Stryder100 wrote:
If you look at weight lifting. It's easier to move 50lbs 10 times then it is to move 500lbs 1 time.
What you wrote above is simplifying things too much and leaves out gradations across the scale. Sure, without using levers or pulleys, moving 50 lbs 10 times is "easier" than moving 500 lbs once. But depending on the method used, moving 100 lbs 5 times could be "easier" than moving 50 lbs 10 times, plus it could theoretically be done in half the time, which I would argue would be more efficient.
Same thing with cyclists. If you use the comparison of a rider pushing 90rpm in say a 53x13 gear, vs another rider spinning 115rpm in a 53x15 gear, those bikes would probably be going about the same speed. Overall they're probably using similar amounts of energy to do the work, but the first rider is taxing their leg muscles more whereas the second rider is taxing their aerobic system more.
Stride rate/stride length...Use 180 as a guide, but don't be a slave to that number. "Shorter quicker strides" as you elude to maybe could conserve energy or maybe not, depending on what you are trained to do. More importantly, since you were talking about a race if shorter quicker strides get you to the finish line faster that's the thing to do, if not then don't.