Are You Using a Metronome for Running?
It may help injury prevention and speed
Three years ago, when I began training to compete in the 1500-meter race, my husband handed me a metronome specifically designed for running and said, “Give this a try. It will make you faster.” He attends fitness conferences around the world and often brings home cool fitness tools.
It took me a while to try it but when I finally did, he was right. (Don’t tell him I said that). It helped with my turnover and trained me to run more efficiently.
I was aware elite runners take more steps than novice runners and I should be aiming for a minimum of 180 steps per minute as a general guideline, but I never took the time to figure out how many I was taking. It turns out it was much less than 180. I know this because when I set the metronome to that cadence it felt like I was running like a cartoon character — feet spinning so fast you could see blurry circles around my ankles.
In the beginning, my heart rate, even at a slower pace, was higher than normal. It didn’t feel efficient at all. I couldn’t use it for every workout. But I kept with it. It didn’t take long before I began noticing my 400-meter sessions getting faster. I could feel the change in efficiency. Six months later, I placed second at the USATF Masters Indoor Nationals and made…
