About pace

[SofaJockey]

As this forum was so awesomely helpful yesterday, I thought I'd ask some more. 😎

I'm on Week 1 and getting out of breath. I was advised to slow it down. One suggestion was to reduce stride length - do smaller steps - by increasing the steps per minute which slows the running.

Maybe I'm not using the right word. Does pace = speed or step frequency?

Around the pace of Outkast's "Hey Ya" (150-159 BPM)

So I've downloaded a playlist of 150-159 BPM songs, but before I try it I thought I'd ask here.

Because that pace seems rather fast, but maybe that's the point.

Good idea? Bad idea? 😎

[Roxdog Graduate]

Mmm 🤔 That song is pretty fast. My playlist is full of songs which I just listen to without pacing myself to them. Really slow musuc, very calm, nothing upbeat or high temp (Well maybe there's one). That might help? Using the music as an accompaniment to your run rather than a motivator.

Do slow down, really slow. The breathing will then fall into place. Good luck!

[mom24uk Graduate]

I can't say which bpm is best for you (150 sounds pretty quick to me!) but I've found that listening to music doesn't help me as I can't find the right bpm. I've also found that each run is different, not only day by day but by segment. To clarify; on week 1, run 1 and 2 might be slower than runs 3 to 5 and then the last 3 might be slower still! I found that going really slow has helped and I'm hoping the speed will come later, but if not, I'd rather be a slow runner than a non-runner I'm not good enough yet to have figured out my pace so for now, I've ditched the music as it made it harder for me and I'm concentrating on just doing it by time. I'm hoping that I'll get good enough to one day know what music I need. Good luck!

[John_W Graduate Ambassador]

"Steps per minute" = CADENCE

... and yes, it can be useful to use a metronome or music to match your cadence to the beat.

Pace and speed are the same thing, but expressed in different units.

Pace: time per unit distance, e.g. minutes per mile (so how long it takes to complete a certain distance .... smaller number is faster than bigger number)

Speed: distance per unit time, e.g. miles per hour (so distance covered in a fixed time - bigger number faster than smaller)

[SofaJockey]

Thanks for all the comments. There's no substitute for practice. I'm going to test it with some playlists:

110, 120, 130, 140 and 150.

[SofaJockey]

135-140 bpm was perfect, though I'll keep the playlists for 100-120 for brisk walking.

Took it slow and fully completed my 8 x 1 minute Week 1 run. well pleased.

[Granspeed Graduate in reply to SofaJockey]

Well done. That’s a useful thing to know. And mainly, it worked for you. 👏🏼🎉