Step, stride and cadence
Runners use two closely related measures:
- Step length: the distance from one foot’s contact to the other foot’s contact.
- Stride length: two steps, from one foot’s contact to the same foot’s next contact.
- Cadence: steps per minute, counting both feet.
Speed is simply cadence times step length, so if you know your pace and cadence you know your step length:
Step length = speed ÷ cadence
Example
At a 9:00 mile pace you cover 1,609 m in 9 minutes, about 179 m per minute. At a cadence of 165 steps per minute, each step covers 1.084 m, or 42.7 inches, and each stride 85.3 inches. That is about 62% of the height of a 5 ft 9 in runner, and about 1,485 steps per mile.
How runners go faster
To speed up, runners increase both step length and cadence, but mostly step length. At easy paces, recreational runners typically run at 150 to 175 steps per minute; at race pace, trained runners often exceed 180, and elite runners take steps of 1.8 to 2 m.
The 180 steps per minute myth
The often-quoted 180 spm came from observations of elite runners at race pace. It is not a universal target. Cadence naturally depends on height, leg length and speed. What matters is avoiding overstriding, landing with the foot far ahead of the body, which brakes each step and increases loading on the knee.
Should you change your cadence?
Studies show that raising cadence by 5 to 10% above your natural rate shortens the step, reduces impact forces and can help some runners with knee pain. Make the change gradually, with a metronome app or music at the target tempo, and only if you have a reason to.
Measuring cadence
Count the steps of one foot for 30 seconds and multiply by 4, or use a GPS watch or foot pod. Most watches also report average step length, so you can check this calculator against your own data.