How to buy the right running shoes?

Can you run with no feet? It can be done very quickly, as the South African runner Oscar Pistorius proved years ago. Having both feet amputated as a child, he ran a sprint distance of 400 meters using special carbon fiber prostheses. Thanks to them, he covered the distance of one lap in 45.07 seconds (as a reminder, the current Polish record at this distance is 44:62 seconds).

Carbon plate for the fastest

Today it is known that it was the Pistorius prostheses that inspired the designers of running shoes to introduce revolutionary changes in modern running footwear - in addition to the traditional foam-gel cushioning system, special carbon fiber plates were implemented, whose task is to obtain an extremely dynamic take-off. It is the soles of the fastest running shoes in the world, i.e. the famous Nike Vaporfly Next and Nike Alphafly Next, that have been equipped with such plates, and Adidas Adizero Pro shoes also with a similar carbon fiber plate (Carbitex Carbon Plate) are just making their debut on the world market.

Similar tiles are installed in their fastest models by the HOKA company, and Japanese ASICS, American Brooks and New Balance are also waiting in line with this type of innovations. But such running shoes are not and will not be cheap, so not all willing runners will be able to afford them. Does this mean that apart from the mentioned speed demons, it is no longer worth buying other good running shoes? On the contrary, which will be discussed below.

I'm not a competitive runner...

In the specialist shop chain Sklep Biegacza, you can often hear from customers: "I'm not a professional runner, I've been running for a short time, so I don't want to buy expensive shoes." Meanwhile, running from the very beginning in good shoes (of course, not necessarily the most expensive ones) can effectively protect us from ... the dark side of running, i.e. injuries. And the length of our running internship does not matter here. Whether we've been running for just a month or whether we've been running for many years on off-road paths and city streets.

All of us, without exception, need good running shoes, because only they will protect our legs, i.e. joints, bones, as well as muscles, tendons and ligaments from which they are built. Besides, without good running shoes, all the joy and pleasure that this passion gives us will also be much less. So it is worth taking care of this most important element of running equipment and buying good running shoes.

Depreciation matters

Professional running shoes differ from "general sports" shoes primarily in that they have cushioning, often at a very high level. And because cushioning - i.e. the materials from which it is made, as well as its components - is the most expensive part of running shoes, which is why they are more expensive than other "general sports" or "lifestyle" shoes. Unfortunately, this cushioning wears out all the time, and scientific research has proven that every 500 kilometers run it decreases by a third (because with each step we knead it more and more).

In other words, if we have covered a total of about 1000 km in these shoes, we have only a third of their initial depreciation. But that's not all, because if the shoe has been incorrectly selected for the weight of a given runner, the aforementioned depreciation will wear out even faster. So, what matters most is our weight. The bigger it is, the more solid (also more expensive) shoes with high cushioning we will need. And here it must be clearly stated that there are no running shoes on the market for people weighing more than 100 kg.

The strongest and most robust shoes in terms of cushioning are able to carry a runner with a maximum weight of +90 kg. However, if such a person buys shoes dedicated to runners weighing 75-80 kg, their wear and tear will follow exponentially. This means that after about 600-700 km of all depreciation, we will only have ... the outer sole, i.e. the plane with which the shoe is in contact with the ground. And if, in addition, we run mainly on asphalt, the effects of this state of affairs can be deplorable for our legs. Knee, shin and hip pain are just some of the milder ailments that can get us then.

That is why it is so important to choose the right footwear for the current weight of the runner. A good running shoe must also be comfortable and convenient, so that even after 20 kilometers of running we will feel in it as if we had just left the house to run. Unfortunately, this comfort and convenience can be different, because each of us has different feet and the fact that a colleague / friend runs great in a certain model of shoes does not mean that we will be equally good in them.

In addition, good running shoes not only have better cushioning, but also should last much longer, i.e. cover many more kilometers without visible signs of wear, such as holes and abrasions of the upper or heels, sole cracks, etc. damage. And finally, good running shoes will be remembered for a long time and practically every runner with a longer experience has his favorite model to which he will return in subsequent editions and recommend it to other runners.

In a specialist shop, an experienced customer advisor will certainly help us with this. First of all, he will ask a lot of questions, eliminating more and more models from the whole wall of different models and brands of shoes in the selection process, until he has only a few models left in his mind (usually 2-3), which, according to the advisor, will be the most appropriate for a given the profile of the foot, the expectations of a particular runner, as well as the characteristics of his running.

