@StanJr Yeh I initially had the same general thoughts in relation to the timing and hit box. I ended up trying not to rush it so much, as there is no timer per-say, and found if I stopped at the nearest 'nodule' in front of the oncoming enemy, I would time it to just squish them as they were moving onto the opposing nodule. Instead of just trying to calculate the distant from you to the enemy anywhere along the running line and just squish them anywhere willy nilly. ( I hope that made sense. Even I'm going )
So the game play ended up being move .. stop .. wait .. time it .. squish .. rinse and repeat. Ended up enjoying getting into a rhythm, in my case away.