How to increase cadence

Make a playlist with your desired bpm. Move your feet faster. .

http://sortyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/

When out running, think about shortening your stride. It will feel super unnatural at first, but it will also naturally lead to a quicker foot strike.

The music is a good tip. I've had friends use that to get in a groove. You can also do exercises without even really running. At home you can turn the music with the desired beat on, or even just a metronome, and run in place to that beat. Feel that rhythm. Take that with you out the door.

When I got back to running a couple of years ago I wanted to increase my cadence. Not to merely have a fast cadence, but just to ensure that I was taking quick, light steps and hopefully increasing my chances of not getting injured. It probably helped that I was essentially starting over, as I had not run for many years. For me it took about a full year to go from averaging 160ish to 178. The gradual change made it all feel natural.

Oh, and at the time I did not know about the music beats or drills to do. I just tried to run lighter and quicker and shortened my stride so that I landed softly on my mid/forefoot.

When I did it as a new runner, I increased to 180 and used my running watch I had at the time, a typical Ironman. I could easily glance at the seconds going by, and would just take three steps every second. It didn't take more than a couple runs for it to be natural. Probably 3 runs in I'd look at the watch to confirm I was already running 180 steps per minute, rather than needing to adjust to it. Within a week I couldn't NOT run 180 steps per minute, and it felt as normal as if I had been running that way my whole life. Shouldn't be a hard thing to do.

Download a metronome app. Run normally. Once you're at your normal cadence, turn on the metronome and sync it to every left (or right) foot strike. (For example, a 170 cadence would be set at 85.) Once you know your normal cadence, increase the metronome by about 5 beats or so. (90 would a 180 cadence.) Practice running 30 seconds at the faster cadence. A very common mistake is to speed up while doing this. Be very careful NOT to speed up. After 30 seconds, rest by running normally for a minute or so and then repeat. Gradually build up the time you are running at the faster cadence.

It will be more tiring at first, but you should quickly adapt in a matter of weeks to run faster at the new cadence. However, it will not become second nature for several months. This is based on my personal experience. YMMV.

You can try increasing the cadence by even more, but at some point you will reach a sweet spot where only increasing the cadence a couple of steps per minute will be noticeably harder. You should stay below that point, except for distances of 800m and below or for your final kick.

I've tried to increase my cadence and always end up slower vs natural stride.

For instance I'd go 170 at 1.10 meters from 163 at 1.30 meters naturally.

Great answers here. I'm in the process of improving my cadence too and music is doing wonders. As a musician for the most part of my life, it's easy to follow a beat, but, for me, running with the raw metronome is very annoying. So, I started editing my favorite songs to match my desired bpm. Right now I'm working on two lists, one for 170bpm and another for 180bpm, depending on where I'll train (can't do 180 if not in a track or some place where I won't be interrupted).

I mainly listen to rock while running, but I'm open to almost any musical genre. In due time I'll have a big list of mp3 and I can post it in a torrent file here if you are interested. I'm doing it by ear, just trying to match the song beat to a raw metronome and editing it's tempo in the Reaper software. I cannot get it perfectly always, but for sure it's one or two beats away from the desired pace, which is good enough for me.

The saddest part are those classic songs that change tempo too much, like Holy Wars from Megadeth (I have to cut those from the list) and others that are really far away from 170 or 180 bpm (when I edit those they get either way too fast or way too slow, which kind of ruins it. But I leave it there anyway, if someone really likes the song it might work for him). But that's life.

Glad to find this forum, I wish you all great runs and enjoy your life! Peace from Brazil!

If you really want to change your cadence, you first have to understand how your stride length is influenced.

2 weeks before the O trials, I had decided that I had tapped out my technique as far as getting faster. I was a 400m guy, who had already qualified and booked my tickets.

I was very strong on the ground, and used to run with more power than technique. It meant I reached a bit far out front, that lowered my hips, and shortened my overall stride, but I was still a long strider, just slower rate. A bit like Alberto Juanterina. Who by the way was the number one at the time.

For the two weeks I focused on dropping my feet in a little shorter, while still staying on the drive phase. My cadence picked up, and my hips stayed a little higher, and my stride got a little longer. I ended up taking 7 / 10s off my pr and medaling. I was expecting to medal anyway, but I finished closer to the front than expected.

A two week fix is not a great fix, but it carried my though the first 150 a lot faster and while I reverted somewhat in the last 150, I was further down the track.

You have to really understand that stride length is impacted by stride speed and hip height. You have to make sure you don't spend your time reaching for the front, which lowers your hips. You have to get your feet in the prime sport under your center of gravity, make sure your drive is hard, and fast, and your hips stay high. It how you lengthen stride.

Every thing you do comes from the jog position. As you apply more power, your hips come up, you need to get your foot down in front a little faster, and you try to force a little more out of your drive leg. A lot of you joggers really don't understand that running is a single support phase and walking a double support. Once you work that out, you will improve your speed. Blocking is a speed killer, and a fatigue monster. Its all about the right balance.

I tried 180bpm music but my cadence didnt increase until I started consistently lifting weights--even just 1x per week, squats, lunges, split squats. My cadence increased 10+ without me even thinking about it.

any suggestions not involving music? I never run with a phone and it would be pretty inconvenient to do / frowned upon to do so as a part of a college team

The post right before said his cadence increased after lifting more.

Cadence and stride length are both a result of the speed you choose to run. You would not be faster if you change your natural cadence. Your natural cadence would change if you run faster. You dig?

Your body knows exactly to make the correlation between stride length and cadence. No need to deal with either one of them. And high cadence does not eliminate heel striking.

Make a conscious effort to take shorter, quicker steps. It isn't rocket science. Helps if you have Al Sal fixing your form also.

All I know is I switched to a forefoot strike and I can barely seem to get under 176-180...