Why cadence is worth a look

Cadence is simply how many steps you take per minute. Stride length is how far each of those steps carries you. Multiply the two and you get your pace, which means there are always two ways to run faster: take longer steps, or take quicker ones. Most of us default to the first option without thinking about it, leaning forward, reaching out, and landing with a heavy thud on a heel that is a long way in front of our hips.

That reaching stride is where trouble tends to start. When your foot lands ahead of your centre of mass, your leg is relatively straight and the braking force travels straight up through the knee, hip and lower back. Over a few miles on a forgiving forest track, you might get away with it. Over a winter of boggy, cambered hill paths in the Highlands, it catches up with you.

A shorter, quicker stride usually means your foot lands closer to underneath you, your knee stays a little more bent, and the impact is spread more evenly. It is not a magic fix for everything, but for many runners it is the single easiest change that makes running feel lighter.

What a “good” cadence actually looks like

You will hear numbers thrown about — 180 steps per minute is the famous one. Treat it as a rough signpost rather than a rule. Taller runners often sit naturally lower; shorter runners often sit higher. Terrain, pace and fatigue all shift the number too.

• Typical recreational range: 155–170 steps per minute on flat ground.
• Racing pace: usually 5–10 steps per minute higher than easy pace.
• Uphill: lower, because your stride shortens and you push rather than float.
• Technical descents: higher and choppier, with quick, light foot placements.

The useful thing is not the absolute figure but the trend. If you measure yourself on the same easy loop every few weeks, you will see whether you are becoming more economical.

Terrain changes everything in the Highlands

This is where generic advice from flat, dry places falls apart. A cadence that feels perfect on the flat tarmac of a riverside path in Inverness will feel wrong halfway up a steep landrover track in the Cairngorms.

On a proper climb, your stride shortens dramatically and your cadence drops — that is normal and correct. Trying to hold 175 steps per minute up a 15 per cent gradient will just leave you gasping. Instead, shorten further, stay tall, and let the steps get small and frequent. Think of it as gear selection rather than a target.

On loose gravel, wet rock and heather, a slightly quicker, shorter step improves your balance and gives you more chances to correct a slipping foot. On long forest roads and estate tracks, you can afford to open up a bit and let your stride lengthen. Coastal paths, with their twists and roots, sit somewhere in between.

Wind and rain matter too. Running into a Highland headwind, leaning in slightly and keeping the steps quick and low is far more efficient than fighting it with long, lunging strides.

How to change without breaking yourself

The biggest mistake is trying to jump from 160 to 180 overnight. Your calves, Achilles tendons and feet are not conditioned for that, and the result is usually a fortnight off with a sore soleus.

A safer approach is a gradual shift of around 5 per cent at a time, and to introduce it in short doses.

• Start with 30-second bursts. Run your normal stride, then lift the cadence slightly for half a minute, then return to normal. Repeat six or eight times in a session.
• Keep the effort the same. Your pace should stay roughly constant — you are taking shorter, quicker steps, not running harder.
• Do it on flat, forgiving ground first. A smooth path or quiet road is much easier to learn on than a rocky hill track.
• Build over six to eight weeks. Extend the bursts, then turn them into whole easy runs.
• Back off if your calves are sore for more than a day. That is your cue to slow the progression down.

Using a metronome to find the rhythm

A metronome app is genuinely helpful here, because cadence is hard to judge by feel — most of us overestimate how quickly we are stepping. Set it to your current cadence, run for a few minutes to confirm it matches, then nudge it up by three or four beats per minute. Run to that click for a few minutes at a time.

Some runners prefer a music playlist at a fixed tempo; that works just as well. The point is to have an external cue so you are not constantly counting in your head and losing your form.

Try it on a familiar loop — a flat circuit round the village, or a stretch of canal path — so you can compare sessions fairly. Once the quicker rhythm starts to feel normal, you can drop the metronome and simply check in occasionally.

Fitting it into your week

You do not need a separate session for this. Use the last ten minutes of an easy run to practise short cadence bursts. Use hill reps to get comfortable with very short, quick steps on a gradient. Use a weekly trail run to notice how your stride naturally changes over roots, mud and stone.

Give it two months of consistent, gentle attention and most runners find the same pace simply feels easier, with less pounding through the knees on the way home. That is the whole aim: not a magic number, just a lighter, more sustainable way of moving across the ground you love running on.