Stride Length in Running: How Big Should Your Step Be?

What is stride length?

Step length is the distance you cover with each step. Technically, there is a distinction between step (the distance from one foot landing to the other) and stride (the distance of two consecutive landings of the same leg). In practice, most runners and coaches use "stride length" for both concepts interchangeably.

Together with cadence, stride length determines your speed:

Speed = cadence × stride length

To run faster you have two options: take faster steps or take longer steps. Both are valid, but have different effects on your body and your technique.

What is a normal stride length?

Stride length is highly individual and varies with speed. A slow endurance runner takes shorter steps than the same runner during a tempo run or interval. Tall runners generally have a longer stride length than short runners at the same pace.

Average indicative values:

Elite marathon runners achieve stride lengths of over 200 cm at race pace (around 3:00 min/km), combined with a cadence of 180 à 190 bpm. You do not achieve this combination through technical tricks, but through years of training and natural adaptation.

Overstriding: the most common passing error

Overstriding means that your foot extends too far in front of your body's center of gravity when you land. Your leg is (too) extended when landing, the foot touches the ground with the heel or the middle far in front of the knee.

The result is a brake pulse: you slow yourself down with every step. Your body has to absorb that braking force through the ankle, knee and hip, which increases the load on those joints. Moreover, you waste energy: you slow down and then accelerate again, step after step.

Overstriding is the most common technical error among recreational runners and one of the most important risk factors for knee problems, IT band problems and tibia stress fractures.

How to recognize overstriding:

• You hear a loud bang when landing
• Your foot extends far in front of your knee at ground contact
• Your cadence is low (below 160 bpm) at a pace that should be faster
• You have recurring knee problems or shin pains

Understriding: less known but also a problem

The opposite of overstriding is less discussed, but also exists. Anyone who takes steps that are too short at a pace that deserves more stride length is inefficient in the other direction. The cadence must then be extremely high to compensate for speed, which accelerates muscle fatigue in the legs.

Understriding is sometimes seen in runners who consciously try to take shorter steps after reading cadence advice, without taking their speed into account.

How do you increase your stride length in a healthy way?

The most important misconception: increasing stride length by throwing the foot further forward. That increases overstriding and makes the problem worse.

You increase stride length by improving the drive at the back: how powerfully you push yourself off the ground with your supporting leg. This is a combination of hip strength training, Achilles elasticity and running technique.

Hip and glute strength

The gluteus maximus (the gluteus maximus) is the primary engine behind powerful propulsion. Those who have weak glutes compensate with a shorter stride and more knee hub movement. Relevant exercises: Romanian deadlift, hip hinge, hip thrusts, step-ups and Bulgarian split squats.

You can read more about strength training for runners on the strength training page.

Achilles elasticity

The Achilles tendon and the calf muscle complex function as a spring during rolling. The more elastic the tendon, the more energy it returns with each step. Eccentric calf exercises (slowly lowering onto one leg) gradually strengthen the Achilles tendon.

Hip flexibility

A stiff hip flexor limits the backward leg movement and therefore the effective stride length. Anyone who sits a lot almost always has tight hip flexors. Walking-oriented stretching exercises (hip flexor stretch, couch stretch) and dynamic hip mobility work will help improve this.

Strides and accelerations

Short accelerations at the end of an easy endurance run naturally train a longer stride length at a higher speed. Walk three à four strides of 20 à 30 seconds, just under maximum speed, with full recovery in between. Your body learns to deal with larger steps at a higher cadence.

Stride length, cadence and the balance between them

Step length and cadence are communicating vessels. At a given speed, higher cadence means shorter steps, lower cadence means longer steps.

The question is not which of the two you should optimize, but whether the combination you are currently using is efficient for your body and speed. A runner with overstriding benefits from a higher cadence, which naturally shortens the stride length and causes the foot to land closer to the body. A runner with understriding benefits from strength development in the drive phase.

Read more about the connection on the cadence page.

Stride length during fatigue

A well-known response to fatigue is that the cadence decreases and the stride length shortens. You're going to "shuffle". This is the body conserving energy, but it increases inefficiency.

Runners who consciously train their running posture and cadence maintain it better in the second half of a race or long training. Core training plays a role in this: a stable torso keeps the pelvic position straight, which maintains the effective stride length.

Frequently asked questions

In summary

You do not increase stride length by throwing your foot further forward, but by pushing off the ground more powerfully. Work on glute strength, Achilles elasticity and hip flexibility, and add strides to your training. Do you suffer from overstriding? Then start with your cadence first: a slightly higher cadence automatically reduces the stride length and brings the foot closer under the body.

→ Everything about cadence and how it relates to stride length: running cadence.
→ More about foot landing and the relationship with overstriding: foot landing in running.
→ Back to the running technique overview page.