Is running 180 strides/minute during easy runs appropriate for TALL guys?

I'm 6'4 165 and I struggle getting up near 180 spm so similar to what others have stated here. Usually in the 165 range but when running faster I do get in the 170s.

tall dude wrote:

Wait, is the 180 for RACES mainly? I exceed that in my races.

Has anyone measured the stride rate of elites going 7:30pace or so? (There are some who still go that slow or slower on easy days).

Here is a video of Ryan Hall training, maybe it can help?

sdfsdfsdfsdfs wrote:

tall dude wrote:

Wait, is the 180 for RACES mainly? I exceed that in my races.

Has anyone measured the stride rate of elites going 7:30pace or so? (There are some who still go that slow or slower on easy days).

Here is a video of Ryan Hall training, maybe it can help?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2shHVeUWGY

Yeah I'd say it looks like he's overstriding a bit.

I'm 6'4" and my stride rate is usually 170-175 on easy runs (6:30-7:30). I've never measured it during a race but I've measured it for a couple tempo runs (5:10-5:20 pace) and it was about 190 for both.

FWIW I count Rudisha as about 150 steps/min in this clip of an easy run:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGVSO1sg2Fk

The length of your natural walking stride - and at any given pace, your resulting cadence - is significantly dependent on your height. This should be pretty obvious, but if it's not just take a look in the street of a tall and short person walking the same pace next to each other.

If you're at "racing speed," your height has very little do do with stride length, as your body will naturally (this tends to come more naturally to trained runners, and this is why weekend warriors often look much less smooth when they race) adapt to its ideal tradeoff between turnover and stride length. Note that in distance races you're never really approaching the limit of your maximum possible turnover or maximum possible stride length. Since you're completely pushing off the ground anyway, shorter people aren't really limited here by their height relative to taller people. This is why it's stupid when people suggest that having long legs should give someone an advantage at distance running.

When it comes to regular training runs, you wind up somewhere in the middle. When you walk, your body is essentially trying to find what's comfortable. And when you're racing, it's trying to find what's optimal in terms of stride length/turnover tradeoff. If a tall runner aims to hit 180 strides at 7:30 pace, the short stride length may feel awkward in a way that it wouldn't to a shorter runner. Below 6:00 pace, 180 strides/minute allows a stride long enough for the turnover that it shouldn't be awkward even for a taller runner. But for slower training runs, use some common sense and realize that you should blindly follow Jack Daniels' advice on everything.

Shouldn't*

Don't even think about it. Just make sure your foot lands under your body or close to it. That is more important that "cadence."I checked my cadence one time and when I was running 6:00/km it was about 150. When I was running 3:00/km it was about 185. That's the reason elites are frequently at 180ish when it's been monitored....they run faster most of them time than you or I do.I'm 6'3" with long legs.

tall dude wrote:

Ok. I'm pretty tall and lanky. Think Wheating (without as much talent).

I've read that even on your easy runs your cadence should be at least 180 strides per minute.

When I run fast I can go above 180 strides per minute.

But, I'm finding this almost impossible to do with any type of decent form and yet still go easy. With such long legs I feel like I have to take the tiniest, mincing strides ever to pull off 180 and keep a low enough HR (65-70% of max).

On my easy days I can go up to about 160-168 strides per minute and feel OK, with half decent form. I still shorten my stride some for that but it's not so drastic.

Any other tall people find this "easy running at 180 strides/min." to be a problem?