Hitting Your Stride

Stride length is the length of your step when either walking or running. Everyone has their own stride length based on their height, length of legs and etc. Changing this stride can actually put you at risk for injury depending on your biomechanics or level of ability.

Focusing on your stride rate as a new runner can change your level of efficiency. Through research it has been found that average runners take approximately 180 steps/minute. To determine your stride rate, count each foot strike, while running, for one minute (ie, right, left, right, left—1, 2, 3, 4). If you take less than 180 steps/minute, practice taking quicker steps.

Pace Yourself

Stride rate can easily flow in to pacing. Your effort of running should always remain comfortable enough to hold a normal conversation. If you are too winded to talk, you should be slowing down. But say you never have run on a regular basis. How do you get to the point that you can run and hold a conversation? The following program combines running and walking over a 30-minute period:

Over a succession of weeks the program evolves to continuous running for 30 minutes or about 3 miles. The first week, you would begin running 2 minutes, walking 4 minutes and repeat this sequence 4 times for a total of 30 minutes. A day of rest would follow before continuing. You would complete this 4 days during the first week.

Week 2 consists of running 3 minutes, walking 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes, over 4 days. The third week consists of running 5 minutes, walking 2 minutes, for a total of 30 minutes.

You get the idea!! The natural progression is to slowly decrease the walking times and increase the running times. If a certain number of minutes seems to hard, spend an extra week running that time before increasing further. It is important to have a day off between runs to allow your muscles to accommodate to the new stresses. This is where stretching comes in to play.

Stretches for Runners: Body Links to Better Running