Here is a skill that is still vital but can be somewhat
neglected in this day and age of excessive electronics. To develop a sense of pace, certain things
are necessary. Awareness involves
knowing things that are ordinarily beyond our specific focus. Every pace has a
different feeling. If we look at pace by
one min/mile increments, the difference is enough to be quite noticeable. There
is a distinct difference in the feeling of running 10 min miles vs. nine minute
miles. The same is true of 8,7,6,5, and 4 min/mile pace. Most humans who run regularly can reach these
paces for at least a few yards. But can you tell fairly accurately what pace you
are running at. Electronics are helpful but you won’t see athletes checking
their Garmin in a race. Personal awareness is still valuable. Here are several tips for developing a sense
of pace.
1.
Intentional variety! Run at of variety
of paces and get used to the feel and the difference. The only way to know a difference is to feel
the difference. A sense of pace requires experimentation. If your goal involves running on a track then
you will already be doing some intervals and workouts involving goal pace.
Experiment with a slightly faster and slightly slower pace too. You don’t want
to do all your work at race goal pace and you want to develop a sense of
difference. Determine what paces are important to you. If you are running mainly roads. Then take
the time to experiment with pace by using a known, measured course of a
mile. Run this at different paces, and
develop a felt sense of the difference.
Your body/mind is keeping track of all sorts of differences. Just give it a chance to compare. Pay attention, VARY your pace, and note the differences.
2.
Developing
an internal clock.
One of the major elements of pace, the one
we will talk about today is cadence. An
athletic cadence is generally around 180 steps per minute. This varies plus or
minus for different individuals. That means that you are striding 90 steps per
minute more or less with each leg. A
minute is 60 seconds. Remember the old technique for counting seconds? One thousand one, one thousand two, one
thousand three. Practice this until you
count can three seconds accurately. Now
count one two three, one two three, one two three, one two three to the same
cadence as one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three. Then say
right left right, right left right, right left right. If you start with right and end with right in
the time it takes to say one thousand one, then you have the difference between
one right foot strike and the next being equal to one second. This means that you would have 60 steps with
the right foot in one minute. That is
120 steps per minute. That is too slow but it gives a good baseline. What you are aiming for is one step with the
right foot in 2/3 of a second, and this is a noticeable increase in step tempo.
Notice that when you say one two three, right left right, that you want to hit
the second count on the right foot just noticeably before one second expires.
This sounds complicated but it is really not. Make this a game. Just play with
it a bit and you will benefit. Now download a metronome that gives 180 beats
per minute
This link gives a hard sounding count. Make
your internal one two three, right, left right a softer sounding count and it
will be more valuable. Match your count to the count of the Metronome.
Practice! It doesn’t take a lot of
repetition to improve just pay attention to the feel of the count. Just a
little focus on these things will improve your skill.
1 How to improve control of stride rate. A stride rate of plus or minus 180 is
often talked about. You should experiment to find what is optimal for you. But
what is not often talked about is the ability to vary cadence. Athletes do not
run an entire race at the same cadence. It is important to be able to increase
your turnover even farther at the end of a race, in the last few yards or the
last stretch of road or trail. Don’t think that there is an optimal iron clad
cadence. Know how to vary it when it counts.
How can you take advantage of this idea? It
is important to understand how increased leg turnover is accomplished. Faster turnover comes from increased
lightness. To go faster, go lighter. To
increase stride turnover, use the thought of decreasing stride length slightly.
Focus entirely on quickness, lightness and ease. You might find, If
you saw yourself on video, that you stride length did not increase at all as
your quickness increased. But the thought of using less effort and having a
quicker but lighter turnover was a secret weapon. Often at the end of an event people want to
use more effort, to “try “harder, but skill and practice trump unskillful
effort. Take a look at how these
athletes finished a race. Count their cadence. One two three, one, two, three,
one, two, three. This is a great practice exercise. Count the finishing cadence
of top runners that you watch on youtube.
Count this finishing cadence and you will be
amazed.
Count one two three and also notice the
difference is skill level between Michael Johnson and the rest of the field
1. Know your current self. Do not try to use an increase of cadence ad
infinitum. Know your capacity in an
event. Use and appropriate increase in
stride rate at the appropriate time for you. When it counts the most use less
effort and more skill not the other way around.
Take care, thanks for reading - Scott
If you would like to receive our blog click here
If you would like to read the free e-book
The Runners Body/Mind click here
If you would like help with a specific
inury click here
If you would like to commit to improving
your running form click here
For questions regarding running , or for
information about Parkinsons or Cerebral Palsy
Call 541 536 4822
Transcendent-running .com
No comments:
Post a Comment