The great footwear debate - Part 1

Given the number of questions I’ve been asked about this lately, I thought I’d give my thoughts on footwear quality, needs and prices.

Professionally, I see alot of runners with footwear of variable quality and wear. They recieve many contradictory messages on shoes. Having seen patients in everything from £150+ trainers to 1980s Nikes with holes in the soles, I’ve come to the same conclusion our tutors espoused at University. It’s not about what the shoe costs, it’s about how the shoe fits you, how it fits your purpose and how long you have been wearing it for.

When buying new shoes, it’s easy to get carried away with technology, foot scans and flashy colours, but the things I tell my patients to look for are:

• A firm heel counter, especially if they tend to ‘roll in’ (overpronate)
• Support under the arch, again more important if they overpronate. If they have high arches (oversupinate), runners can still benefit from small degree of arch support if running longer distances
• Good quality materials – most recognised brands have this, but it’s worth running and jumping around in the shoes before you buy them to make sure they have alot of ‘give’        

Overall, comfort is key. It overrides almost all other considerations.

If you’ve got problems with your running or an injury and think shoes could be an issue, seek professional advice from an accredited running coach or sports physio.  

I also get asked alot about barefoot running – I’ll leave that for another day, but I would say I’m concerned about people running without support when they don’t go shoe-less any other time.

Comments

[Dave]

Just treated myself to a new pair of trainers using my £15 voucher from signing up to Parkrun. I think the vouchers expire on the 31st March so if anyone is thinking of getting some new trainers in the near future, act now!

With reference to the article, my last couple of assessments when buying trainers have found I over-pronate less than I used to, so the trainers I buy have changed accordingly.

This is worth noting if trying to buy cheaper trainers online, as your gait may be changing without you realising it, so it's worth buying a pair in a shop even if it's only occasionally to check this, get yourself assessed, the pair I bought were matching online dealers when I used my voucher - happy days!

[Mike]

Which shop Dave? What was the service like? Has the same store assessed you over a period of time? How?

Do tell!

[Dave]

The Shop, and the associated Parkrun £15 discount which expires on the 31st March is Sweatshop, I used the one at David Lloyd Gym in Westbury on Trym. I went there because of the £15 discount especially. The service was fine, but we'll come to that.

I have used many running shops and bought online too over the years, online may give you a discount, but you lose that trying-on experience and maybe the required assessment of your needs based on how you run, pronating/supinating or not to it's many variations. Also note you usually buy a bigger size than your day shoes, but by how much? This varies.

I've used Sweatshop before with no problem, and would again. They don't have a record of my previous purchases however; does any shop? That would be good. Always take your old pair along to be looked at for wear indication of your gait and how you are running. This helps the assistant. You will then have a treadmill analysis of how you run, and the assistant should be able to recommend a pair of trainers from a range to suit you.

I bought a pair based on that, however, when going out for a run on the road last night I ran a mile and realised we weren't a match made in heaven despite all the above; I guess a road run is different to a burst on the treadmill in the shop, and decided I wanted to change them. This is the beauty of the Sweatshop 30 day guarantee, if you don't get on with your purchase for whatever reason you can go and change them for another pair. I don't know if other shops do this? If they do too, great. I asked Sweatshop if this exchange covers online purchases too, and they said yes.

Today I did just that, for a different pair in the same range, I was re-assessed by another assistant but the diagnosis remained the same, however, every brand varies despite being in the same range, in my case I need some support, and I swapped a Nike for an Asics, which so far so good, I'm happier with. Yes, comfortable, and I was happier after a road run later.

In conclusion I guess this shows what an inexact science this is, follow the original UBSM advice, take your time buying, run as long as possible on the treadmill when trying on, and run outside if you can, Easy Runner always did this, and be as sure as you can on the day. Incidentally I've never spent over £100 on a trainer, usually much less, and when I was tempted to spend more once a while ago I soon didn't like that pair for another reason altogether. Hopefully after all this Cinderella and I will get to run the Marathon ball together!

I'll leave the rest to UBSM - Thanks.