Radio On

Apologies for the glut, but I'm making up for lost time, and plenty of ground to cover.

One of the key components of minimalist running is the runner's cadence—i.e. the number of foot strikes (or landings) you make in any given minute. I'm sure there's some Golden Ratio/Modulo business behind it, but the research apparently bears it out—the majority of elite runners hover somewhere around 180 strikes per minute. That's not to be confused with pace. There is of course a roughly correlative relationship, just not a strictly causal one; it is possible, if challenging, to maintain a cadence of 180 and an 11-minute mile.

What it does relate to, however, are all of the other elements of Good Form; a quicker cadence generally means a shorter stride, which in turn encourages you to land under your center of mass, which helps to lead you to a midfoot landing. Et cetera, et cetera.

Why it just occurred to me now to tailor my running playlist to that rhythm is a bit of a mystery. I spent a few hours this week with a BPM counter to find songs between 175-190 bpm or, alternately, 87-95 bpm.

(Side discovery? It's surprising how narrowing that is—most dance music is very intentionally between 120-140. What does happen to be in the right range, generally? Power Pop. And, funny enough, most of the songs I wrote back in the Anushka Pop days. Score ;) )


It's made a real, appreciable difference, at least so far this week. My cadence feels much more consistent, and as a result much more efficient. Also, it's surprising how correct that rhythm feels; there were some inevitable moments where the beat would rise or fall as much as 10bpm, and matching that absolutely felt strange, either too fast or too slow.

I haven't taken a read of my pace since, but it certainly feels fast (for me, anyway). I'll miss the mid tempo songs, though hopefully I can just make the proper cadence inborn over time.