The Importance of Counting Strides When Senior Sprinting

Counting strides is a simple way for anyone to monitor what they’re doing when sprinting (or just running) in an unmarked park, field, or the local forest preserve path like we do. In our case, each count includes 4 strides – 2 strides when breathing in, and 2 strides when breathing out. In other words, each breathing cycle equals ONE COUNT.

Now again in our case, 20 counts (which equals 80 strides) happens to be pretty close to 100 yards. So 10 counts is approximately 50 yards. And 30 counts is approximately 150 yards.

As a point of reference, the world’s fastest man (Usain Bolt, 6 foot 5 inch sprinter from Jamaica) covers 100 meters (100 meters = 109.36 yards) in only 41 strides. So he covers more than twice as much ground as we cover with each stride. And he covers 100 meters in half the time we require to cover 100 yards. We never claimed to be fast.

You should first practice your counting technique when walking (1,2,3,4./ 2,2,3,4./ 3,2,3,4. etc.) BEFORE you test it out on the run or in the midst of a sprint. Once you’ve mastered counting when walking, you’re ready to start counting your strides when running or sprinting.

We suggest that two workouts per week is a good number for most seniors. We also suggest that you start out short/easy and build up gradually over weeks and months. So for example, if you start with several 5 count (20 stride) sprints for the first couple of weeks, you could then increase (be sure you’re comfortable) to several 10 count sprints for the next several weeks.

In between each sprint, walk until you’re recovered enough to feel like sprinting again. Over time the length and number of your sprints will increase naturally. Play with it. HAVE FUN with it - just like when you were a kid at recess!

Post # 5: Doctor’s Orders

Why We Sprint?

Some people run for the sake of weight control. Others run to strengthen their heart, to prevent a potential heart attack, or to reduce stress. But some people run because they just love to run! Count both of us in the just love to run category.

Rick: But I no longer love long distance running due to lower back, knee, and foot problems that I developed from repetitively pounding the pavement at least one too many times. Sprinting on the other hand, forces me to lean forward into the run and to keep my feet under (as opposed to out in front of) me. That enables me to avoid the dreaded heel strike that has caused so many runners to injure themselves over the years. 

But injury prevention is only one reason that I sprint. The less common reason is that, in the midst of a sprint I feel “all together” in a way that I don’t feel in most other activities. That is to say I’m physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually all there! I’m focused. I’m concentrated. I’m complete, engaged, and “in the moment” in a way that doesn’t happen when I’m not sprinting. In other words I’m not distracted, fragmented, at loose ends, spread too thin or diluted in any way. That’s really what brings me back to sprinting again and again and again.

Pam: To be completely honest, running helps both Rick and I to keep our body weight under control. It also decreases our odds of having cardio related health problems as we get older. It reduces our stress levels. And I also love to run whether it’s long slow distance or sprinting.

But I once heard Dr. George Sheehan refer to running as “the dance of youth.” That comment has stuck with me over the years, and one of the primary reasons I run is to maintain as much physiological youth as I possibly can. I figure that as long as I can run long and/or sprint I can’t really be all that old. How’s that for 21^st century logic?

Next Post: The importance of counting your strides when sprinting.

OK then. Who’s faster? Pam or Rick?

Rick: In a hundred yards Pam will definitely cross the finish line a couple steps ahead of me. On the other hand, since I outweigh her by 60 lbs. (180 lbs. to 120 lbs.) I’m actually working much harder than she is in order to cover 100 yards.

Pam: In reality though, neither of us would impress anyone with a stopwatch in hand. Speed after all, as Einstein noted, is relative. But bring a heart rate monitor into the picture (yes I wear a Fitbit) and you’ll see that I get my heart rate up to about 160 beats per minute when I’m sprinting. And with his 180 lbs. Rick is technically working harder than I am. But 160 BPM’s is 160 BPM’s which is certainly at the top of any 70 year old person’s target heart range. Right?

Bottom line for both of us is that we’re having great fun doing exactly what almost all kids naturally love to do at recess…sprint from one place to another and then talk about it. Sprint from that place to another and then talk about it. And aren’t we all still kids at heart?

Next Topic: Motivation! What gets you up off the couch and makes any fitness routine, including sprinting for seniors, a regular habit? The best part of your week? Something you actually look forward to doing? A privilege? An opportunity? And never an obligation!!

I’m 71 years old and my wife Pam is 70. Once a week we run wind sprints together on a local forest preserve path here in Naperville, IL. The sprints range from 50 to 150 yards in length depending on the terrain and the weather. And in approximately an hour’s time we’ll run in the neighborhood of 15 wind sprints, with recovery walks in between each one. In bad weather we go to a local indoor track and sprint the straightaways/walk the curves for half an hour instead.

That may sound a little crazy for people our age. But what might sound even crazier is that Pam and I think that YOU might want to seriously consider adding wind sprints to your weekly workout schedule. As a matter of fact, we’re writing this new blog in order to start your wheels turning and to introduce you to a multitude of reasons why you might want to consider joining Pam and I on our sprinting adventures, regardless of where you live.

In the coming months we’ll be answering all kind of questions. But today let’s start with the most obvious one. Are wind sprints really good for people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties? Now obviously, since Pam and I are proponents, you know what we think. But here are several links that tell you what the Mayo Clinic has to say about High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) for senior citizens. And wind sprints are simply one variety of HIIT.

In our next post we’ll address the question “Who’s faster, Rick or Pam," and related issues.

Check these links out and if you like what you see, please follow us and we'll look forward to seeing you again soon in our next edition of Sprinting for Seniors.

P.S. If you have questions please post them. The more questions we can answer the more informative this blog will be.