides/min, with music to match. She also emphasises short, light (if only) steps. While I find I can synchronise steps easily with the Stamina podcast, the distance covered, much of it at 160 strides/min has been  disappointing. During Saturday's parkrun, a kind soul encouraged me to run alongside her, having established that my time is always around 40 min (old senior citizen excuse). She was running a carefully timed 41 min, I think for some training purpose (but had done a 12 mile run in the week), so I wasn't surprised when my time turned out to be 41 min 10 sec. However, my TomTom watch showed an average pace of 182 strides/min. It didn't feel like a pitter-patter run at all. Obviously length of stride is the key to the optimum pace. I've broken my 40 min barrier a couple of times but I'd like some guidance on pace from those who know, so I can do better in future (dreams of 38 min).

[nhs2015 Graduate]

Do you mean the length of stride will dictate the pace? 

[AndyD Graduate in reply to nhs2015]

Pace is the number of minutes it takes to cover a certain distance ie 7 mins for  1 kilometer or 9 mins for 1 mile. So if the length of your stride increases and you run faster then yes, your pace will change. But be careful that the length of your stride does not increase to the extent that your feet are landing in front of you... they should always land beneath you otherwise you are effectively "breaking" with each stride.

[Austen304 in reply to AndyD]

I didn't phrase my post very well and I suppose that I am seeking comments about the pace others find appropriate for their running. It is obvious that distance is the product of pace and stride length, though I found that a faster pace did not produce the result I might have expected, while it didn't seem at the time that my stride length had changed. Is a particular pace your objective (there are playlists available matched to different paces) or do you work from experience when planning to get a better time for a particular run? I shan't be breaking any records by any measure but I would like to get a shorter time for my parkruns.

[AndyD Graduate in reply to Austen304]

I think you may be thinking about cadence and not pace? Cadence is the number of foot strikes in a minute and yes you can get podcasts and music downloads that have a particular beat that would match cadence. Everyone talks about the magic 180 figure (180 steps per min) but I've never achieved this. 

[Austen304 in reply to AndyD]

More than a little confused now! My Sport reports strides/min and I now realise that Laura speaks of beats and also the playlists are bpm. My original question was based on a false premise. I should pay more attention. Thanks for the correction.

[nhs2015 Graduate in reply to AndyD]

Ah OK Andy, now I got it. Thanks

[Hidden]

Please tell me how to get the music as I can't seem to get any and am sick of hearing u2, the only album I have downloaded on my iPhone !

[Curlygurly2 Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Which music do you want? Are you doing C25K?