If you’re using Step Counter tracking mode and want your pace and distance stats to be accurate you’ll need to make sure you enter your stride length correctly.
Stride length will be different for everyone, and there are lots of different ways to calculate this, so by popular demand here are some of Six to Start’s suggested ways to work out your stride length!
- Run along soft ground, or anywhere you'll leave some kind of a footprint, then measure the distance either between each heel-strike, or toe-to-toe, depending on your running style.
- Run a known distance, for example 100 metres, and count the number of steps you take. Divide the distance by the number of steps to give your meters per stride. If you prefer to use Imperial units you can convert meters to inches by multiplying by 39.3.
- Use a height-based formula. First measure your height in centimetres, then if you're female multiply this by 0.413, and if you're male, multiply your height by 0.415. Round the result to the nearest whole number, and this will be your stride length in centimetres.
If you want to convert this result into Imperial units multiply by 0.393 before rounding to give the most accurate conversion. Then round the subsequent result to the nearest whole number for your stride length in inches.
Please note: This formula is based on an ‘average body’ (whatever that means!) and therefore can be more inaccurate than the other two methods.
Finally, you can use an average stride length, but this may not be accurate. Average male stride length is considered to be 78cm or 30.7in, and average female stride length is considered to be 70cm or 27.5in.
Last but not least, your stride length may not always be exactly the same, based on how you are running, where you are running, the speed you are trying to achieve, even from step to step. When sprinting for example, some people lengthen their stride, whereas others increase the number of steps taken. You should run however you feel comfortable, and not try to adjust your running to fit our app. Because of this any distance given by Zombies, Run! when using Step Counter tracking may not be completely accurate, or even the same as another app or device. So long as the difference does not exceed +/-10% this will be within a normal range, and isn’t anything to worry about.
For more information about stride length and running styles see the links below: