Running should not be a chore to be endured, but instead should be an almost effortless activity in which the body is relaxed and works with gravity rather than against it - this is one of the principles of Chi Running.
Chi Running was created by Danny Dreyer, a running coach and Tai Chi practitioner based in San Francisco. He explains that “without good running form, added distance will only lengthen the time you are running improperly and increase the odds of getting hurt “
Runzi believe that the biggest mistake many new runners make is to run as if they are leaping from one step to the next. This leads to a lot more effort and an increased risk of injury and the way to fix this problem is to increase running cadence. Running cadence is measured as the number of steps taken per minute.
According to Runzi, the average amount of steps to take per minute is 180. Since the app has been live, it has recorded most runners as having a cadence of 120 to 160, well below the average.
Increasing cadence is done by shortening stride and moving the feet faster. This produces a natural reduction of the inefficient and high impact jumping that most new runners tend to do.
The app has has features which records the number of steps recorded per minute and the impact of each step. Runzi has termed their impact measurement metric as a “tweak per step”. A tweak is an arbitrary measurement which represents the accumulated amount of jerk force. A jerk force is a real force in physics and is the change in acceleration over time. Runzi accumulates these changes per step and measures jerk force over the duration of a run.
As well as recording cadence and impact, Runzi records a measurement of stride during the run.
For runners wanting to split their runs into different cadence ranges, Runzi has a splits feature which allows tracking of impact, step count and cadence in timed increments.
It is possible to use runzi for walking by setting the step sensitivity to 'walking' in the settings. Changing the step sensitivity to walking allows runzi to detect lighter steps, but runzi becomes more prone to false step detection meaning users need to be really intentional with their pace.
I think this app is probably the most important tracking app to have as a beginner runner. A thorough level of data on cadence cannot be found on most other fitness apps. This means runners cannot adequately know if the way they run will cause injury, the worst deterrent to any training routine.
The app is free (donations based) and available for Android devices only. A full ordered breakdown of the data is given to users who make a donation.
The potential for a decentralized version of the app as a collaboration tool between musculoskeletal health professionals and runners would be amazing.
What is your experience of fitness tracking apps? Do you track cadence regularly? Comment your experience below!
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