A month ago, one of the runners I coach contacted me in a panic. We’ll call him “Adam.” He’s training for a sub-three-hour marathon and is, consequently, pouring himself into his training.
So far, everything in his preparation has been going to plan. He’s healthy. His workout times are solid. He’s hitting overall mileage levels that are challenging but manageable. Adam has also been feeling good for most of his training, so he’s right where I’d like him to be.
But Adam was panicking over his cadence. Last week, he ran two of his easy runs with an average cadence of 169 steps per minute. Usually, his cadence lands at around 170 to 171 steps per minute.
Was Adam right to panic over his cadence slipping ever so slightly? Was this a sign of excessive fatigue? Would this trend keep progressing over time?
Having this immediate, ongoing access to so many metrics about your running is both a blessing and a curse. In this case, Adam had nothing to worry about, but let’s discover why.
Drawbacks to Data
Now that runners have such unprecedented access to robust training and bodily data, it can be tempting to…
