Stride Length vs Stride Rate?

How many of you have thought at some stage in your evolution as a runner, that you would be best served by increasing your stride length to run faster? To a point, this is true but you must understand that there is a point whereby excessive stride length is detrimental to your running speed. Also realize that increasing your stride length is a stage of developing your form that is fairly advanced and there are quite a few other technical form issues to sort out prior to increasing stride length.

It’s amazing when you run, how good it feels when you get into a rhythm and the coordination of the movement and the synchronization of all the subtleties of the movement work. It’s equally amazing watching athletes run, to see what all the different form types are.

There are some exceptions to the rule (e.g. Paula Radcliffe! current Women’s Marathon world record holder) but the better runners are those who look effortless or specifically, very economical. There appears to be very little wasted effort and they are “tidy” in the gross movement patterns.

The run actions or styles that look the most “agricultural” are usually resultant of excessive stride length coupled with a poor running gait or posture.

I usually find a common denominator with individuals who have poor technique in their run action. More often than not, they haven’t run for long, i.e. they have taken up running in their older years, so they didn’t develop basic coordination of the running action at a younger age. It is much harder to develop a skill involving a reasonably technical movement pattern at an older age and one of the benefits of had having started and developed running from a young age, is that the skeletal and muscular systems are fortified to be more enduring, injury resistant and efficient.

So, how do you improve your efficiency to be more economical in action, thus improving your speed with less effort expended and be a lot less likely to injure yourself? I will keep this simple, but here are three key tips that will help.

1. Shorten your stride and increase your stride rate.

In your next run, count your strides (count on one side for 1 minute) every five minutes to establish what your stride rate is per minute. What is it? Lower than 80!? Experience frequent lower leg and foot injuries? I am not surprised!

Ideally you should aspire to get your stride rate between 88-92spm. This is whether you are running your Long Slow Distance run or running Intervals at the track. The only difference being that your stride length will be markedly shorter for you slower run. Regardless of pace, this stride rate should be the same. Be aware of the degree of leg lift in thigh flexion and extension. If you consciously minimize this, it is easier to increase your stride rate. The best way to increase your stride rate is to imagine that you are running behind someone and you have to shorten your stride so as to not stand on their heel, or as I have heard someone else describe it; imagine you are running in a tight fitting skirt!

2. Push your Chest and Hips forward.

One of the easiest ways to effect coordination in running is to have an excessive forward lean from the hips thus throwing your body weight forward of your feet. To counteract this, the runner has to compensate by placing their foot in front of their body to help them balance. If an athlete’s foot strike is in front of their body the placement acts as a brake and as a result the athletes form is markedly affected. You can always pick an athlete with a poor posture, because they tend to have a lot of vertical movement in their action. Next time SBS telecast the I.A.A.F. “Golden League” series, take note of the Middle distance runners. Specifically watch their vertical movement (minimal) when they run, and body alignment relative to foot strike. Their foot strike is underneath an imaginary line indicating their centre of mass.
In order to be able to maintain good form and posture during the running action, you need to have strong pelvic stabilizers and core stabilizers. Work hard on these areas in your preparatory base phase of your training and make sure you maintain this condition during your competitive season.

3. Minimize the dynamics of the arm carry and relax the upper body.

So many athletes hold a lot of muscle tension in the upper body (trapezius / upper back, facial, arm and sterno-cleidomastoid / neck muscles) and have an arm action that is very dynamic and subsequently has a very high energy cost. Focus on running relaxed in the upper body with a relaxed arm carry (arm flexion @ 90-120 degrees) minimizing the action in a forward plane from the pocket area of the hips.

Without a doubt, the best way to improve ones technique and economy is to concentrate on stride rate. I cannot count the amount of times that I have heard from athletes who I coach, ‘it seems so much easier to run with running at a higher stride rate!’ It stands to reason. If an athlete is running at 88-92spm, the ground reaction forces as a result of the effects of gravity are markedly diminished. Think about it. The lower your stride rate, the longer the stride, the more time you are in the air, the more down force there will be on landing. The effect is disproportionate with the longer races, especially if there is an eccentric (downhill component) in the run. The energy cost is much higher, the involvement of supportive or postural muscle groups is much higher (sometimes a contributing cause of injury; e.g. Illiotibial Band tightness as a result of fatigue and tightening of Glute Med. & Tensor Fascia Latae) and the likelihood of much earlier muscular fatigue.

Early in your base preparation, your form focus should be on mastering this stride rate of 88-92spm. Like any training stimulus, gradually increase the volume of work, focusing on this more efficient running action. For example, in a 30 minute run you could work on running at 90spm every 5 minutes. Over time increase the frequency of the stride rate emphasis and the duration you are doing it for. Realize that a higher stride rate does involve the hip flexors in action a lot more, so to offset the likelihood of excessive tightness in these muscle groups, increase the volume of stretching for Illio-psoas and Rectus Femorus (Hip Flexors).

Here is something else for you to ponder. If you have limited flexibility, specifically tight hamstrings that reduce your stride length even at an optimal rate (88-92spm), this could be markedly affecting your race times. Look at this equation as an example:-

100mm/10cm reduction in stride length
X 90 strides per minute
X 240 minutes (four hour Marathon)
= 2.16km
@ 5 Minute 40 second/ Kilometre pace
= 12 minutes 17 seconds additional time!
Yes, flexibility and stretching is important!!!

By Andrew Budge.