Jackie Dowdeswell
You probably mostly hear cadence referred to when talking about the bike, and in this context it is revolutions per minute, or rpm (i.e., the number of pedal strokes you make in 1 minute). However, cadence is also relevant to running, where it is also known as stride rate. Similar to the bike, this refers to the number of steps you make in 1 minute.
When measuring cadence, there are gadgets available to keep things simple and easy. Many bike computers have cadence monitors, and bike GPS units may come with the option of an add-on cadence sensor. For the run, you can use a metronome or tempo trainer, which both beep at an interval you set, to help monitor cadence. These gadgets are useful, yes, but they aren’t absolutely necessary if you have the ability to count (however, when fatigued this ability might be impaired). For bike or run cadence, you can just time yourself for 15 seconds and simply count your number of pedal strokes or steps. Then, multiply this number by 4 for your number per minute. For both the bike and the run, you will soon get a “feel” for what your cadence is. Having similar bike and run cadences makes transitioning from bike to run easier to do. As it happens, the optimal cadences you should be aiming for on the bike is 80 to 100 rpm and 180 steps per minute for the run. Regardless of how you have ridden the bike leg of your race, use the last mile or so to start spinning with a lower gear and higher cadence, as you learned in the previous chapter.
This chapter covers cadence for both the bike and run—from what the ideals are to how you should train to achieve these ideals and when you should diverge from them. Also covered is how pacing links into maintaining these “perfect” cadences.
Efficiency and Economy:
What Are They, and What’s the Difference?
Throughout this chapter, efficiency is mentioned multiple times relating to both the bike and run because a perfect cadence is efficient. However, the term economy is also used, particularly in relation to running. There is some confusion about what these mean, and the terms are often used (incorrectly) interchangeably. Overall, improving efficiency will improve economy, which will allow you to go farther or faster at your given level of fitness.
Economy is the amount of oxygen consumed relative to weight and speed. For example, two bikers may use different amounts of oxygen per kilogram per minute to maintain the same speed. The one who uses the lesser amount is said to be more economical. (Think of a gas-guzzling car versus one that isn’t a gas-guzzler.) Ultimately, if you improve your economy of motion (the amount of oxygen you use for a movement), then you will be wasting less energy (oxygen consumption) and will be able to go farther or faster using the same amount of oxygen—both in training and in races.
Efficiency is one of the factors that contribute to economy. Efficiency is usually used as a looser term to describe how your body makes use of its energy mechanically to produce its output (your running or biking speed). Technically it can be measured as a ratio by comparing the amount of energy consumed to produce a given amount of energy (work), but it is not necessary to go into that sort of detail here.
Bike Cadence
For an endurance sport such as triathlon, regardless of the distance of the race you’re training for, you want to be the most efficient on the bike—that is, to make sure you use your available energy in the best way possible to go farther or faster or both given your current level of fitness. Technique is key for improving efficiency on the bike, and cadence is one important element of cycling efficiency. Good technique, including cadence, is also one of the keys to minimizing injury. Knowing what cadence you should aim for and then how to practice and train with it is an important part of bike and triathlon training.
Setting Your Perfect Cadence
Your cadence is directly related to which gear you select. Selecting a gear that results in your cadence being 80 to 100 rpm is optimal for triathletes. To do this usually necessitates choosing an easy (low) gear to allow high rpm and is often referred to as “spinning.”
A cadence of 80 to 100 is the most efficient range for triathletes because it results in less muscle fatigue and less stress on the cardiovascular system compared with pushing a harder gear at a lower rpm. A good analogy for understanding this is to compare it with weightlifting—it is much easier to lift a 1-pound (.5 kg) weight 100 times than it is to lift a 50-pound (25 kg) weight twice.
