How Important Are Striders?

They are very important if you don't do any other speed work

My coach says they prepare the body for the next period of fast running. He mentioned muscle memory. Essentially he tells us to do 4-6 strides after easy runs so we don't feel as sluggish the next track session and so our legs 'remember' that the last thing they did was move quickly rather than jog.

I don't know whether muscle memory really comes into it but I find they really help 'wake up' my legs ready for the next session, whether they're done as a warm up or after a recovery run.

If you touch on pure speed pretty much year round they're less important for speed development as the other poster implied, but they should still be a key part of the warm up imho

I think of strides as a very sport-specific form of dynamic stretching. It doesn't help your legs "remember" anything, it just improves dynamic flexibility, which is increasingly important with increasing speed.

They aren't very good at directly improving speed and are not a great substitute for speedwork. Strides may be only slightly helpful, but they are also relatively low risk and generally runners enjoy doing them, so they're incorporated in a lot of programs. They're generally incorporated somewhat haphazardly, but that probably isn't really hurting anybody.

Much like stretching, and soon to be warmup, and the more difficult training it is on its way out. Soon you show up once a week and race. No training, warm up, strides, cool down...or stretching needed.

Strides can be very helpful for improving efficiency/biomechanics.

Correct. STRIDES not "striders". Can we plz axe this non word from further usage. Thanks.

This DJ wrote:

Strides can be very helpful for improving efficiency/biomechanics.

When I first started doing strides after my easy runs, it really improved my form. So I think you're completely correct.

Wait a minute there!

Quenton Cassidy and friends called them 'striders'. John Parker hung out with Shorter, Bacheler, and Liquori. Bruce Dento, probably based largely upon these guys as well as maybe Pre, said 'striders'.

'Once a Runner' may be the best time capsule from the Prefontaine era and that's what they were called then. I can live with it.

On a separate topic, I think they are really good to do. I do them hard and regularly in base phase. A lot of running relatively slow and a small amount at close to full speed. Then, training becomes more specific as you move closer to a peak race. A lot of long runs at marathon pace and slightly slower builds the endurance and the striders build the speed. They insure that the speed work is not shocking as the target pace for any distance race will be comparitively slow. I also do and advocate steep hill sprints.

They are a sneaky way to add additional speedwork each week and get your body ready for a workout the next day. In college, we did 5x150 at like 75-80% effort after our training runs. Distance runners don't get a lot of actual speed development compared to 800/1500 guys. When i was moving up to the marathon after college and running 115 miles a week, I still did strides two times a week (and occasionally did 4x200 all out on the back end of workouts), and it kept my legs feeling snappy. Could actually roll 60 second quarter repeats even with all the mileage and long tempo runs, and probably wouldnt have been able to do that without doing strides consistently.

For a HS 800 runner, you should definitely do 4-5 15-20 second strides after your runs a few times a week. Not as big of a deal in high school because you do race so much more frequently, but it could only help. Just don't turn them into all out sprints and do them immediately after finishing your run so you dont tighten up and then rip a hammy.

Striders are not the same as strides. They may look similar to a noob. But an expert coach can easily see the difference.

Those of us who are fast call that "moving down".

While not the same as speed work, it definitely helps with speed, both in the muscles and with form (the latter something highschool runners seriously lack)

I think vigil recommended doing 15 or more 2/3 times a week.

First there is no difference between striders or strides!

When I began coaching I didn't even no what "strides," meant because we never called them that.

There are top notch high school programs that do them before and after the daily "workout." (People on LRC seem to think that only hard interval training is a "workout." This terminology is false of course because doing a 12 mile run is a "workout!")

This is where good coaching comes in. You must get the kids to do them at a reasonable pace but not too hard. One sprint can ruin a season for someone.

Ultimately used this way they maintain speed at best.

In order to build speed you must set aside one day and train like a sprinter. Explaining that to the distance runners on here is more writing than I care to do at the moment.

I think they loosen you up and are good before a race. outside of that I don't feel they have much purpose.

gse34sf wrote:

Correct. STRIDES not "striders". Can we plz axe this non word from further usage. Thanks.

i know folks that have been around long enough to have seen a Runners World mag when it was called Distance Running News. And they called striders 'wind sprints'. Is there a right term for anything?

Like tempo runs strides are misunderstood.

Will they make you faster? No

Improve muscle memory in your legs? OMG....I can't believe a coach said this. Once again HS coaches are undertrained but think they are gods.

Should you do Them? Sure they are a form of warmup or stretches.

gse34sf wrote:

Correct. STRIDES not "striders". Can we plz axe this non word from further usage. Thanks.

+1

gse34sf wrote:

Correct. STRIDES not "striders". Can we plz axe this non word from further usage. Thanks.

Thanks for contributing with absolutely nothing to this thread.