There are a number of techniques to running & one has resisted in documenting because there are so many disparate, yet effective, ways to run that endeavoring to change someone's technique can sometimes do as much harm as good.

Running is like sex: You don't want to be thinking about your technique. Somehow that ruins it. Besides, running (like sex) requires only primal skills. Everybody's circuits are prewired with all the essential info.

On the other hand, there are a few stylistic habits most good runners share — although even at the world-class level there are some exceptions. Lets share a list the things a non-runner may want to consider.

Before we get to specific points of technique and habits, lets mention a general approach that might seem exceedingly simplistic to some, but it really is a foreign concept to others — even to certain extremely accomplished athletes.

In swimming, one is used to the concept of exertion, of the specific attempt at muscle recruitment and contraction. Your constant question is, "How can I get this muscle to work as hard as it can through its fullest range of motion?" The idea is to make as big a pulling surface as possible, and to pull it as far and as hard as is possible while reproducing the effort with the other arm with no or minimal delay in one's forward propulsion.

In running, the approach is the converse. One's mindset is not set on work and contraction, but upon relaxation. You're not "thinking" your muscles into working, you're thinking them into relaxing. Furthermore, you're not interested in keeping that muscle working through its fullest range of motion. The bane of swimmers is the premature interruption of the pull. The bane of runners is the overextension of the stride. Overstriding is probably the single biggest and most common technical problem in running.

Relaxation and economy are therefore first on the list for a runner. This is tough, though, because it's qualitative. It isn't a measure, but a state of mind. Empirical it is not, but it is still the item a runner must keep on the top of his or her brain.

The art of relaxation becomes crucial in a race when you are challenged by a runner who's performing slightly above your ability. The monologue one has with oneself is: "I can't hold this pace. But if I can find a way to relax a little — to 'think' my pulse, or effort, or exertion, just a bit lower — perhaps I can hold it."

A smart, alert, sensitive runner can adapt and recruit a more efficient technique even during a race.

Right on the heels of relaxation is the concept of cadence. This actually is quantitative, but one never precisely counts one's cadence in running as you can in cycling. Still, cadence is a key to relaxation and efficiency in running, just like it is on the bike (and maybe more so). One thing to believe is that running cadence should never change. When you slow down, just do so with a shorter stride or with lesser effort.

If you were to pick up your cadence — say, go from 80 cycles per minute to 90 cycles — it is axiomatic that your stride would be less full, less long, than it was at the slower cadence. Which part of your stride are you "losing" in such an exercise? Ideally, it is everything above and beyond that point where the ball of your foot is in front of your knee.

At this point it may begin to dawn on certain triathletes how much running and cycling are parallel. A relatively high, constant cadence of, say 90 revolutions or cycles per minute is a pretty good number in both sports. Also, the concept of "knee over pedal axle" is much like it is in running. The idea in cycling is that — in road riding, i.e., with your road race bike, not your tri bike — you should more or less be set up so that when your foot is most forward in the pedal cycle (the 3 o'clock position, for the right foot) the pedal axle is directly underneath your knee. In other words, the ball of your foot — which is about where the pedal axle is — is directly below your knee. In running it's precisely the same. Your foot need not ever really plant itself in front of your knee. To do so is to overstride.

Let's take a brief time-out and say that the "knee over pedal axle" doctrine in cycling does not apply to steep seat-angle tri-bike setups. The whole body and bike complex is rotated forward, and the "clock" that your crank makes is likewise rotated forward as well.

Overstriding — which for the purposes of this discussion we'll limit to the practice of a footfall that lands in front of one's knee — has a lot of bad consequences. First, it's just a plain slower way to run. Beyond that, it's a recipe for injury. The longer the stride, the more pressure one's skeleton must absorb. Knees, arches, hips — they're all going to take a bigger beating.

Unless you've got a perfect footfall — and really, even if you do — there's an anatomical weak link that's going to be exploited. Perhaps it's your patellar tendon, or your iliotibial band, or plantar fascia, whatever — something is going to "complain" if you're an overstrider.

There is a remedy for this: a drill. It requires a willing participant or the stealthy use of a clueless partner. Either way, you need another person for this. The drill is to run either directly behind another person or right on this person's "shoulder." Run as close as you can without a collision. You'll find that when you do this on a regular basis you'll end up chopping your stride, and it's a great way to get used to running with a technique that is altered only insofar as an overstride is concerned.

This sort of drill is also an excellent opportunity to practice relaxing while running relatively fast. Giving somebody the job of setting the pace gives you the chance to concentrate only on relaxing. If we might be forgiven for overusing the same metaphor (but it just seems so handy for the illustration), holding a pace while running takes tremendous concentration. Like sex, you can't have another thought rolling around in your head when so engaged.

That is why runners are employed as rabbits in big footraces where a fast finish time is desirable. It isn't primarily wind resistance that makes a rabbit necessary. Rather, it is almost impossible to concentrate on holding a pace while also concentrating on relaxation. A rabbit takes the pressure of holding the pace and the follower can focus on relaxing. In that sense, the world-class runner is asking himself the same questions during his world-record attempt that you will ask yourself: Am I relaxed? How do I feel? Can I relax more? Am I running as relaxed as I can? Are there muscle groups that are unnecessarily tensed?

This may sound like a lot of stuff to keep in your head, but if you take a step back and consider it as all of a theme, you'll see that they're all connected. A good footfall that is not subject to an overstride will serve to shorten a stride and, in so doing, increase your cadence. That saved effort will help to make you relaxed and will save energy.

Good Luck!