Pedaling with a cadence less than 70 rpm (known as “mashing”) will result in quicker fatigue and more cardiovascular stress, and it also increases the risk of injury, particularly of the knees because cycling with lower cadences places a lot of stress on these joints. This does not mean you should never use lower cadences—every workout has a purpose, and the purpose of some workouts may involve lower gears (see Training Your Bike Cadence on page 162). The 80 to 100 guide is for normal cycling when not doing some other cadence-specific training within a workout.
Improving Your Bike Efficiency With Cadence
To improve your cadence takes practice. The preparation and early base training phases are great times to work on all aspects of technique, and cadence is an important one of those. However, cadence work and skills can continue throughout your season.
If you are not used to pedaling with a cadence as high as 80 to 100 rpm, then you may find that your effort seems high for the speed you are going. Like any new skill, there is an adaptation period, and so if this is new to you, it is a good reason to start work on it early in your season. It is well worth persevering for the long-term benefits. The more you practice your desired movement, the better your nervous system becomes at producing this movement by activating the correct muscle patterns to produce it, and the easier it will become. There are of course many “pure” cyclists who have a natural, normal cadence in excess of 100 rpm. If you find your natural or comfortable cadence is in excess of 100 rpm, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, for triathletes the 80 to 100 rpm range is considered optimal, particularly because they have to run after they get off the bike.
There are various skills and drills you can do to practice increasing and maintaining your bike cadence (some examples you may like to try are included later). For general riding, the following would be a sensible progression:
1. Get comfortable pedaling with a cadence in the range of 80 to 100 rpm on flat terrain or on an indoor trainer.
2. Go out and find constantly changing terrain, and learn to change your gears as often as needed to keep your cadence within the 80 to 100 rpm range, regardless of incline or decline (although see notes on steep hills in the next section). Learn to think ahead so you are anticipating what gears you need to change to in order to maintain this cadence. Another variation is cycling in different weather conditions. Be able to maintain your cadence even when cycling into a strong headwind and while cycling with a tailwind.
3. As you progress through your training and are able to do these first two exercises, then you can start to practice using more of your muscle power to maintain this ideal cadence range rather than constantly changing gears.
Maintaining Bike Cadence on Hills
Although it is reasonably straightforward to practice and maintain cadence while pedaling along a flat route, the reality is you will usually encounter a variety of hills, big and small, not only in day-to-day training but also in races. Knowing how to ride hills, not just to get to the top of them but to do so in the most efficient, nonfatiguing way, is another important part of bike training for triathlon. Maintaining a cadence in the ideal range can help with this.
Biking Uphill
For most hills, especially long ones, it is far more efficient to use your gears to shift to lower (easier) gears and maintain your cadence by spinning up the hills within your normal cadence range (hopefully 80 to 100 rpm). There will occasionally be hills that are just far too long or too steep for you to maintain this cadence. You will have to let your cadence drop, but generally aim to get it back within range as soon as you can so as not to overly fatigue your muscles.
Apart from those times on particularly long or steep hills where your cadence decreases by necessity rather than choice, there may be the occasional situation when lower cadence could be used beneficially, albeit for short periods only. An example is on long or steep hills when you feel the need to stand. Standing for a few seconds can break the monotony of a long climb. In a close short-distance race such as a sprint-distance triathlon, standing can also be used for a quick burst of power up a hill or to put space between you and nearby competitors. Generally, though, you should try to remain seated to maintain efficiency and to save your muscles for the run after your bike. Pure cyclists use standing a lot more, but they do not need to run off the bike. Standing requires more power and so necessitates recruitment of more fast-twitch muscle fibers—the ones that fatigue quickly and recover slowly. Although cycle racers may be able to push through to the end of a race, triathletes have to run afterward, so it is important to save these fibers for late in the run when you may need to recruit them as you fatigue. If you do feel the need to stand, then make sure you anticipate this and change gears accordingly (higher gear for standing).
