I’m a casual runner so maybe this is a stupid question, but the more I get into running the more I’m finding it hard to run at any pace other than the one I settled into.
If I run slower or faster, it’s moderated by my stride length, but my feet hit the ground in sync with a 145BPM. If my feet are hitting the ground at anything other than 145BPM it just feels wrong.
I now have a spotify playlist with about a dozen running songs at as close to 145BPM as possible (as little as 2 BPM deviation feels rushed or dragging).
Is this just a mental thing? Is it a bad habit to settle into? Am I alone in this?
Not at all, that’s actually a lot more common than you might think. If you’re just running for the sake of running and not trying to train or compete then maintaining a stable cadence is an excellent habit to develop. If you are overly obsessed to the point that 144 or 146 feels wrong, then that would be a little weird. But there’s nothing wrong with finding a consistent cadence that suits you.
The only thing I would say is that 145 BPM is a very low cadence and you might want to think about increasing it. At 145, I struggle to imagine you doing anything other than hitting the ground quite hard and potentially causing damage to your knees. If you increase the cadence you will become more efficient and can reduce the stress on certain areas of your body. With a higher turnover you just naturally get lighter on your feet. As someone else said, many people like to run around 180 - I personally run at around 176 because I used to listen to these 176 BPM mixes back in the day and it’s just sort of become ingrained in me.
EDIT: And just to be clear, you can run faster or slower paces with higher or lower cadences. The two are not mutually exclusive so I’m just assuming you are concerned with cadence here. There is definitely nothing wrong with running a consistent pace, that’s a habit many amateur runners strive to develop.
Thank you very much for this - you all make some great points. I do wonder about my form, and my footfalls do seem a bit heavy sometimes. Definitely going to try a few faster pace runs when I go back and I’ll be paying attention to where I’m feeling it in my legs, knees & feet. 👍
You can try listening to genres like Drum & Bass and Hardcore/J-Core/Freeform if you want to practice running at a higher cadence. They are all generally 170+ BPM. Or just play a metronome set to a higher BPM if you don’t like the music.