How to increase your cadence
First you’ll need to figure out what your current stride rate is. To do this, simply count the number of times your left leg hits the ground in a span of 30 seconds, then quadruple that number and—voila—that’s your overall cadence. Let’s say you count 40 left-foot strikes per 30 seconds: Your overall cadence would be 160 spm. From there, it’s easy to calculate a 5 to 10 percent increase.
Music can be a valuable tool to help your body and brain adapt to a quicker cadence.
The key is to make gradual changes. Increasing your stride rate too quickly can actually increase your injury risk, rather than reducing it.
Choose your music and make your playlist
Once you’ve determined your current running cadence, just add 5 to 10 percent to establish your new target running cadence. If your current cadence is 160 spm, a 5 percent increase would bring your target cadence to 168 spm.
Now for the fun part: Let’s choose some music!
Several sites—including JogTunes, iTunes and Spotify—allow users to search and compile playlists based on a song’s beats per minute. In our example, a search on JogTunes pulls up something that looks like this:
You’ll want to choose six to seven songs in a range around your new target cadence. You can then download those tracks from iTunes and place them in your new playlist. If you’d prefer to use songs you already own, you can utilize a site like SongBPM.com to figure out the beats per minute of your favorites.
Assuming you are going for a 50-minute run, you’d want to structure the playlist as follows:
Warmup: 2 to 3 songs
Start out with a few of your favorite songs for your warmup, preferably ones that will help you relax and ease into the run.
Cadence work: 3 to 4 songs
You’ll want to focus on cadence work for short distances during your runs. Try to maintain the new stride rate, but give your body time to adjust. Pick three to four songs from your target BPM range. On your run, focus on good form while running in time to the beat.
Mid-run mental break: 2 to 3 songs
Give your brain and body a bit of a break from focusing on that new cadence by choosing a few songs here to relax and run easy.
Cadence work: 2 to 3 songs
Choose another two to three songs in that ideal cadence range and refocus on hitting your target stride rate. Focus on having quick feet.
Cool down: 2 to 3 songs
Choose any songs you’d like to round out your workout.