Stepping Stone Podcast - A Lesson in steps

[mountaindreamer]

W11R1 for me this morning. I wanted to try the C25k+ podcast “Stepping Stone” out. I discovered the Audiofuel “music” on it gives you a steady beat to run to, and it isn’t really so bad. It was great having Laura back too - I’ve missed her! 😂😊

We’re all different sizes, so I wasn’t too surprised to discover the 150 steps per minute walk then run rate was far slower than my 5’3” frame (with pretty short legs) normally does. I’ve been concentrating on light short strides right from the start of C25k, and short for my legs probably means minuscule for many of you! I kept with it ok, though, then we upped to 155 then 160 steps per minute. Probably still slower than normal for me, but good practice at varying my pace and counting 1-2-3-4 with my steps and the music.

It was a bit of a shock to realise I’d covered about 0.6km less than normal in 30mins at the end, which just shows how much a small difference in steps per minute adds up to over time. I’m going to experiment more with music at different bpm (beats per minute) for running. I’ve heard others say that slow steady runs are what builds our running legs up, and that pushing speed is only best done for short amounts of any training - so trying out different bpm music seems like the ideal way to keep things steady when we want to both push our speed and slow things up.

Happy Running everyone! 😊🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️❤️

[YoureDoingGreatPet]

I quite enjoyed the stepping stones podcast, I find if I want to achieve something I need a beat to run to so I stay focused. Otherwise I just dawdle along.

Have you been on the podrunner.com website? You can download mixes with either a fixed or varying bpm. There is every speed imaginable and it’s free 🙂

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to YoureDoingGreatPet]

Thanks - yes, I checked Podrunner out after someone else mentioned it on here. I was originally confused looking at all their interval options etc, but now I’ll just try their fixed bpm ones out and experiment. If I can workout what bpm I run my faster runs at, then this seems a great way to “dial it” up and down! Stepping stones had lots of other great advice on posture etc, so I’ll definitely use it again, even if I don’t get far on it with my titchy legs! 😊❤️

[YoureDoingGreatPet in reply to mountaindreamer]

I did 7k yesterday to a podrunner varied tempo mix catchily called “150 to 160BPM Grade School 1 (ramp mix)”

It’s only 30 mins, so I had to play it twice and the 150 right at the start felt a bit too slow, but by the second time round the sun had come out and it had got a lot warmer, so I was glad of the gentler pace.

The thing I liked about it is the change of pace is seamless, so it’s hard to tell when he’s made you speed up.

[Cazza26 Graduate]

I had exactly the same experience as you, mountaindreamer and am a similar height to you. Have tried out all the Stepping Stones podcasts and while they make a nice change, I found the beat a bit slow (especially the warm up walk!) I was more comfortable as the bpm increased, but found them a bit frustrating. However, it was nice to have a structure to follow and the time seemed to fly by!

Think I just prefer my own music at my own pace!

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to Cazza26]

I think I’ll normally use my own music too, Cazza26. I’m curious to experiment with the free different bpm music from Podrunner for some runs, though.

Looking at my Runkeeper app, which gives a steps/min chart, I tend to stay pretty constant with my steps rate, even though my stride length (and therefore distance covered) vary. The app figure gives about 10 less than the steps per minute rate of today’s podcast, though, so if that’s roughly a constant error then I think I’ve normally been going at about 170 steps per minute. Think I’ll see if I can find 160bpm / 165bpm and 170bpm music to run to to test that theory! Once I match my “normal” pace, I’m hoping I can up and down the bpm to both do somewhat slower runs most of the time, but also to occasionally push to go a bit faster... I love a good science experiment! 😂😊❤️

[Cazza26 Graduate in reply to mountaindreamer]

Sounds like a plan. I noticed a selection on Spotify called “Energetic Run” which is 160-165 bpm apparently!

[Ripcurlrana71]

Laura’s taste in music is dreadful! 😝

[Cazza26 Graduate in reply to Ripcurlrana71]

It really is!

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to Ripcurlrana71]

Think she and the NHS got bribed by a free music offer! 😂

[Ripcurlrana71 in reply to mountaindreamer]

🤣🤣

[theoldfellow]

I think the main reason you run is to get away from that dreadful din. I lasted 60 seconds, and then went back to my usual silence.

What we need is a Sergeant Major shouting 'Hup, 1 2 3 4', and none of that cat-strangling.

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to theoldfellow]

I noticed one of the 10K apps had a drill sergeant choice for the voice - not sure he counts paces for you though! 😂❤️

[Ang33333 Graduate in reply to theoldfellow]

Runkeeper has a drill sergeant😎

[Hidden]

That’s really helpful- thank you. I did the speed podcast thinking I would love it but didn’t get the same sense of achievement I did after the 30 min runs. Think I’m gonna stick with 30 min runs & try to build up to 5k which I haven’t reached yet! Like u - I’m only 5”3 & have very short (fat & hairy) legs.

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to Hidden]

I’m going to try the speed podcast next week - I’ve found a quiet sports field to use, as I don’t fancy that one on busy pavements. I think we just have to experiment and mix things up a bit while we consolidate.

I really recommend a flat Parkrun, if you want fun variation, even if you aren’t running up to 5k yet. I enjoyed trying one last Saturday and am going back this week. Everyone was really friendly and encouraging, and plenty of people walked part of it (or all of it - the “tail runner” at the back walked around pushing a pushchair along with a lady in her 70s). It was good seeing some families with kids having a go too - with the kids seeming to sit on every park bench along the route. 😃❤️

[lexi6 Graduate]

I’ve just seen this post mountaindreamer and you have just explained succinctly, thank you, why I couldn’t really get on with this podcast and gave up on it. I’m 5ft 2 and it was such a struggle. I look forward to reading how you do with speed.

Wonder how my grandpa who was 5ft would have done? he was a Birkenhead Bantam in WW1. 🤔

[mountaindreamer Graduate in reply to lexi6]

Think I’ll still give it a go again, when I want to go slower, lexi6 . (Probably a necessity once I’ve consolidated more and try to follow the 10k plan...) I’m going to try some faster bpm music from the free Podrunner site too, to see if that works better for those of us with shorter legs.

I think I read somewhere that 180 steps per minute is supposed to be optimum for “serious runners”, whatever size they are. Guess that means we’re already nearer to perfection than the tall guys! 😂😊❤️🏃‍♀️

[lexi6 Graduate]

I love your reasoning. 😊 sometimes it can be tough being nearly perfect and trying to remember “slow and steady” is not really in our genes, we’re pocket rockets 🚀

[MrBassmanjazz Graduate]

Hi. I didn't get on with Stepping Stones either. (Not long graduated). I have gone back to repeating Week9 with the Hands-Only CPR | 100-120 BPM playlist on Spotify. Had a much happier run yesterday and went further than ever.