CadenceStride rate · Step rate

Cadence is the number of steps or pedal revolutions per minute. In running it is usually counted as total steps for both feet; in cycling it is crank revolutions.

The number that gets quoted for running is 180 steps per minute, which came from observations of elite runners at racing pace and then hardened into a universal target it was never meant to be. Optimal cadence varies with height, leg length, speed and terrain, and most recreational runners sit somewhere in the 160s or 170s at easy pace quite appropriately.

Where it is genuinely useful is as a lever on stride length. Increasing cadence slightly at the same speed shortens the stride, which tends to reduce overstriding and lower the loading on the knee, and that has been used successfully in managing some running injuries.

The size of the change matters. Modest increases, in the region of 5 to 10%, are tolerated and can help; large deliberate changes usually worsen running economy in the short term because you are replacing a pattern your body optimised for one it has not learned.

Cadence also rises naturally with speed, so comparing your easy run cadence with a race number, or with a friend running faster, is comparing different things.

In cycling the same caution applies. Preferred cadence varies widely, self selected cadence tends to be reasonably efficient, and forcing a number for its own sake achieves little.

In practice, treat cadence as a tool for a specific problem, usually overstriding or knee pain, rather than as a metric to optimise, and change it in small steps if you change it at all.