Always Working

While you are running or walking, internal sensors and an accelerometer capture 200 measures per second across three axes (up, down and across, to put it very simply). The Pod aggregates and stores those measures every minute. When you sync the Pod to your MilestonePod App, our custom algorithms crunch these measures with your height, weight and shoe type. Finally, your gait and performance metrics are output in a usable (and fun!) format to your MilestonePod App.

Tip! Keep in mind that the MilestonePod metrics are tied to each another. When you are working on improving one, you shouldn’t forget about the others. For example, pace is a product of cadence and stride length. Rate of impact can be affected by stride length, pace, and cadence.  To read more about applying metrics to your running life, be sure to check out our blog.

Note: Walking sessions will not include rate of impact, foot strike or leg swing.

Read below to see how we calculate each metric.

Foot Strike

Foot strike is where your foot first makes contact with the ground. The App will display your average percentages between heel, mid-foot and toe. Often, “heel strike” is considered “bad form.” But in reality, it’s more important where your foot is in relation to your body when it’s loaded. Some heel strikers ultimately “load” their weight mid-foot. Focus on landing over your foot and you should feel the results of a softer impact. Blog: Heel Touch vs. Heel Load.

Keep in mind that our data is a majority voting inside a specific minute during the run. If during a minute you were 51% heel and 49% mid, the minute will be considered as heel strike. To increase your foot strike accuracy, lace or clip your Pod as follows: if your shoe has a drop of 8mm or above, use the second eyelet from your toe. If your shoe has a drop below 8mm, use the third eyelet from your toe.

Rate of Impact

Every time you land, your foot impacts the ground with a certain amount of force, which is counteracted by an equal and opposite force applied by the ground to your foot. Rate of impact is the amount of time your body has to deal with that ground force. A higher rate equals shorter time (independent of ground contact time). A lower rate equals more time. So, a HIGH rate of impact means your body does not have enough time to spread the force out evenly. This is not optimal and can lead to injury. A LOW rate of impact means your body has enough time to spread the force out evenly. This is optimal and can help prevent injury. To lower your rate of impact, try to decrease your stride length or increase your cadence while maintaining the same speed.

To better understand this metric, think of Silly Putty. If you slowly stretch out the Silly Putty, it will not break right away because it has time to deal with your pulling force (low rate of impact). If you quickly yank it apart, the Silly Putty will snap because it has no time to deal with your pulling force (high rate of impact). Blog: Bang for Your Buck, Not Your Body: Why Shoe Life Matters

Distance & Duration

The MilestonePod uses a highly sensitive accelerometer to calculate distance and duration. There are no buttons to push to start and stop and no GPS signal needed. Here is how it works: The Pod wakes up when it senses any movement. Once you go above a cadence of 100 steps per minute (spm) for 6 minutes, the Pod declares an exercise session has started. Then, it goes back and captures those 6 minutes. If you pause for any reason (i.e. for a red light) and fall below 100 spm for less than 6 minutes, the Pod eliminates the pause and keeps the session going. When you go below 100 steps per minute for more than 6 minutes, the Pod then declares a run over.

Leg Swing

Leg swing is how high you get your foot off the ground and towards your butt following push-off. Higher is better. A higher leg swing means you are keeping your body movement closer to your center of gravity. The result is less work/less energy loss. It takes practice to maintain an increased “kick” for an entire run. Try 10-15 second sessions of kicking your foot up higher and build from there. Blog: Low on Leg Swing? Kick Your Butt into Gear!

Ground Contact

Ground contact, also known as stance time, is measured in milliseconds (ms). It is the average amount of time your foot spends on the ground. Ground contact differs dramatically between running and walking. As your speed increases, the amount of time your foot is on the ground decreases. Elite runners have a ground contact time of under 200 ms.


Cadence is the average number of times your foot hits the ground in one minute. The generally accepted “golden” standard is 180 steps per minute (spm). As your cadence increases, your speed will generally increase as well. A low cadence (less than 160 spm) is typically seen in runners who over-stride (see Stride Length). A high cadence is associated with less force on your hips and knees and can help with injury prevention.

Stride Length

Stride length is the average length of one full stride. A stride is the distance between your left and right foot touching the ground. You can increase your speed by increasing your stride length while keeping your cadence the same. However, one of the most common mistakes runners make is over-striding, which could increase you rate of impact and put you at risk of injury.  Blog: Achieving Your Ideal Stride Length

Runficiency Score™

Runficiency Score™ incorporates your cadence, ground contact time, leg swing and stride length into a proprietary measure. We look at your data inputs and compare each measurement to an ideal target value. We then combine the scores into an algorithm to produce a Runficiency Score™. The best possible Runficiency Score™ is 100. It’s fun to see how high you can get! The global average Runficiency Score™ is currently 73.

Shoe Odometer

The MilestonePod tracks every single step you take in your shoes, whether it’s in a workout session or not. The display on the Pod and in your App (called “Pod Distance” located at the top of your Dashboard) is the total distance toward shoe life, rounded to the nearest mile (or kilometer). The runner at the top of your Dashboard correlates to the suggested shoe life mileage for your shoe type. Blog: Bang for Your Buck, Not Your Body: Why Shoe Life Matters


Pace is your average minutes per mile (or kilometer) for the duration of your workout. Pace will not include minutes that do not meet the cadence threshold of 100 spm (see Distance & Duration). For example, if you stop for water or pause for a red light for 65 seconds, these 65 seconds will not be averaged into your pace. If you stop for more than 6 minutes, your MilestonePod will automatically break the workout into two separate sessions.