World Records will get faster and faster either with or without drugs.

J.O. wrote:

We are all different. Lots of runners will criticize your running style, but they don't have real knowledge of biomechanics.

Consider your race and training paces, how fast are they? From this you can caluclate your average stride length. If you are not a fast runner, then obviously your stride will not be long. So yes, you do need to work on that stride length, because this can be improved much more than your NATURAL stride rate.

My race pace is quite a bit faster than my base training pace, and my stride is quite a bit longer. I used to always place well in races, and am not as fast anymore. Also I'm not running comparatively as fast as I used to for my age. My stride used to be quite a bit faster.

So should I try to speed up my stride to what it used to be, or keep focusing on longer strides even if the rating gets lower? Also is it ok that my training and race ratings are almost the same.

How do you plan to achieve a longer stride?

Strides may get longer, but this will simply be a result of better efficiency and better health, and it will get incrementally smaller. You keep telling me that the sport is young, but you never really give any evidence for why it isn't old enough for people to train in the best way. Nuances will change, but breakthroughs in training really are not possible, as the sport really only has one simple method to get faster: run more.

You assume that muscular coordination can develop your stride length and improve race times, but you ignore how this would happen in a race and say it's just so. The question is: how do you know? You are so confident, and yet you have so little evidence and are not clear at all on what you are actually trying to say. Neuromuscular coordination is important, but that is already being worked on. Running involves all of the systems of the body. You must have a healthy heart, nervous system, endocrine system, digestive system, and everything else in order to improve. You can't focus on any one thing and peg it as the key to faster times. Stride length can only increase incrementally as a result of better training. You can't train your stride length. You train yourself to run, and the stride length changes only slightly until it can't get any longer.

I have a theory too wrote:

How do you plan to achieve a longer stride?

I'll just keep stretching it out as much as I can.

need more information wrote:

I'll just keep stretching it out as much as I can.

Just reaching it out there in front of you as far as you can, and keep working at this? If you read through this thread, a few have warned that doing this will cause you to brake, losing momentum and you'll need to push much hard to sustain pace.

You shouldn't explicitly try to adjust stride length. Stride length takes care of itself with pace. What you need to do is work on good form, good leg lift, light touch, good back kick, no excessive reaching, and lots of volume to build base and running economy.

Stride length is a result of your pace divided by your stride frequency. If your stride frequently is fairly stable, then your stride length simply goes up as your pace goes up...you're moving over the ground faster so you cover more territory per stride. That's all you really need to increase stride length, just run faster. This makes the things you work on pretty standard. Dedication and commitment are more valuable than some hokey theory.

I have a theory too wrote:

You're confusing leg stretch, how far you can split your legs apart - with stride length, the distance you cover with each stride.

need more information wrote:

You're confusing leg stretch, how far you can split your legs apart - with stride length, the distance you cover with each stride.

I asked how you planned to increase stride length, you said by stretching. I'm not confusing them, I'm trying to figure out what you're doing. Stretching (increasing stride angle) would be what could lead to braking.

You can train your stride length, and you can keep developing it if you really focus on more powerful running, without straining, or getting out of breath. Elite runners do this partly intuitively and partly with specific work.

I have a theory too wrote:

You shouldn't explicitly try to adjust stride length. Stride length takes care of itself with pace. What you need to do is work on good form, good leg lift, light touch, good back kick, no excessive reaching, and lots of volume to build base and running economy.

Stride length is a result of your pace divided by your stride frequency. If your stride frequently is fairly stable, then your stride length simply goes up as your pace goes up...you're moving over the ground faster so you cover more territory per stride. That's all you really need to increase stride length, just run faster.

Not true. You can't explain biomechanics that simply. There is more to gaining stride length than just running fast.

I have a theory too wrote:

need more information wrote:

You're confusing leg stretch, how far you can split your legs apart - with stride length, the distance you cover with each stride.

I asked how you planned to increase stride length, you said by stretching. I'm not confusing them, I'm trying to figure out what you're doing. Stretching (increasing stride angle) would be what could lead to braking.

Okay what I said was confusing. I meant stretching out my stride length, the distance covered with each stride.

J.O. wrote:

You can train your stride length, and you can keep developing it if you really focus on more powerful running, without straining, or getting out of breath. Elite runners do this partly intuitively and partly with specific work.

