I still remember how confused I felt as a high school runner when a random parent came up to me at a track meet and told me I needed to completely change my running form . And I’m not talking about a simple shift in my cadence or arm movement. The stranger told me that, after watching me run, he “knew” I needed to alter my entire stride and posture. Those significant changes would magically turn me into a faster, more efficient runner, he confidently explained.

Spoiler alert: I did not need to change my form that drastically. In fact, most of the parent’s suggestions didn’t feel natural to my body when I tried them out in races, and the adjustments actually made my performance much worse.

However, despite the one technique horror story, I have seen success with making tiny tweaks to elements of my running form . I learned how to run with relaxed hands with the help of a strange-but-silly Pringle drill . I discovered how to hammer my arms more powerfully by, well, swinging my arms with hammers in my hands.…