So, I purchased the little footpod for my Garmin. Remember, I am a gadget girl. It attaches very easily onto my shoe. I actually decided to put it in my little amphipod shoe pocket instead of on the laces with their little gizmo. I thought the added protection offered less chance of it disappearing.
Running cadence is the amount of times that your foot strikes the pavement in one minute.
After my first run with the gizmo, my running cadence is 83spm (steps per minute). Now, Garmin only counts one foot's fall...so I had to multiply this times two to get to the standard definition of 166spm. I think Garmin keeps this consistent with their biking cadence counter, as cycling usually refers to only one full rotation of the wheel (therefore, for consistency, only one foot is required for running). This seems counter to the normal definition, but so be it.
Apparently, world class marathon athletes have a steps per minute of 100-110. That is fast. And sprinters have a spm up to 200!
At least I was pretty consistent throughout my run though....anywhere from 80-85. But I probably need to concentrate on my cadence and watch that on my garmin throughout.
The ideal is supposedly between 180-190spm (so my garmin goal would be 75-80spm). I'm quite shy of that, aren't I. Should I work on this or work on my pace? Can both be improved simultaneously? I suppose if you improve one, you are probably improving the other, right? One thing I know is that I shouldn't try to overstride to improve my pace, but rather increase my cadence!
Did your Garmin display your cadence while you were running, so you could adjust accordingly? If so, which model do you have? I am struggling finding a gps watch that displays cadence during my runs
ReplyDeleteGarmin 405...if you have the shoe accessory, yes the cadence does show on my watch!
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