Overstriding

Sorry, but I thought this was going to be a funny thread.

For the record though, overstriding is no laughing matter.

Overstriding is the downfall of far too many runners. 180 or more was what Daniels observed for elites, and has become the common ideal stride rate. Of course, it makes perfect biomechanical sense to minimize force from displacing body higher and minimize friction and braking action caused by landing forward of center of mass. It's the dreaded passive landing.

180 is an average figure. Elite vary from 160-210 in long distance running higher in middle distance running and much higher in sprinting.

ROFLMAO wrote:

I definitely think that I rely too much on my stride length as opposed to stride frequency. I also think that it causes me to use more energy than needed and to tire quicker.

Anyone ever have any problems with this?

Sure, I did. At 6-3 I tended to use my long half-mile stride no matter what race I was in. That was fine in a quarter, half, or mile: my tempo and speed were high enough that my feet landed pretty much under me.

In the marathon, a half-miler's stride (and a tempo that I'd bet wasn't much higher than 150 steps/min) meant that my feet tended to land well in front of my center of mass. Slow races, great fatigue, and eventual crippling injury ensued.

I've noticed that the top runners tend to keep a good tempo, even when warming up, and vary their speed by adjusting their stride length. I varied my speed mostly by adjusting my tempo. I think they have it right; I know I didn't.

From 800m - 10,000m elite level athletes have very similar stride rates (Daniels suggest a SR of 180 or higer is found at the elite level). Running at various speeds (easy, LT, 5k, etc) does little to effect the overall rate - just the length of each stride.

In the beginning of the movie "Endurance" Geb's SR is 194-196 while he is doing a training run. During the epic battle with Tergat in the 1996 Olympics his SR was 198-200. So at 5:20 pace or 4:20 pace his SR is pretty much the same, what changes is stride length.

Form drills, acclerations, striders, and being congnizant of making a change in your running form during training runs all contribute to correcting the problem. Runners that overstride are putting on the brakes every step and also run a higher risk of impact-stress related injury.

A difference of four strides/min seems pretty significant to me.

Sure it is. My point was that stride rate does not change significantly among elite runners from easy pace to race pace. It isn't like Geb takes 180 spm on an easy run and then 20 more spm at race pace. 2-4 spm is not a drastic change. Does it mean he is covering an extra 5-7 meters a minute? Yes it does. So it is significant during a race.

I'm only 5'8 and today when I tried to measure my stride I got 180 strides in about 65 seconds. Should I work on having a more frequent stride? Granted this was at an easy 7 min/mile pace, but I still think it would help my speed if I can learn to, in general, get my turnover higher.

ROFLMAO wrote:

I'm only 5'8 and today when I tried to measure my stride I got 180 strides in about 65 seconds. Should I work on having a more frequent stride? Granted this was at an easy 7 min/mile pace, but I still think it would help my speed if I can learn to, in general, get my turnover higher.

Just do form drills more, do strides once in a while, and on occasion, think about "quickening" your stride rate. It will feel very unnatural (just as any change in running form does) but you will get used to it. It can take a long time to see improvement; for myself, I've gone from about 168 to 172 over a 6-month period. It's nothing to fret about.

Try counting strides when you're running ~6-minute pace. I'll bet it'll be closer to 180/min.