HOW IMPORTANT ARE STRIDES?

I'm doing them about once a week right now. I do about 6x60 m after or in the middle of an easy run. I don't know if they help but they make my legs feel better.

I am doing 8x100 strides, twice per week after easy runs.

I would guess somwhere around 2-3 times a week is when the benefits kick in. The key is to do them really relaxed.

Do some on a steep uphill for maintaning some power and stride length.

Do some on a slight downhill for leg turn-over.

During base phase, it is important to remind your legs of what it feels like to run fast and efficiently; in Running with the Buffaloes, Wetmore gives the guys workouts that are designed to cause a neuromuscular stimulus. The more you practice running efficiently, the better at it you will be. Lasse Viren and Wilson Kipketer (among many others) did 50x100m regularly. Their events were very different, but the requirement that their strides be efficient was very much the same.

Thanks (and bump for more replies)

I just started doing some here and there recently. I'm not sure on how fast to do them but I usually do 6 x 1 min. at various points during an easy run.

To my mind, they're an integral part of the warmup. They help improve running form on non-speed days, and prepare for faster interval speeds on speed days. Most people will do 4-8 X 100 if the strides are for warming up, and not the actual workout.

Oops forgot I do them before track work too. They are just programmed in there so I forgot. So I guess I do them like 3 times per week. Twice after easy runs and once during track warmup.

I have recently started doing them as part of an effort to more rigidly periodicize (and not attempt to continue any sort of programmed workouts in the summer and stop trying to race year-round) - I have been doing 6 x :25 with about :50 jog between them during the last flat few miles of 2 10-12 mile runs a week. My theory is to do them pretty quick (mile race effort or faster), but stop doing them as soon as you start feeling it so they require no recovery the next day.

why WOULDNT you do strides?

They're critical, even in the marathon. Before my first marathon I had been running for about 4 months at 30 mi/wk with 4 runs of over 15 miles. A few "tempos" but no strides. 3:43. Next one 9 months later after running about 45 mi/wk with 8 runs over 18 miles plus adding once a wk 10 x 150yd strides on a slight down grade. 3:16. It just makes it easier to run at any pace when you run fast sometimes.

Which do you think was the bigger factor, the strides or what appears to be far superior training? Either way, nice improvement within a year.

not fluent in Latin but I think his handle should answer your question.

I don't find them important at all for a marathon. I never did a single stride prepping for my debut marathon and ran well in it and the pace felt easy. I would think that upping your mileage by 50% and increasing your weekly long run by 20% were probably responsible for your time drop. That said, I think strides are crucial for track races and cross country races, as well as shorter road races. But I don't think they really matter for a marathon.

Strides = neuromuscular coordination that is carried over into all of your running no matter what the speed. That's one of the reasons why you'll improve very quickly after your first hard track workout of the season. It doesn't take much time to develop, you just have to maintain it.

Alan