You may find that the most efficient way to climb is to be in the lower part of your comfortable cadence range for climbing, even if you prefer the higher part of this range when spinning on flat terrain. This again takes practice to find what works best for you. Keep your cadence high right up to and over the top of the hill until gravity starts working with you rather than against you. With time and practice, you will learn to feel and anticipate your cadence changing as you climb, so use your gears and effort to maintain it. The key of course to learning these skills and making them automatic is to practice.
As you learn and practice, you may like to use tools such as a bike cadence monitor, a heart rate monitor, a power meter, or perceived exertion (see page 119 in chapter 9 for more information about the rating of perceived exertion, or RPE). For example, if your cadence is dropping as you go up a hill, or even if you are managing to maintain your cadence but your effort is increasing (as shown by heart rate, power, or perceived exertion), or even if your cadence is increasing at a summit, these tools can be effective to remind you when to change gears—both into a lower gear when climbing or into a higher gear when descending. Try not to rely too much on these gadgets, though—as you learn and practice, try to change gears by feel, with the gadgets just as checks.
Biking Downhill
When going downhill, whether you pedal or not depends on several factors such as the steepness of the hill and how much recovery you need from biking up the hill. If the downhill slope is not that steep, then you may find you can keep pedaling. Similar to uphill, you should aim to keep your cadence in the optimal 80 to 100 rpm range, although hopefully it will feel easier than when you were going uphill. However, you may find that you need to or would prefer to coast for a while to recover from the effort of going uphill. Alternatively, you can choose a very easy gear and “spin” your legs at 80 to 100 rpm at a very easy effort as an active recovery. If you are a more experienced triathlete racing shorter-distance triathlons (such as sprint-distance triathlons), then you could keep your effort high on downhill slopes by changing to higher gears and continuing to push yourself.
For steeper hills, the time to stop pedaling and coast is when you can gain more speed holding a tightly tucked aero position on your bike than you can with pedaling. If you continue pedaling at this point, you’re just wasting energy because you would be going that speed without pedaling anyway. You also don’t want to get to the point where your legs spin around so fast that you end up “bouncing” in the saddle while pedaling. This is not only a waste of energy but also unsafe from a stability point of view, particularly at the higher speeds you will likely be achieving down a hill.
A quick but important safety note: Never let yourself go so fast down a hill that you feel out of control or your bike gets a speed wobble. Always feel confident that you are in control, and always feel confident that you will be able to brake if necessary. Of course road safety is another area altogether, but when you are going downhill at these increased speeds, it is necessary to be extra aware of your surroundings and traffic patterns, regardless of whether in training or in a race.
Maintaining Bike Cadence While Managing Pace
Although you should be aiming to keep your cadence in the ideal range, the gears you select to do this will depend on the overall effort you are maintaining. Triathlons by their nature are endurance events, and your overall effort or pace should be guided by the distance of your race, the purpose of your workout, your fitness, and your overall racing goals.
As a general guide while racing, even for shorter events you should minimize the time (if any) you spend above your anaerobic (lactate) threshold, which is the point where your anaerobic energy system becomes dominant. You should be able to feel this as your breathing becomes labored and your effort unsustainable. This level of effort is extremely fatiguing; the energy systems and muscle patterns used are slow to recover, and they are best saved for a last burst at the end of a race if used at all. Even if you do not have a coach providing you with a race plan, you should have researched or ridden the course and thought about how you intend to ride it. You should know whether to expect hills or flat terrain, how many, how steep, what part of the course, and so on so you are not only prepared on race day but also able to simulate the race course in training as part of your preparation.
The effort you plan will be dependent on length of race, experience, fitness, and goals. For example, an experienced sprint-distance triathlete will likely aim for an effort just below his anaerobic threshold for the entire race, whereas a first-time Ironman-distance triathlete may aim to stay at a comfortable endurance-effort pace for the whole race. Whether you train and race by feel (your perceived exertion, or RPE, as discussed in chapter 9), heart rate, or power, use your gears to remain as far as you can in your ideal cadence range and to maintain your cadence on varied terrain or in wind while keeping your effort at your planned intensity, which may include easy recovery rides to efforts in excess of anaerobic threshold. The exception to this of course is when the purpose of the workout is deliberately higher or lower cadence, as discussed in the next section on higher- and lower-cadence training.
