Is it actually important to aim for 180 step per minute?

The quick and simple answer is no, do not try to artificially get to 180 steps/minute. This theory came from observing top pros and their steps per minute was around 180. Some genius decided this meant that was optimal for all runners.

No.

Extremely conditional on the person, their fitness, and body type. Lets say your easy running pace is in the 9 min per mile + range i would love to see someone turnover at a 180spm it would be like someone frantically running in place and making little progress. This topic is played out and very debatable, one thing to understand is those people you read about in magazines are generally close to elite runners/Olympic runners and they have slightly different fitness than everyone else right? Very seldom do they stop Joe Blough at a turkey trot and ask about his fitness, training, and how he feels about his 23 min 5k PR.

Conditionally conditional wrote:

Extremely conditional on the person, their fitness, and body type. Lets say your easy running pace is in the 9 min per mile + range i would love to see someone turnover at a 180spm it would be like someone frantically running in place and making little progress. This topic is played out and very debatable, one thing to understand is those people you read about in magazines are generally close to elite runners/Olympic runners and they have slightly different fitness than everyone else right? Very seldom do they stop Joe Blough at a turkey trot and ask about his fitness, training, and how he feels about his 23 min 5k PR.

I never knew it until I got a Garmin 235, but I run at 180 or so all the time and most of that's at 9 minute pace or a little under. I guess you'd be amused if you happened to see me.

What is Rudisha's cadence during races? It seems less frequent than his competitors.

I unfortunately am *that guy* with a high-spm and slow jogging pace. I believe its also known as getting old /old man shuffle

in a mile PR attempt I may even push it out to 200 lol sad

What you should aim for is a light stride that allows you to keep the center of your body over your foot when it lands. Reasons for a lower count are using more of a hopping motion in your stride which is inefficient as you are in the air too long or overstriding where your landing foot is too far out in front which creates more of an impact and possible injury.

While I often run near 180, I will be lower if I am running slow or higher if I am running much faster.

If you are very efficient and fast like Jim Walmsley who can run 5:30 pace at 160 spm, then there is no need to change.

You should focus on improving your stride mechanics. Hill sprints, strides, running drills, short repeats with long rests (8 × 400 m at mile pace with 2 min jog), barefoot running, mileage all contribute to it. For most people, this will lead to a stride frequency of about 180.

A very low number (160 spm) can be a sign of overstriding, which should be tackled early on, before it leads to injury.

Thank you all for all the answers/advice: I currently run consistently 6:30-6:40 min/miles for 6 miles: so I was wondering if I had to go all the way to 180 spm in order to get to 6 min/miles.

Serious question. My easy runs average 165spm. I recently did an 8k and I was at 177spm without thinking about it. Should I bother trying to speed up my cadence on my easy runs? Coincidentally to this thread, on Tuesday I wore a metronome set to 172 and it felt pretty natural to run at that cadence, even at 8:00+ pace

Jimmy21 wrote:

Serious question. My easy runs average 165spm. I recently did an 8k and I was at 177spm without thinking about it. Should I bother trying to speed up my cadence on my easy runs?

Have you not read the posts above you? The answer is still no.

sac1746@ wrote:

Thank you all for all the answers/advice: I currently run consistently 6:30-6:40 min/miles for 6 miles: so I was wondering if I had to go all the way to 180 spm in order to get to 6 min/miles.

A new runner already cruising at sub 7? Show some slow race times or gtfo.

Perhaps you're 5'7" with a short stride, maybe you're 6'5" and look like the roadrunner going nowhere fast. Maybe you're amusing everyone around you and no one ever told you. It's all conditionally conditional.

Ha! My apologies I should have been more specific with "new runner" I have been training since last May. When I meant a "new runner" I meant I have less than a year training in comparison to some of you in this forum. My slow pace on easy runs are in 8:30-9:30 or sometimes even more.

Conditionally conditional wrote:

Extremely conditional on the person, their fitness, and body type. Lets say your easy running pace is in the 9 min per mile + range i would love to see someone turnover at a 180spm it would be like someone frantically running in place and making little progress.

I had a running evaluation done when I was just starting to run again after a stress fracture. At 11:30 pace, I got 172 steps per minute. At 4:30 pace a couple weeks ago I hit about 235 steps per minute.

I'm 5'1"

FR wrote:

I'm 5'1"

Well that explains it

They said "someone", not "someone the height of your average male"

Interestingly, height may not correlate with stride rate as much as you think:

https://runnersconnect.net/running-form/stride-frequency-height/

No!

In general high cadence is the result of high speed. As you increase your speed both cadence and stride length grow. So if you're still not in a good shape, obviously your cadence would not be 180 during a tempo run and off course during an easy run. Even most elites don't go 180 at easy runs. They run at about 168-170 when easy running. Do not shorten your stride artificially in order to get to 180 and look like all those wannabees that misunderstand the whole issue and look like a running duckling with one 1 meter strides. They forget that the elites also have around 2m stride not only 180 cadence (let's see those wannabes imitate that). As your shape grows your cadence and stride length will grow as well during your tempo running and also during your easy runs.

You choose the speed. Let your body choose the right suitable cadence and stride length according to the speed you chose.