I always runned with 168-170 spm, i've tried for a couple of weeks increase it to 180-185spm and in fact i've actually trained and race faster with the same perceived effort, beat my PB on 10km (32:40) but few days later an injury popped on my calf.. Is it from the high cadence? 3 weeks of low running/no running and i lost a lot of fitness, trying to increase it now with my "real cadence" which is 168-170bpm... what should i do? stick with the high or low cadence?
Mikeagv wrote:
I always runned with 168-170 spm, i've tried for a couple of weeks increase it to 180-185spm and in fact i've actually trained and race faster with the same perceived effort, beat my PB on 10km (32:40) but few days later an injury popped on my calf.. Is it from the high cadence? 3 weeks of low running/no running and i lost a lot of fitness, trying to increase it now with my "real cadence" which is 168-170bpm... what should i do? stick with the high or low cadence?
You said it yourself - it was the increased intensity. Increasing intensity over a short period all over the board is an invitation for injuries.
It's not the cadence.
The heart rate was matching the pace.. i was just running faster with high cadence, and i was doing a lot of good workouts.. Im really confused because the high cadence was giving me great results comparing to the my natural cadence, but got injured
I feel it's better to run at your natural cadence rather than force yourself to run at a somewhat arbitrary cadence established by others. When you are feeling better...maybe just add some light drills where you move your legs a bit faster...i.e. fast feet, strides...just a small dose to keep your nervous system "awake." But I wouldn't impose any specific cadence on normal runs. Your body is not stupid. It finds it's most efficient cadence. I would suspect the switch to higher cadence did cause the injury...but who knows? Good luck.
Because runners never get injured running their "natural" cadence? ;) Go back to the high cadence experiment, it seems to be working quite well.
stop trying to force cadence. Do drills and strength work/plyometrics and you will gradually develop more ideal running form for your body
Of course everyone with natural cadence can be injured too..
Im just confused of what cadence should i use because with the higher cadence ive just went from a 34 min to 32:50 in like a month, and that didnt happen with my natural cadence.. i dont know if thats a coincidence or not but thanks for the replys
As someone who is going through the same process of "artificially" trying to increase its natural cadence (mine is actually lower than yours), I find that even if the perceived effort is the same (e.g. measured with heartrate), the form changes when speeding up the legs, requiring both a mental and physical dedicated focus. In my opinion, some muscles feel involved a bit more than usually (e.g. hamstrings, to "stop" the leg from overstriding), which means that the injury risk might increase (using your body to work in a way it's not used to do) and that performing drills is of great help to support this cadence increase effort.
LaMoustache wrote:
As someone who is going through the same process of "artificially" trying to increase its natural cadence (mine is actually lower than yours), I find that even if the perceived effort is the same (e.g. measured with heartrate), the form changes when speeding up the legs, requiring both a mental and physical dedicated focus. In my opinion, some muscles feel involved a bit more than usually (e.g. hamstrings, to "stop" the leg from overstriding), which means that the injury risk might increase (using your body to work in a way it's not used to do) and that performing drills is of great help to support this cadence increase effort.
This 100%
Cadence is one of those metrics that you can easily overthink to your own detriment. It's one thing if you were in the 130-140 range, where you're heel striking significantly and have a "looping" stride. Then I'd say worry about making changes. But to be concerned about going from 170 to 180 is statistically insignificant enough that it's not worth making a concerted effort to force a change. Did your focus on increasing cadence lead to this injury? Impossible to know. But whether it was or wasn't responsible, it's not something you should focus on.
This is a dumb measurement and you should focus less on metric and run by feel more often.
Too many gadgets and data. I have also seen GPS, cadence, HR monitors all be wildly inaccurate. Get a watch with a timer feature. Run hard sometimes and learn your body.
It's a dangerous path. I managed to avoid injury. But now my cadence is over 700. I believe eventually this will have catastrophic consequences.
Body type plays a huge role in cadence.
I ran a half earlier this year at 171 spm. I’m 6’3”. Someone I know who’s 5’2” ran the race as well, 10 sec per mile faster. Her cadence was 195.
Badcompany wrote:
Body type plays a huge role in cadence.
I ran a half earlier this year at 171 spm. I’m 6’3”. Someone I know who’s 5’2” ran the race as well, 10 sec per mile faster. Her cadence was 195.
Women almost always have super high cadence, 190-210 is super common in elite women.
On average it has to do with height, but not in all cases. I'm 6'1 male and I have a decently high cadence (180 easy runs, 190-200 on tempo/race)
End of the day, Cadence is different for all since we all have our own running forms, footstrike preference, quad/hip muscle strength, etc.
I know elite males (both tall and short) who have 180-200 cadence like me. I also know elite males who average in the 160's. I've seriously seen it all
What you should never do is force Cadence. The reason OP hurt himself is because he forced some change in his running form. Could have also been the intensity but most likely because he forced a change.
If you're new to running you may notice a jump in Cadence when you start running more frequently. Strength training could also have an effect. But, it should be natural.
At this moment i actually cant go back to what was my "natural cadence'' lol, i feel like im jumping while on my new cadence i feel very smooth and fast.. maybe the injury was only coincidence due to the PB's without proper rest.. everything is going fine now.. thank you for all the replies