Today was gray with rain threatening, so I decided to take my own advice and use the treadmill. If you remember, we learned already that our ability to run faster is determined by two factors: stride rate and stride length. For now I am working on increasing my stride rate (also known as turnover or cadence).

Increasing Stride Rate

Today was my easy run, so it seemed like a good opportunity to work on increasing my stride rate before tomorrow's long run. I set the treadmill at a comfortably slow pace – about my normal outdoor easy pace, or perhaps a little slower. I started off with a warmup and settled into my goal stride rate.

As expected, I found I needed to shorten my stride length to avoid running off the treadmill when I increased my stride rate. Even so, it was aerobically challenging at first, since I have now increased my turnover 20% over my normal slow lope. This is my second week in this program, at 10% increase per week.

The good news is that I was able to maintain this stride rate without too much discomfort - I found that after the initial effort it became a normal easy run. For me, treadmill runs are never easy, but by checking my cadence every minute or two and adjusting as needed, the time went by. The goal here is to get a feel for the goal stride rate so that it becomes automatic when I'm running outside with hills to contend with.

Changing Running Style

As I get comfortable with the new cadence, I find it possible to focus on good running form, which I will need before I can run faster. This means changing my style so that I land over the top of my foot, rather than running over my leading foot. It also requires me to bend my knees more than I am used to.

The idea here is to gradually work into a more efficient running style. I want to minimize the time my foot is in contact with the ground, land over the top of my foot, and push back behind me. These changes will all occur with time – I'm looking forward to seeing how they work on tomorrow's long run!

You may remember that I was starting from a really slow turnover – 60. My goal is to reach 90 or better, and I'm giving myself at least 5 weeks to get there. With the holidays coming up, I may well need more than that!

The increased efficiency I need to run faster will come later: I'm not bothering too much about it right now because it is better to focus on one thing at a time (stride rate). I can already feel a big difference between my old stride rate of 60 and the new one of 72. I'm not aiming to run faster yet – actually I'm a bit slower to accommodate the increased aerobic load – but that, too, will come with time.