But wait… there’s more. 
My run was there between about 10:45 and 11:45, and I didn’t remember to do a zero basal, but I did at least set a 50% for an hour, started 40 minutes into it, and ended at about an 85. I started at a 112– just after a coffee and banana. 
did you do some kind of body swap experiment where you transiently became @Eric ??? That line is AWESOME!!!
A bunch of things for ya!
First off…
Dang, that’s great!
How did it feel?
This is great! Awesome job. That banana was a good thing to have. Your body was very thankful. Wonderful numbers.
Doing 50% for a length of time before the run, or doing zero basal during the run - lot’s of different ways to cook the meal. There are many ways to do it. And you hit it perfectly today! Congrats on that.
Try all of the recipes and keep them all, and use whatever you think is the best fit for any particular run on a given day.
Some cadence stuff for you…
I just checked on this. The watch you have (I think) is the Garmin Forerunner 25. Unfortunately the Garmin Forerunner 25 does not give you live cadence during the run. You can look at your average cadence after a run, which is somewhat useful, but not the best, because your cadence will generally drop as you get tired.
What you really want to see is your live cadence.
The Garmin Forerunner 35, which is the next step up from the watch you have, will give you live cadence on the screen. So you could setup a screen that shows your current pace, speed, cadence, heart rate, etc. But the 35 does not give you a cadence alert option. But still, having live cadence is helpful. You can get this watch for $155.
Any model of Garmin watch from the Forerunner 235 and up will give you live cadence with a cadence alert. So you could set it up to beep if your cadence dropped below a certain value, say 175 or whatever you want. The Forerunner 235 is a pretty big step up. It is $270.
Questions?
BTW, I would much rather do Garmin watch stuff than insurance. Thanks for your help today. 
Thank you, @TiaG! 
I try to make myself listen to at least some of what he says. 
Now if I can just do that 6.55 more times in a row…
Pretty stinkin good.
Seriously… I haven’t even gotten the heart rate monitor part synced with the first one I bought. 
It’s sitting on my bed right now just making me feel guilty— but, in my own defense, I bought it and then stopped running. And I’m not wearing a pink watch for nothing.
Anyway. About that cadence— I do have a question. Isn’t your cadence going to change according to your pace?? If I’m at 7.0 on the treadmill with a cadence of 180, wouldn’t it make sense that my cadence might be a 170 at a 6.5? I understand your cadence is not dependent upon your pace, but doesn’t a faster pace naturally lend itself to a higher cadence?
I know you’re not a big app guy, but Kevin has mentioned some cadence app that he thinks I should use. Can’t remember the name of it…
… but it can’t be that hard to find.
That really does sound perfect… and Christmas is coming up. I’ll go plant the idea before my people buy me stuff I don’t really need. Or like. 
I’d rather do anything than insurance stuff. Sorry I didn’t actually have any answers. 
Surprisingly, your cadence should not change that much relative to pace. Only a little bit.
Here is a partial segment of a recent run.
Cadence is in yellow, and pace is in green.
I drew the parallel blue lines to help illustrate the fact that while my pace (green) was continuing to increase throughout the run, my cadence (yellow) stayed relatively flat.
Make sense?
I don’t know why, but about this I have a mindblock. On some level, without putting too much thought into it, it makes perfect sense, but then it doesn’t. How else do you increase your speed if not by increasing the number of foot strikes??
Don’t laugh— in case this is like something really obvious—- my mind is stuck.
The other factor is stride length.
Sprints have a much longer stride length than long distance races.
For example, in elite women marathoners, the average stride length is 55-60 inches per stride. But in elite female sprinters, it is about 80 inches long.
Longer strides take more energy, and also put more strain on your body.
So a higher cadence is what you want, rather than a longer stride.
…
So… I think I’ll do some reading on it. Because… 
What is puzzling you?
At the same pace, a shorter stride means a higher cadence. A longer stride would mean less strides (lower cadence).
If you are walking across your kitchen floor, and you take shorter steps, you need more steps to cross than you would if you took longer steps.
Suppose your speed is 9:30 per mile (roughly 6.3 MPH).
If your average stride is 39 inches, your cadence would need to be 170 to maintain that speed.
If your average stride is 37 inches, your cadence would need to be 180 to maintain that speed.
A higher cadence means a shorter stride.
In running, speed = stride length x cadence
A shorter stride causes less stress on your tendons and joints, and requires less energy.
Tell me where we need to clarify. And don’t accuse me of mansplaining!
Okay, yes. Right. Now— what I heard you say was you don’t increase your cadence by increasing your speed… and then I heard you say you don’t want to lengthen your stride when increasing your speed… so if one doesn’t happen and then other shouldn’t, how do you increase your speed?
