Tuesday track workouts are usually fun because they’re not just running; they’re exercises designed to help us improve in one aspect of running or another. Sometimes it’s hills. Other times it’s fartleks. This Tuesday, we focused on running at the proper cadence of 180 steps or 90 strides per minute. It’s actually something I’ve been working on since last season because I know it’s the right way to run and cures a lot of physical problems like over-striding.
Anyway, so we run two laps (800 meters) and at some point, one of the coaches will blow a whistle. That’s when we’re supposed to start counting our steps (actually, every other step so we don’t have to count up to 180 in a minute). When the coach blows the whistle twice, that’s one minute and that lets us know what our cadence is. Additionally, Coach Tim has a clip-on metronome that beeps at 90 beats per minute. When he runs near you, you know how fast your cadence should be.
These are my laps. We did three intervals (and one lap at the end). I went out way too fast and ran about a 4:40 the first two outings. One of the goals is to also be consistent, so I achieved that. But we were supposed to run our “half-marathon pace,” so I failed miserably. Still, if felt good to finally get close to averaging 90 strides per minute for two laps. The extra speed comes from the faster cadence plus the fact that I didn’t shorten my stride. On the third outing, I consciously tried to slow down to something resembling a half-marathon pace, but still keep the cadence up. It felt really funny to be taking such quick, short steps, but I ended up doing a more realistic 5:00.
I don’t know how long it will take me to balance my cardiovascular fitness, stride length and cadence so I could do a whole marathon at the right combination, but I hope it happens in the next three months!