Let’s give those distance intervals a rest and concentrate exclusively on leg turnover this week with some cadence drills. A simple cadence drill involves counting your steps for a minute, taking a rest minute, and then counting your steps again for a minute trying to increase your step count by 2-5 steps. Count on one side and repeat 10-15 times. Your base cadence will probably lie somewhere in the 75-85 steps per minute range and you should aim to get your final few repetitions in the 90-95 range. Most elite runners typically race with a cadence of 92-98 steps per minute and research also finds that when increasing race pace, the elites increase their stride length while their cadence remains more or less the same. For triathletes, matching your running cadence to your cycling cadence will make it far easier to make the transition from the run to the bike without blowing up in the first mile of the run or falling over with locked up hamstrings.
Warmup: 10′
Workout: 15 x (1m cadence x 1m rest)
Cooldown: 10′
Post-cooldown: strides, leg swings, high knees, butt kicks
Promoting running and multisport activities on Cape Cod and the Islands since 1976.