Training Your Bike Cadence
Although most of your training should be done within your ideal cadence range, training should also incorporate both higher and lower cadences as explained here. Higher cadence refers to a cadence above the normal range of 80 to 100 rpm (e.g., spinning at a cadence in excess of 100 rpm). Conversely, lower cadence refers to a cadence below the normal range (e.g., maintaining a cadence of 60 to 70 rpm).
Higher-Cadence Work
Higher-cadence work should initially take place early in the season, such as the preparation and early base periods, often as part of skill and technique development. Early in the season, and if you are new to this type of training, you should keep the effort and gears fairly easy—although if you are completely new to higher-cadence work, you may find the initial effort of just achieving the higher cadences seems challenging. As you progress through your season or if you are more experienced, then you can work on maintaining these cadences with increased effort and intensity by using higher (harder) gears. Drills such as spin-ups or intervals can be done throughout the year.
Spin-Ups
Spin-ups are good to do during a recovery week or several times during an endurance ride. To do these, increase your cadence over a certain period of time to maximum. To know if you are at your maximum, keep increasing cadence until you are starting to bounce in the saddle. Back off slightly (so you are no longer bouncing), hold for the remaining time, then ease off and recover completely before the next one. Relax and try to make it feel effortless. An example is six to eight 30-second spin-ups with 4 minutes and 30 seconds of recovery in between. Don’t forget to include a warm-up and cool-down before and after.
Intervals
There are numerous ways of incorporating high-cadence work into any workout, thus creating interval work. All you need to do is focus on maintaining a high cadence for a certain amount of time. This can be for very specific periods of higher than normal cadence, or you can just monitor it while you are out riding. Examples include the following:
Six to eight sets of 30-second sprints, aiming to keep your cadence above 100 rpm
Several sets of 2 to 5 minutes at a cadence above 100 rpm, a 2-minute recovery above 80 rpm, another 1 to 2 minutes at a cadence above 110 rpm, and then a 2-minute recovery above 80 rpm
A 10- to 30-minute spin in an easy gear right at the top of your normal comfortable range (the aim being to shift your comfort range upward by getting used to it)
You could also practice higher-cadence work during your warm-up by setting targets for yourself (e.g., to keep cadence above 80 or 90 rpm, since you’re using easier gears).
Lower-Cadence Work
In triathlon racing, you should minimize the amount of time you need a lower cadence, so lower-cadence work is not particularly specific to triathlon training. For this reason, although lower-cadence training does have its uses, it is best done early in the season. As you get nearer your racing season, the relevance of lower-cadence training decreases, and you should be focusing on other aspects of cycle training (e.g., threshold workouts at higher cadences).
Nevertheless, benefits of lower-cadence training include the following:
Increased range of cadences at which you can pedal comfortably. Although hopefully you will not often need the lower cadence, it is still a good skill to have—for example, on a tough hill where you have run out of gears (of course, there could be an entire chapter devoted to gear selection for your race course).
Increased leg strength if force on the bike is one of your limiters. Lower-cadence interval work is a good leg strengthener, but bear in mind the specificity of triathlon racing, and do this type of training early on in your season.
Improved muscular endurance through hilly terrain riding (allowing your cadence to drop on hills is a good way to improve muscular endurance).
For any ride that includes lower-cadence work, it is important to warm up thoroughly first for 20 to 40 minutes. Then, a good example of low-cadence training is multiple sets of 3 to 10 minutes at a lower cadence (e.g., 65 to 70 rpm), with easy spinning recovery in between, starting with fewer repetitions and lower interval times and working up gradually. When completing lower-cadence work, you can allow your cadence to drop into the 60s, but do not go below this level because it puts excessive load on your knees, which increases the risk of injury or inflammation. Also, lower-cadence work while on a trainer or using hills outside should be done primarily while remaining seated—specific to triathlon racing where you should remain seated as much as possible.
