Good question. I am actually not sure of the average marathon cadence of race walkers. I would expect it to vary more than running since boot feet cannot be off the ground at once, making leg length having more of an effect on cadence. This would result in more individual variance I suspect.

The key would be to see if these race walkers are sustaining a certain cadence for 3-5 km. If so, then they would be likely to maintain this for the marathon, as technique/cadence shouldn’t change much once someone is running primarily aerobically.

If there is not much variability between race walkers at this distance, then this would be something that the regular population (of race walkers) may want to work towards.

Thanks, Aaron

I have been working on cadence lately and these drills are what I was looking for. I will definitely give them a try! On a related question, I’ve heard that athletes in racewalking go upwards of 240 steps/min. Is that cadence sustainable over long distances like in a marathon or is 180 steps/min pretty much the optimal for long distance running?

Thanks,

Andy