Check this video out:
There's so much great stuff going on here watching 6'5" Bolt being the fastest human. Yes, his heels never touch down but that's just one of a host of things to take from it. His "contact patch" is also pretty short: right under his hips. He touches down only very, very slightly ahead and then that foot lifts back off the ground very shortly after that. His feet are in the air a good 90+% of the time. At regular speed he looks to have "long strides" but it's almost an optical illusion created by the recoil from his kick sending his feet flying through the air behind and in front of him. From his POV his feet are going tap tap tap at 260 steps/minute. His average-height competitors are spinning their feet at closer to 290.
That's the whole picture of cadence, too. For walking cadence is about 110-120. For all long-distance running paces it's about 50% quicker cadence and for sprinting another 50% on top of that. That's where you get averages like 180 and 270 for running and sprinting respectively.
Now, take a look at this point of Tony Riddle's awesome video starting at 6:40:
He takes the whole "footstrike" thing further pointing to how being up on your forefoot should only be reserved for sprinting. For running (I'll say "running" to mean long-distance/not sprinting) you start out on the midfoot then lift off on forefoot. For walking you start on the heel, roll to midfoot, lift off on forefoot.
That helps make more sense of why the 120/180/270 numbers keep recurring as you see him number the foot positions as heel (1), midfoot (2) and forefoot (3). So for walking you count:
1-2-3
1-2-3
1-2-3
1-2-3
For running:
2-3
2-3
2-3
2-3
Sprinting:
3
3
3
3
No trying to match your stride with a metronome just recognizing that for each of the three main modes of foot transport the time your foot is on the ground changes dramatically.