One Way That a Fast Cadence Keeps Me Safe From Injury; It Helps me not fall down.

The Reality is that The Ground is Not Reliably Stable. Uneven transitions, potholes, loose chunks of concrete, loose rocks, slippery mud, moss, motor oil... 

Even a “perfect” professional track surface has some unexpected obstacles for our feet to contend with. We might step on another runner's foot. A gust of wind or bump from another runner can nudge us off of the edge. Onto an uneven surface, into the potentially lumpy grass…

It’s impossible to stay 100% vigilant at all times to avoid these dangers. It’s Impossible to Predict that Everything that Looks Stable, Really Is Stable. It’s impossible to stay perfectly balanced on Every Single Step that We Take. The unexpected scenarios Cannot be prevented.

A Fast Running Cadence of around 180 steps per minute, keeps us safe when the ground unexpectedly gives way. It keeps us safe when our grip unexpectedly gives way.

The math is: our next step is arriving so quickly, that our body doesn’t have time to fall down.

Even when multiple steps in a row give way, this fast cadence can keep us up. Like the Basilisk Lizard runs on water, a human running at a fast cadence can stay up on an unstable surface. (A fast cadence isn’t the only factor for them being able to run on water, but it is a crucial factor.) Stay too long on one foot, and the body will sink. Only a little push up from the next foot can keep the body from going down.

Of course we can’t run on water, it’s too unstable. But we Can keep ourselves from falling down, Across the Many Unexpected Obstacles found on land. We can stay on our feet, avoid injury, and be healthy to do it again tomorrow.