Inconsistent steps per 5k logged

[Daveschally]

Seems that depending on my route I will get a variance of steps with each 5k or 6k i run. Today i ran a 6k route and logged 300 more steps than a 6 k I ran yesterday different route. My pace time was much slower with the added mystery steps. Can the gps be off that much from location to location? I would expect 30 step variance but 300?

[JohnnyRow]

That doesn't seem like that much of a step count variance to me.  Your stride length varies naturally, depending on your pace, wind, terrain, how you feel.  As a rough estimate, that looks to me a 3% or 4% difference, roughly a one inch difference in your stride length the two days.

[Daveschally]

I thought about that but the route with mostly incline had fewer steps not making sense. 

[Rich_Laue]

A slight change in running speed would be enough to explain this difference. 

Not knowing how many steps normally taken during a 5 K prevents us from really understanding. 

Let' say a runner with a 3 foot 1.2 inch stride will do about 16,900 steps during the 5k. Change that stride to 3 feet 3 inches and you'l have the 300 step difference. 

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

@Daveschally I agree with @Rich_Laue on this one. The factor that plays also important role is your cadence. For various reasons, you may keep the same pace ( hence, speed ) but deliver a different number of steps within a minute. For example, I tend to overstride and I'm trying to unlearn it so I need to reduce my stride length and deliver more steps why keeping my pace constant and cadence 180spm. What I mean here is there are lots of factors affecting cadence and even on the same route you may slightly change it. Even such thing as just having a better day for a run will affect that. Instead of the total number of steps per run. Additionally, mind that your watch is worn on the wrist, not on your leg 🙂 This may have some slight effect on the counter but there's nothing you can do about that. It's common for all wrist-worn trackers.