Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Lift Foot Up - Don't Push Off = Improved Cadence

FORM
Today I found out what lifting the foot up and not pushing off felt like.  I tried to run slower, keep the heart rate lower and focus on lifting the foot up.  Definitely uses different muscles and my toes seem to like it better as well.  I think I'll need to continue focusing on this technique, but I liked it while running.  Though it felt a bit like I was marching, but that might smooth out with more practice.

CADENCE
I'm often a geek and almost always run with my heart rate monitor and GPS.  I don't always pay attention to the numbers while running, unless I have something specific I'm working on.  But I still wear it to keep a record of my activities.  Today after my run I glanced at the numbers and was surprised to see a lot of little green cadence dots (cadence of 160 or greater) in the beginning of my run, before I slowed my pace down.  My cadence has always been low so to see so many green dots was very encouraging. Even after I slowed down my cadence was higher than normal with a few rare green dots showing.  Even going up hill I got no red dots (cadence below 152).  My cadence held to a pretty straight line. My stride length has also decreased from 80+ meters to 70 m.

I am now very anxious to see if this trend holds, while I continue to learn this new method of running.  It could be the breakthrough I have been seeking for a long time.  Now it is harder then ever to keep my miles down and take it easy.  I'm even more excited then ever to get out and run.


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