Short sride is MUCH better than long stride.

i also think a shorter stride helps me to stay uninjured.

i'm old though.

Don't become a scientist; you don't have the aptitude for it.

fdsadfasfsaf wrote:

I had ten of my students run with a short (one-two foot) stride at a fast cadence, and the rest ran a long stride with slower cadence.

While the longer stride was much faster, the short stride was more economical, and at the end of the day, it's not all about which is faster, but which is more mecca.

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

You lost the argument right there.

To run faster, sub 5:00 pace or mid 4's [for shorter distances or world class marathoners], or a fast mile, then one certainly needs a fairly long stride. Increasing turn over more and more won't cut it)

Two words: Leo Manzano

Two more words: You lose.

actually, just because a person (this one being leo) is short doesnt make their stride short. to them it might be long, its all in persepctive to who's looking at the stride and who the runner is and what they think of their stride. so to leo his stride might not be all that short just because he's short. and to be comepltely honest leo's stride isnt that short to being with. its short by taller people's standards but for a runner his size its about average, if a little bit longer than average.

If two runners have identical stride rates, the one with the longer stride will win.

If two runners have identical stride lengths, the one with the faster stride rate will win.

There's a happy middle ground in there somewhere- I just don't know where.

New runners have a tendency to stride long, but very slowly (overstriding slowly). So, it can be very beneficial to teach them to increase their cadence in order to improve their overall speed. Once you have them striding at 165-180 strides per minute, then begin focusing on their stride length and tinker with that a little. Chances are that once they get the cadence down, their stride length will sort itself out.

agree, i think the kids the OP was working with probably had this tendency you described. thats why it seems like "shorter" would seem better, when really all that was done is correct an overstride

You don't try and 'correct' a long stride in an inexperienced runner by making them do a faster stride rate, that is just idiotic. They need more training to develop their stride rate naturally.

And by doing so, there strides will get even longer in a race.

J.O. wrote:

You don't try and 'correct' a long stride in an inexperienced runner by making them do a faster stride rate, that is just idiotic. They need more training to develop their stride rate naturally.

And by doing so, there strides will get even longer in a race.

Actually, in the real world, it works quite well.

I did this for myself starting on a treadmill so that the pace (stride length) could not increase as I worked on the rate. Then I used a drummer's metronome

for outside running.

I verified that my efficiency went up using a HR monitor.

HR monitor is not a measure of efficiency.

Kevin52 wrote:

J.O. wrote:

You don't try and 'correct' a long stride in an inexperienced runner by making them do a faster stride rate, that is just idiotic. They need more training to develop their stride rate naturally.

And by doing so, there strides will get even longer in a race.

Actually, in the real world, it works quite well.

I did this for myself starting on a treadmill so that the pace (stride length) could not increase as I worked on the rate. Then I used a drummer's metronome

http://www0.epinions.com/specs/Korg_MM2_Clip_On_Ear_Metronome

for outside running.

I verified that my efficiency went up using a HR monitor.

Aghast wrote:

HR monitor is not a measure of efficiency.

Used properly it is very good indicator. You have to control the other variables. In my case I did that plus I use it every day and have a huge database to draw from.

Kevin52 wrote:

J.O. wrote:

You don't try and 'correct' a long stride in an inexperienced runner by making them do a faster stride rate, that is just idiotic. They need more training to develop their stride rate naturally.

And by doing so, there strides will get even longer in a race.

Actually, in the real world, it works quite well.

I did this for myself starting on a treadmill so that the pace (stride length) could not increase as I worked on the rate. Then I used a drummer's metronome

http://www0.epinions.com/specs/Korg_MM2_Clip_On_Ear_Metronome

for outside running.

I verified that my efficiency went up using a HR monitor.

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

Actually in the REAL real World, the better trained you are, the more you can utilize a longer faster stride.

Now just because you improved your slow running pace with an increase in stride rate, it doesn't mean that in a race, your stride rate will be faster with a shorter stride. Do some simple arithmetic and you might begin to understand this.