It’s one of the most common problems beginners have with their running form and a cause of many running injuries.
To avoid or correct over-striding, concentrate on landing on the ball of your foot with your foot directly under your center of gravity. This will allow you to maintain most of your forward momentum. You should feel as if you gliding smoothly along the ground with little impact or vertical motion. Try to take quick shorter strides. You do want to maximize your stride length, but you want to do that by increasing your “air time” or time between foot strikes, not by reaching out in front of your body.
Before and after foot strike you should be dorsi-flexing your ankle. You are dorsi-flexing your ankle when you pick up your toes. This does two things to help you avoid over-striding. It prevents you from “toeing out” or pointing your toes towards the ground. Toeing out causes you to reach out in front of your body and over-stride. Dorsi-flexing your ankle also puts your feet, knees and hips in the proper position to take full advantage of their elastic energy potential.