I don’t know why I’m even stuck on this. Kevin was talking about a matter of just a few extra steps— just the smallest increase in cadence— as the goal. But if I were running at a slower pace when I ran for him, how do we know I need to change anything at all? He never gave me a speed, never asked my speed— only told me “to run at a comfortable pace”. That’s a pretty soft measure to be used as a basis for treatment. If I had just nudged up the speed a little on the treadmill to a pace I was still plenty comfortable at, maybe I would’ve already been at that increase he’s hoping to achieve through shoes and all of this.
This doesn’t make a difference really except for it has become clear to me there really is some significance in this whole cadence thing, and I’d really like to understand it.
Never.
4.25 miles today… which I have very mixed feelings about. I’m very happy, but I also realized this is the part of my personality that is not okay. My hip feels pretty good— nothing’s happened to make me afraid yet, but I am a little afraid of me. Two weeks ago I wasn’t running at all, and now I’m back to pushing it up with every run.
But most of me is happy. And that other part of me is making me go for a swim tomorrow and give my hip a break. 
Today I remembered to turn off the basal an hour before I went out. I forgot to then suspend for actual run, but I’m still making some progress with organization. So one hour zero basal prior to starting and a coffee and banana… Baby steps. So I headed out at a BG of a 83— and returned at an 81. 
Had 2 units of insulin when I got home and another banana.
Tomorrow I’ll try for 40 laps… since that’s where I left off. It’s supposed to snow, and my county has already called off school even though it might not drop below 40 degrees, but my kids couldn’t be happier… which makes me happy, too.
And I missed my endo appointment today. So still some room for improvement in that organization piece. Probably shouldn’t relax just yet.
4.5 miles today— and no mixed emotions. Took the day off yesterday, and my hip felt great today. I could’ve gone further but held firm on not behaving like I’m six.
I did do a zero basal for an hour prior to starting but allowed it to resume for the run. Had a cup of coffee and applesauce on my way over to the treadmill. Started at maybe a 102 and finished at a 76.
No chips tonight. I’m putting chains on the pantry door.
This was slippery… do what? Get the MRI or make the appointment? Because if it were to make the appointment, I’m here to collect. And if it were to actually get in an MRI, that’s some slippery business dealing, and I’m going to keep an eye on you in the future.
So. Your call. But pay up. 
Okay. I’ll pay up after you get the MRI. In case you sleep through your appt like your endo appt. 
It will be another secret thing, like at our lunch. That’s part of the deal.
You’re on.
Funny guy. That doesn’t happen to me twice in a week, so don’t get your hopes up.
5 miles today. Felt wonderful.
As long as you just kind of sit quietly, @Eric (and I know you said we’d try to pick up after the MRI, but maybe you’ll reconsider), I’m giving myself my own workouts now. So unless you want to take a chance on my destroying myself before next week, you might want to say something. That’s my way of asking if there’s something I can do in the meantime— in a very demanding way.
This is what I did today:
I did zero basal an hour prior to start and then went with 50% temp during. I’m still not sure why I haven’t just kept it off. I’m getting there. Anyway, I started at a BG of 155 and finished at 98. I had to do three sugar tabs 4.5 miles in.
Here was what I gave myself:
1 mile warm up
3/4 mile @ 7.0 (treadmill speed)
1/2 mile recovery
3/4 mile @ 7.1
1/2 mile recovery
1/2 mile @ 7.0
1 mile cool down
I also checked my cadence a few different times— just to see what it looked like at different paces (because of our talk about it). Here’s what I did:
@ 7.1 cadence 194
@ 6.7 cadence 194
@ 7.0 cadence 188
@ 6.2 cadence 188
I’m like a hovercraft with how little time I’m spending on the ground.
This is what I’m going to do everyday until you give me some direction. Oh, and there’s a Turkey Trot Thursday… bad idea?? Just to do it and not worry about time or anything??
Wait… I’m not like a hovercraft. Right??
Or am I?
I will do this with you, but I have an extreme list of demands. And there is no flexibility with them.
All of these make sense. Your cadence picks up a bit, which is good because you don’t have to make up all of the difference with stride.
Your stride length increases a bit as you from 6.2 to 7.1 mph.
It goes from 34.83 inches to 38.65 inches. Remember, longer strides strain your muscles, joints, and tendons more. So keeping cadence high will help you.
Ground contact time and cadence are linked. Contact time decreases as cadence increases.
But each step is propelling you.
So…
a lot of steps (high cadence) = less contact time = more steps that propel you forward instead of being in the air and doing nothing that moves you forward.
The other thing is vertical oscillation, which is how much up and down bounce you have with each step. That is wasted energy. You don’t want to spend energy going up and down with each step, you want the energy to move you forward. So you want to reduce vertical oscillation.
Running clinic! This is what you will get from the clinic!
I expected nothing less.
Wait… could you be a little more specific? An extreme list of demands is tough to shake on without seeing the small print. Even for me…