Run Cadence
Just as for cycling, regardless of the distance of the race you are training for, you want your run cadence, or stride rate, to be as efficient as possible. This is particularly important in the triathlon, where the run is usually last and is therefore going to use your remaining energy.
Technique is again key to improving efficiency and minimizing injury. Running form is something you should be constantly working on, and you’ll learn more about running form in terms of body position and breathing in the next chapter. However, here we’ll talk specifically about form as it pertains to setting your perfect cadence (or stride rate).
Setting Your Run Cadence
In addition to stride rate, stride length is another factor that determines how fast you run. Stride length is the distance you cover with each step. To increase your speed, you need to increase your stride rate, your stride length, or both. Changing one of these usually changes the other. The best way to run faster (at a given level of effort) is to increase your run cadence while maintaining or even decreasing your stride length. Increasing cadence is a more economical way to increase speed than increasing stride length, and some of the reasons why are explained next. As you learned at the beginning of this chapter, the more economical you are, the faster you can run at any given effort.
Run cadence will vary from person to person depending on size (in particular leg length) and running ability. It is easier to move a short leg faster than a long leg, but the long one covers more distance with each step. Of course there are always exceptions, but generally top-class runners and triathletes run with cadences in excess of 180 steps per minute, regardless of their height. Getting technical for a few moments, some of the reasons for this are as follows:
The longer your foot is in contact with the ground on each stride, the more time there is for the stored elastic energy to dissipate, and so less energy is returned on your elastic recoil response. This results in your muscles having to contract more forcefully for the same overall effect. To benefit from elastic recoil response, you want your foot in contact with the ground for the least amount of time per stride. For a given pace, longer strides mean more contact time with the ground—for this given pace it is beneficial to keep contact time short by reducing stride length and increasing cadence. Tall runners (longer leg length) take strides proportionally shorter to their leg length to do this compared with shorter runners (shorter leg lengths).
A longer stride requires more vertical displacement, which is the height your body moves from the surface it is running on. To visualize this, imagine throwing a baseball 20 feet (65 m) or 50 feet (165 m)—the shorter the distance, the flatter you can throw. Good running form shows minimal vertical displacement. A more forceful contraction is required to overcome vertical displacement—energy that would be better used moving forward.
In both these cases, longer strides necessitate more forceful contraction of the muscles. This will result in muscle fatigue earlier than if contracting them with less force and more frequently (remember, lifting a 1-pound weight 100 times is easier than lifting a 50-pound weight twice). This is due in part to the need to use your fast-twitch (forceful but not good endurance) muscle fibers to top up on the force needed, whereas at lower forces your slow-twitch endurance muscles can primarily cope with the load.
Many age-group runners have a cadence significantly slower than 180 steps per minute. Overstriding is often a main contributor to this. This common running problem can lead to injury and is uneconomical—if your foot lands in front of your body (your center of gravity), then it acts as a brake. To take your next step, you have to use energy to move your body (center of gravity) over your outstretched foot.
Generally, most age-groupers can benefit their running by increasing their cadence until it reaches around 180 or more. If you are shorter, you may more easily get slightly in excess of this. If you are particularly tall, then you might find you can only get to a few steps fewer than this.
Improving Run Efficiency With Cadence
Working on good overall running form—in particular, by paying attention to where your foot lands in relation to your body to eliminate overstriding—often results in a higher cadence. Your foot should land beneath your center of gravity (easiest to visualize as beneath your hips). You may also find that a very slight lean forward (from the ankles, not the waist) helps increase cadence (body position for good running form is discussed in more detail in the next chapter).
