Wow! So today I took all of the research I had done on cadence and put it to the test. I ran my .83 mile jog to the cemetery at a 9:18 pace and stopped to stretch.
After a good stretch I set out to find my cadence benchmark. I counted how many times my left foot hit the ground for 1 minute and multiplied it by 2, finding my cadence to be at 154. Knowing that the ideal cadence is supposed to 180, I knew I had some work to do!
I continued with the workout by putting 159 in my new Metronome app and ran to the beat for one minute. I had to adjust my stride to keep up, but I felt good! I increased it 5 more to 164 and ran for another minute. Still good! I bumped it up to 169 and felt like I was really having to adjust the way I was running. While not my ideal stride, I didn't feel any pain or uncomfortableness. So I finished out my loop in the cemetery and decided to run the .87 miles back at a 167 cadence.
What a difference! On my jog to the cemetery I was jogging at a comfortable pace but counting down how many more blocks I had until I could take a rest. On my jog back, I felt like I could run forever! I even added an extra few meters to the jog because I didn't want to walk anymore than I had to. I cannot believe what a difference this workout has made -- not physically, but mentally. I'm excited to try and run my three miles at my 167 cadence and push myself until I feel comfortable at that beautiful 180!
**Part 3 includes the easy jog inside the cemetery to cool down after my pushes. Tomorrow I'll share the pace of my cadence vigilant run!
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