A RECENT ARTICLE in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (JSCR) enhances our knowledge of what it takes to improve stride rate, a key factor in speed amelioration (1). As the previous essay in this book pointed out, your running speed is a function of two key variables, stride length and stride rate. In fact, your speed is simply stride length multiplied by stride rate. If — when you move along at your maximal intensity — you cover four meters with each stride and take 90 strides (180 steps) per minute, your max velocity is 4 × 90 = 360 meters per minute, or 6 meters per second. Expressed another way, your best-possible pace is 400/6 = 66.67 seconds per 400 meters.

This number is of much more than esoteric interest. As Leena Paavolainen, Heikki Rusko, and several other excellent researchers have pointed out, max running speed (defined as your best-possible velocity in a 20- to 50-meter race, embarked upon from a “flying” start) is a terrific predictor of your success in the mile, 3-K, 5-K, 10-K, and “even” the marathon. To put it another way, “anaerobic prowess” leads to great success in aerobic events. The bottom line is that the factors which are great for improving 20- to 50-meter sprint time (i.e., longer stride length and higher stride rate) are also wonderful for upping performance in long-distance events. For the latter, you just need to make sure you have the underlying physiological capacity necessary to sustain the higher speeds (associated with longer strides and loftier stride rates) you acquire during training. Become A Faster Runner

In the JSCR article, researchers from the National Academy of Sports Medicine and California State University-Chico took a look at what happens when good-quality collegiate sprinters run very fast while being simultaneously “towed” with an elastic cord. Although this might seem a little strange to you, there is a logical argument supporting this practice as a means of improving stride rate. Here’s the concept: You are running very fast, using your best-possible stride rate, but the elastic cord attached to your body forces you to move even more quickly (since the cord in effect continuously drags your body forward, adding additional velocity to the max speed which you are intrinsically capable of producing).

Since the elastic cord is making you move faster than you ordinarily do, you have no choice but to increase your stride rate (the number of steps you take per minute). Otherwise, your body will be unsupported at critical moments during the gait cycle, and you will topple forward onto your face.

Does this sound reasonable? Sure — in theory. But what actually happens when runners’ max speeds are artificially increased by means of an elastic tow rope? Is stride rate optimized?

If stride rate were truly upgraded as a result of tow training, it would be a good thing, of course. If you carried out a number of “towed” workouts, your nervous system would learn how to handle a higher stride rate, and — as long as stride length was not compromised — max running speed would be improved. Other runners would begin to worry about you, or — if they did not worry about you — they would at least begin to be concerned about your sudden, seemingly unexplainable and dramatic accelerations during races.

Well, brace yourself: I have a bit of bad news. In the Cal study, the elastic cord towing had no affect whatsoever on stride rate. Here, I’m not even talking about long-term changes in stride rate, the kind you might see after eight weeks of rigorous training. No, the elastic-cord towing did not even advance stride rate during workouts in which the elastic cord was utilized. Become A Faster Runner

That’s right: Stride rate (during maximal 20-meter sprints) was about 127.5 strides (255 steps) per minute – with and without the elastic-cord towing. To put it bluntly, the elastic-cord towing did not produce any change in stride rate during training. Thus, one would not expect elastic-cord towing to be a valid technique for improving stride rate over extended periods of work.

True, running speed with the elastic cord was greater, compared with velocity without the “free tow.” This makes sense: If you have an elastic cord pulling you along, you should be able to move faster than usual! This increase in speed was completely a function of stride length, which burgeoned by about 7 percent with the cord (from 1.9 to 2.03 meters per stride).

Does that mean that elastic-tow training is a great method for expanding stride length? Actually, no! As the Cal researchers (Rodney Corn and Duane Knudson) were able to point out, the fattening of stride length was not the result of greater force production by the runners’ leg muscles; it was almost entirely due to the pull of the elastic cord. Basically, the runners were responding to the cord-towing by positioning their feet further in front of their centers of mass with each foot strike, an effect which could actually enhance braking forces (and decrease speed) if carried over to non-towed running. Elastic-cord towing may be a lot of fun, but its value as a speed-enhancing technique has yet to be verified.

So, how do you actually spike stride rate in order to boost your max running speed? The best evidence we have suggests that maximal strength training and explosive work (the use of high-speed sprints and very quick strengthening movements) represent the proper path to a higher stride rate.Become A Faster Runner