You must teach your body to run at a faster cadence—the nerves and muscles need to get used to firing and contracting or relaxing at a faster rate. The best time to focus on increasing running cadence is early season and during recovery and endurance runs throughout your season. Early season is best because it gives you time to ingrain new good habits. Also, at first you will likely feel you are taking “baby steps” and running slower than you are used to for a given effort. This is temporary. Higher cadence is a skill that has to be learned—old habits are hard to break. Your speed will return and your effort will go back to your normal expectations over the next months. Persevere and you will be rewarded long term with better form, increased speed, and reduced chance of injuries.
Maintaining Run Cadence on Hills
As discussed earlier for bike cadence, it is easier to practice and maintain cadence, or stride rate, while training on flat terrain, but in reality you will likely need to run up and down hills. Using an ideal cadence together with good running form can make running hills less exhausting.
Running Uphill
When running uphill, ideally you would like to maintain your speed. The simplest and most efficient way to do this is by shortening your stride slightly and increasing your cadence slightly. Of course for some hills, maintaining speed will not be practical or possible. You should still aim to maintain or even increase your cadence even though this will mean shortening your stride. This will result in optimal speed while minimizing muscular fatigue.
Running Downhill
The most important factor when running downhill is to make sure you stay in control. Within that, use gravity and good running form to help you get down the hill. You should be able to maintain your cadence. If it is a steep downhill, you may need to shorten your stride to maintain control and cadence. For many downhills, you may find that your stride length will increase as you maintain your cadence. Let it do this naturally while maintaining good form.
Maintaining Cadence While Managing Pace
Managing your pace (sometimes called running speed) or effort (sometimes called intensity) is very important for running success, both in training and racing triathlons. When referring to pace, many people think of going faster or slower (i.e., increasing or decreasing your running pace). However, you should really be managing your effort for most training because many things out of your control can affect your pace even with a constant effort, such as terrain and weather conditions. Just as for cycling, run pace or effort required for a specific race or workout is dependent on variables such as length of race, purpose of workout, fitness, and goals.
An ideal cadence of around 180 steps per minute can be maintained regardless of terrain or effort required for a particular workout or race. It is important to learn to run at different paces (speeds) or efforts and not just gravitate to one pace or effort, which many age-groupers do because they think they are getting a good workout. You can’t expect to improve your running speed if you never run at faster paces. On the opposite side of the pace spectrum, you can’t expect to perform your key workouts to the best of your ability if you haven’t taken recovery runs at an easy enough pace or effort. This is where the benefit of a structured training program (or use of a coach) will come in to maximize personal potential and minimize performance stagnation.
Training Your Run Cadence
Training your cadence usually means training to increase or maintain a higher cadence, aiming toward the ideal of 180 steps per minute or more. If you want to run at a particular cadence, then you have to teach your body to run at that cadence. The nerves and muscles need to get used to firing and contracting or relaxing at that specific rate. So to increase your running cadence, you need to practice. Many running drills can help with this, and some are explained here.
Strides
Strides are short bursts of running at an increased pace or speed. They can (and should) be used throughout your training season and are also good to do in the warm-up before races. Strides are purely technique based to teach your nerves and muscles to fire and contract faster. They are not designed to fatigue and should be performed with perfect form, with full recovery in between (walking or easy jogging). Pace should not be all-out but approximately your 5K race pace, one where you can aim for quick turnover of your feet and maintain perfect form. Ideally, sprints should be done on a very slightly downhill or flat terrain. An example is four to eight 20-to 30-second strides either within or at the end of a workout, with an easy jog back to the starting point as recovery.
Downhill Running
Downhill runs are similar to strides but are performed on a moderate (less than 8 percent) slope. For these you should allow gravity to pull you down, working on making your feet keep up with a fast turnover. Keep good running form—slightly leaning forward to allow gravity to assist (if you lean back you are working against gravity). An example is four to eight 30-second sessions of downhill running, with easy recovery of a couple of minutes in between (e.g., walk back up to the top).
