Basic Running Mechanics

Every runner's pace can be broken down into two basic components, a stride rate and a stride length.  Stride rate refers to how frequently your legs 'turnover' to get you through a specific distance.  The stride length is the amount of distance you cover with each stride.

The current theory regarding these two components of running mechanics is your stride rate does not change as you get older.  What does change is your stride length becomes progressively shorter.

The technique drills I have begun will hopefully increase my stride length.  My Garmin GPS watch has a companion  foot pod which I could wear on my sneaker to determine my turnover or cadence.  Using the mileage I have run generated by the GPS enabled  watch and the stride count generated by the foot pod I could calculate my average stride length.

The Garmin foot pod retails for about $100.  My family and I have more important items to spend $100 upon than a foot pod for daddy to calculate his stride length.  I'd love to borrow one for a day to determine if my stride length is two, three or four feet.  I typically run fastest at races.  Does my stride length increase at races or does my turnover increase, or both?