OK, thanks for the reply. I should clarify that I wasn't having problems staying at 180 (or faster whenever I want) I simply meant that focusing solely on maintaining that cadence makes it easy to just kind of "spin your wheels" without regard for moving in a natural, relaxed manner. Short, quick steps makes it quite easy to stay at 180, and that quick cadence keeps the steps light.

How about instead of consciously making the body twist and move back and forth a bit, we think of allowing the body to be supple and flowing and move the way it wants? That is what I was not doing.

OK, I think I've refined my views about the movement of the upper body. Several months ago, Natural Running Center posted a link to a video called On the Run. I've watched it a few times, and towards the middle, there is a shot of the ultramarathoner Max Telford. The camera pans up from his feet to his head as he's running. You can see that his shoulders move forward in opposition to his legs moving forward-that is, the right shoulder moves forward as the left leg moves forward, etc. Of course, this motion is natural, and most people don't have to think about it, but I've consciously emulated this a bit, and I think it has helped me open up my stride and get more hip rotation. It's definitely a sort of "twisting" motion, and I think it's more helpful than thinking of moving side to side, as I earlier advocated.

Most of the basics of technique we discuss are not focal points. They are simply aspects of what we have observed and tested and played with (experiment) for years, in some cases, decades, trying to reconstruct the nearly lost art of running while barefoot over a wide variety of terrains.

The focus of running, of course, is simply to move the body forward, easily, efficiently, and gracefully. This happens best when relaxed. Although relaxation comes easier after practicing and making the basic techniques somewhat habitual, the relaxing aspect allows us to be responsive to changes in the terrain, our body, our health, and whatever else might affect on our running.