5-Hour Marathon, in 3.144″ or 10% Higher Cadence

A 5-hour marathon, in 3.144″ or 10% higher cadence? What does that mean? Let me explain.

I ran:walked the La Porte By the Bay Half Marathon last Sunday — on a relatively warm morning with clear skies and the spectacular Fred Hartman Bridge, which rises almost 180 feet above the water.

When I checked my pedometer at the end of the half marathon, I had taken some 26K+ steps.

This matched what I have often seen after finishing marathons — some 52K+ steps.

This made me wonder: How could I convert this information into advice for someone who is a 5.5-hour marathoner and wants to become a 5-hour marathoner?

Suppose that this person takes 52,800 steps in a marathon. (You’ll see why I chose this number in a moment.)

And, for simplicity, suppose that a marathon is 26.2 miles long, even though the official distance today is 26.21875 miles and even though most of us never run all the tangents so that we can cover the absolutely minimum distance between the start line and the finish line.

That gives us 52,800 steps/26.2 miles.

If we divide this fraction by 5,280 feet/mile, then we get a new fraction: 10 steps/26.2 feet.

This means that this hypothetical marathoner takes, on average, 10 steps to cover 26.2 feet.

Put the other way around, this person covers an average of 2.62 feet with every step: 2.62 feet/step.

Taking bigger steps — increasing one’s stride — is one way to go faster, assuming that one maintains the same cadence (also known as “turn-over”).

So, when we combine this arithmetic with the ambition of our hypothetical runner who wants to turn in 5-hour chip-times instead of 5.5-hour chip times, here is what we get:

5.5 hours/5 hours x 2.62 feet/step = 2.882 feet/step.

In other words, this individual must increase the length of each step by 0.262 feet.

The Bottom Line

This works out to a stride that is 3.144 inches longer.

This is fascinating, right? If you were in this situation, you could become a 5-hour marathoner by lengthening your stride by a little more than three inches, everything else being equal.

I can hear you asking, “Kirk, how do you do that?”

The answer depends on you, but it could come in the form of greater flexibility, speed training, some other form of exercise, or all of the above.

Afraid to Lengthen Your Stride?

What if you are afraid to lengthen your stride?

If you were to keep your stride fixed but could increase your cadence, then the arithmetic is simpler:

5.5 hours/5 hours = 110%.

That’s right! A 10% increase in your cadence, while keeping your stride the same length, would transform you from a 5.5-hour marathoner into a 5-hour marathoner. And, it does not depend on how many steps/minute you were taking, but only that you take 10% more steps per minute!

I can hear you asking how one does that!

The answer, as before, depends on you, but it could come from bicycling, for example.

One of the reviewers of my book Gratitude Power for Runners and Walkers is an avid cyclist. In my personal opinion, his improvement as an endurance runner over the past few years can be attributed in some measure to his higher-than-average running cadence, which seems to be supported by his cycling cadence.

Finally, the arithmetic would be more complicated, but a third way to transform yourself from a 5.5-hour marathoner into a 5-hour marathoner would be by increasing your cadence by something less than 10% while lengthening your stride by something less than 3.144″.

What Say You?

The new year is approaching, and many of us are setting new goals. Have you cut your marathon chip-times? How did you do it? Your fellow readers and I would love to know. Please leave a comment below. Thanks!

P.S. If you don’t even keep up with how many steps you take in a day, let alone a race, then I encourage you to get my “10K-Steps/Day Programs” report — FREE when you sign up here. And, speaking of arithmetic, if you are a run:walk athlete who has been wondering what combinations of running and walking paces will help you finish a race in a given chip-time, then check out my book Run:Walk Paces in Minutes/Mile or my book Run:Walk Paces in Minutes/Kilometer.