Should I just keep on the way that I"m doing, even though my stride rate is only 151 spm? I don't get out of breath at this rate and can keep focusing on the length of my strides. When I try to go at 160 or 170 spm then I get out of breath.

*********************************************

Obviously you have a naturally longer stride/lower stride rate than average. Both your stride rate and stride length will increase with more speed up to a point, but there are quite a lot of variables.

For example, when we sprint at our top speed our stride rate tends to increase considerably and stride length goes up to its longest.

Also different races with different paces involve different stride rate/length. And going up a steep hill both will be significantly reduced from a similar effort on the flat. And going downhill fast, will obviously increase both figures significantly.

When we have very highly developed speed endurance in a race we have trained specifically for, we have impressive figures for both stride rate and length compared to our less well trained state.

I can't give you absolute numbers, you have to work this out for yourself, but one aspect of training that is often ignored is to practice a bounding stride every few days. At first you should do this with a long slow stride and keep developing this for several months until you are ready to do the same super long stride at a fast pace, and thus with a high stride rate. Be careful though, ease your way into this, and get a good feel for it.

need more information wrote:

J.O. wrote:

You can train your stride length, and you can keep developing it if you really focus on more powerful running, without straining, or getting out of breath. Elite runners do this partly intuitively and partly with specific work.

Should I just keep on the way that I"m doing, even though my stride rate is only 151 spm? I don't get out of breath at this rate and can keep focusing on the length of my strides. When I try to go at 160 or 170 spm then I get out of breath.

***************************************************

You should still do those efforts at the higher stride rate, as long as your stride length is longer too.

Obviously getting out of breath is an inneficient way to run, but if you stop each effort before you get to that state, recover and go again and again, you can do a long high speed workout with great efficiency. One very important point here is that these type of workouts are often more effective about 4 hours after your last meal, because you are more fuel efficient than if you run 3 hours after a meal. A good warm up can have the same effect.

need more information wrote:

Okay what I said was confusing. I meant stretching out my stride length, the distance covered with each stride.

This is what you shouldn't be focusing on. Like I said, the distance covered will take care of itself. You can use it for feedback on what your pace is, but don't explicitly try to stretch it. Focus on form, good leg lift forward, good follow through behind. You can and probably should do shorter drills (such as 200's) to increase turnover rate. Reinforce these in training and they should naturally take hold.

There is more to it than that. There is also an extra push to be gained with practice. Look at how the top guys run, they give an extra push compared to slower runners. And the faster you go, the more effective this technique becomes. This is true regardless of whether the runner has a naturally fast or slow stride rate.

Elite runners do this partly intuitively, and partly with specific work.

rekrunner wrote:

You always throw out the baby with the bathwater.

?

I have a theory too wrote:

need more information wrote:

Okay what I said was confusing. I meant stretching out my stride length, the distance covered with each stride.

This is what you shouldn't be focusing on. Like I said, the distance covered will take care of itself. You can use it for feedback on what your pace is, but don't explicitly try to stretch it. Focus on form, good leg lift forward, good follow through behind. You can and probably should do shorter drills (such as 200's) to increase turnover rate. Reinforce these in training and they should naturally take hold.

You're contradicting yourself, or else you're quite dense or both. Anyway, what you said makes no sense.

need more information wrote:

You're contradicting yourself, or else you're quite dense or both. Anyway, what you said makes no sense.

No need to insult. It's your training, do what you want. Have a good day.

"genetic dogma is a red herring"Men are faster than women, because of a bunch of genes.What separates Bolt and Bekele are a bunch of genes.Semenya Caster -- a couple of genes.Genetics is an important factor to determine if you can even play the game. Unless you want to propose an alternate intelligent design theory, you cannot just dismiss the relevance of genetics at determining who the players are.No amount of hopping, concentration, and increasing my stride will allow me to beat Bolt, Bekele, Rudisha, Webb, or Geb, or Radcliffe. My genes make me look more like Popeye, but spinach doesn't have the same effect on me.New world record holders will surely have to train as good, or better than current world record holders, but genetic variability will still produce new athletes who will break existing records.

J.O. wrote:

?

rekrunner wrote:

You always throw out the baby with the bathwater.