Stride Rate - Why It’s Important
Posted by Rick Cleary
When designing and developing the Shoe Odometer I felt strongly that a stride rate feature needed to be included. As a coach every year I had runners that needed to improve their form. Some common issues were over-striding and bounding. We did form drills and striders to try to work on form, but rarely did it translate into significant improvements. I’d heard Dr. Jack Daniels (worlds greatest running coach, titled by Runner’s World) speak several times on the importance of having a stride rate of 180 strides per minute. When striding at 180 strides per minute you don’t over-stride or have excessive bounding.
I thought this feature would primarily be used by coaches, but I’m finding that many runners from beginners to advanced use it every day. Just the act of tracking stride rate makes you improve. Personally, I’ve improved my stride rate from 165 to a strong 178.
The following are some great links that describe the importance of stride rate.
Running Times
http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=8732
Active.com
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?STORY_ID=12114&CATEGORY=running&CHECKSSO=0
Runner’s World
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267–11604-0,00.html
LetsRun.com
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