That will happen with a change in stride or cadence.

By the pictures I agree, over striding, too much upper body movement, weak core. The pictures appear to be at the end of the race where most people's form are at their worst due to fatigue. Work on shorting the stride, running more hills, and staying more compact up top while being relaxed.

Cadence is something you can check on your own without a pod. During your runs count how many times one foot hits the ground for 6 seconds and multiply by 10 for individual foot cadence (multiply by two to get total cadence). Shoot for 90 per side/180 total since this is about the range for most people. Some people prefer a slower cadence but it is rare.

If it helps setup a video camera and run by it during your run. Compare your form to someone like Meb and compare the difference.

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so, after reading this thread I started looking into running technique. typically, as a fat guy with skinny legs, if I run for a week or so, I start getting a lot of knee pain. I attributed it to the afore characteristics, but this thread got me thinking it was moreso due to heel striking. last night, I ran a few miles with an adjusted cadence and focused on landing on the middle of my feet. zero knee pain. however, my calves are sore a f***.

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Yup. Been working on the same thing the past month with the exact same result.

Thanks. I do think I over stride when sprinting. Not sure why.

As to my core, it may look bad but my core is pretty solid.

Thanks to everyone who posted about this. I'm on week 4 of Couch to 5K. Really not into running. Paid attention to my form and cadence today and my run went way better. I was probably running about 150 steps per minute instead of 180. Felt a lot better going a bit faster.

I have found that jogging fast makes me feel better, no knee pain. I'm sure my gait changes but I haven't analyzed it. it could just be that I run shorter distances.

I thought about this thread when I saw a recent pic of my daughter running. Natural talent? Sure doesn't get it from her dad.

Very nice!

I've been running with my daughter every day, and she's "fast" like me but has horrible form. We both sound like elephants with our foot strikes.