Undoing Your Shoes
Roughly 80 percent of runners overstride when wearing running shoes, meaning their foot touches the ground ahead of the hips, usually on the very back of the heel. Roughly zero percent of runners overstride when running barefoot (because doing so would bruise the heel). The fact that so many of us automatically begin to overstride as soon as we lace up our sneakers is a problem because overstriding reduces running economy and increases injury risk.
You can learn to reduce or eliminate your overstriding even in running shoes. Step one is to wear the lightest shoes with the least heel cushioning that you find comfortable. Step two is to practice running with a slight forward lean of your entire body from the ankles up (not from the waist), which will naturally discourage overstriding. Step three is to develop a habit of feeling where ground impact forces are concentrated on your foot and playing around with your stride until you feel those forces move forward from the back of the heel to the front of the heel or even the midfoot.