Accelerations
Accelerations are another speed activity that requires high cadence. They are short bursts of running where you gradually increase your pace (speed). This teaches your body to run efficiently at faster speeds than you are used to, using short distances and a fast foot turnover. Choose a distance of approximately 100 yards or meters, and gradually build your speed throughout, with a full recovery between accelerations (e.g., an easy jog or walk to get your breathing and heart rate back down and under control, to what they were before the acceleration). Like strides, these are not designed to fatigue and can be done year round. An example is four to eight 100-meter accelerations, walking back to the start as recovery.
Cadence Monitoring
You can set a cadence monitor (e.g., metronome or tempo trainer) to beep at a specific cadence and then aim to keep your stride in line with the beeps. To use this tool effectively, first find your current cadence by counting a few times, and then gradually over the next weeks or months, increase your cadence by setting the monitor at successively higher cadences (e.g., increasing two steps per minute per week). Take your time so as not to put undue stress on your body—it may take several seasons to increase your cadence to your desired level.
Cadence Counting
Counting your cadence on runs is easy to do, and all you need is a watch. If you know your cadence, you can work on increasing or maintaining it. Simply count your strides (of either your left foot or right foot) for 15 seconds at various points on your run, and multiply by 4 for a cadence per minute per foot. For example, if you do 23 left foot strikes in 15 seconds, that is 92 per minute per foot, which equates to 184 per minute total for both feet; this is a good cadence to maintain.
Running in Place
Running in place while monitoring cadence is a good way to get used to the feel of a higher cadence. Running in place is as simple as it sounds—you move your legs as if you were running, but you don’t move forward. In this position you can increase your cadence without the added energy required to move your body forward. A clock or watch in front of you (rather than looking at your wrist as you would if running normally) is also a good way to monitor and increase your cadence without disrupting your running form for an even better feel. If you have enough room, you can try moving a short distance forward to see if you can maintain that cadence. Remember, you don’t need to run in place for long to get the benefit; just a few minutes is sufficient. Once you have gotten the feel of a higher cadence, pay attention to making sure your good running form is also maintained.
Skipping
Most people can think back to childhood when they first discovered how to skip. If you need a reminder, to skip you take a step with one foot, then a hop on the same foot, before taking a step with the other foot, followed by a hop—so there is a double impact for each foot as you move forward. Skipping can help increase the intensity of your recoil response and calf muscle contraction and also train your neuromuscular system to fire quickly. You can combine this drill with other drills (e.g., by skipping back to the start after every stride on a strides workout). An example is four to eight sets of skipping 10 times on each leg, walking back to the start as recovery.
Running Barefoot on Grass
Run barefoot on grass for 30 seconds to 1 minute several times, and you will find not only that you run with a lighter step but also that your cadence will probably naturally increase. This happens because running barefoot without the support of running shoes lets your body run more naturally, where you land on your forefoot, often resulting in a higher cadence. Without the cushion of a running shoe to protect your feet, you will also find that you land more lightly. An added benefit is it strengthens your feet because you learn to use your foot muscles, which get lazy when always supported by a shoe. Do not be tempted to do too much of this, particularly to start with, because it takes your body a while to get used to. Just focus on how it feels, and run barefoot for a minute or two before a run, then put your shoes on and go for your planned run, trying to re-create the feeling and cadence during your warm-up.
You have learned in this chapter that an ideal cadence is important for both cycling and running. Cadence is a key element of efficient technique for both cycling and running, resulting in minimizing fatigue and reducing chances of injury—both vital for an endurance sport such as triathlon. The ideal cadence is in the range of 80 to 100 rpm for the bike and at or above 180 steps per minute for running, regardless of terrain or workout effort (the exception being a workout set purposely out of these ranges). These cadences are often higher than inexperienced or age-group triathletes are used to.
Improving cadence takes practice, and it can take many years to become completely natural. There are many drills to help achieve an ideal cadence, and these can be integrated into training plans throughout any training and racing season. It is well worth persevering with practice to achieve these ideal cadences for long-term benefits. Be patient and you will be rewarded with faster speeds and reduced chance of injury.