I have heard that to be a better runner, you should have longer strides. I have also been told that you should have shorter, quicker strides to run more efficiently. I am wondering which advice is true. Thanks for the help.

Kate O'Neil

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This is a pretty tricky question. Some people overstride and need to shorten their stride while other people don't stride far enough and need to lengthen their strides. The best way to assess whether you are understriding or overstriding is to look at the way your foot strikes the ground. If you find that you are landing on your heels, you are probably overstriding. If you are landing on the balls of your feet, you are probably shortening your stride and not getting the full range of motion. Even the best runners in the world don't have perfect form. The most important thing you can do is optimize your own stride length. Drills and plyometrics will be a helpful tool in this process.