It is worth trusting such advice, because an experienced advisor in a specialist store usually has extensive knowledge about many models of running shoes (he undergoes cyclical product training and tests many shoes himself) and experience resulting from hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of foot tests of runners and runners.

But what to do when there is no such store in our city (or it is closed as during a pandemic) and the only thing we can do is buy running shoes online? How to go about it, so as not to regret it later or not to return the purchased pair. Below, I present a handful of practical tips.

Some anatomy...

Leonardo da Vinci already said that the human foot is a true masterpiece of nature. How can something so small and fragile in relation to the rest of our body and its weight be able to carry such a burden throughout our lives? In addition, it can be moved not only during normal walking, but also during such an intense activity as running. A runner's foot is loaded both when it lands on the ground (landing phase) and when it leaves the ground (take-off phase). In both these phases of each step, the foot is subjected to great stresses.

Especially in the landing phase, i.e. the impact of the foot on the ground, especially hard, asphalt. This impact causes a huge shock, which then transfers to the entire body. Based on scientific research, it is estimated that the force of this impact is as much as 5 times our weight, which means that with the weight of an average runner around 80 kg, it is a force of 400 kg! If its destructive effect is not cushioned by our shoes (i.e. dispersed in a horizontal plane), it will move higher - from the foot to the ankle joint, and then to the knees, hips and lower part of the spine. Considering that we take over 15,000 steps over the half-marathon distance, the destructive effect of running in shoes without proper cushioning can have really disastrous consequences for our body.

The extremely durable, yet very sensitive and precise mechanism of the human foot is made up of 33 joints, 26 bones, 33 muscles and 107 ligaments. The foot consisting of a heel, metatarsal and toes, thanks to its unusual structure, is able to perform a number of important functions, such as: shock absorption, support, drive and sensory (there are about 200,000 nerve endings in the foot).

Its proper operation is enabled by four basic systems - bone, joint, muscular and nervous. Although all human feet consist of the same parts listed above, the problem is that each of us has our own individual foot shape and size. It's like a genetic code. To make things more difficult, quite often our feet also differ significantly from each other.

Not only in terms of size, but also the so-called. arches and how to place them. Nevertheless, there are generally three basic foot profiles: supinating, neutral and pronating. And depending on this, we distinguish two main categories of running shoes - neutral (both for the neutral and supinating foot) and stabilizing (for pronators, i.e. people with a tendency to flat feet - longitudinal and transverse, and both together). At home, you can determine the foot profile by placing a wet foot on a piece of paper, and then outlining its shape and comparing it with a pattern available online (e.g. on the Runner's Store website). Depending on the profile of our foot, we should therefore choose shoes from a specific category.

Asphalt or terrain?

The second extremely important issue when choosing running shoes is the dominant type of surface on which we will run. There will be different shoes intended for hard surfaces of the "urban jungle", and others for running in the field. The former will generally have better cushioning, a flatter sole tread, additionally finished with specially hardened, hard-abrasive rubber (e.g. Continental in adidas models, AHAR+ rubber in ASICS or Michelin in Mizuno ). In the category of "asphalt" shoes, the division into neutral shoes and shoes with stabilization (i.e. for pronators) will be very clear, which cannot be said about off- road shoes .

Check your outdoor shoes

Although there are some models of field shoes with stabilization, there are definitely fewer of them than in shoes for hard surfaces, which results from the very characteristics of running in the field, where almost every step of the runner differs from the previous one (as opposed to asphalt, where we are dealing with high repetition of steps) and what counts above all is the function of good "holding" of the foot in such a shoe, i.e. its stability (not to be confused with the aforementioned stabilization).

Among the field shoes, we can also find an additional subcategory of shoes for the so-called. soft ground, i.e. soft ground and hard ground, i.e. shoes for rocks and stones with additional reinforcement in the sole (usually a hard protective plate - rock plate protection) and around the toes (protection against hitting a stone or a hard root - toe protected).

However, due to the growing popularity of difficult obstacle courses, another subcategory of shoes designed for running on muddy surfaces and extremely resistant to moisture and water has recently appeared. Phew, a lot of that ... but I will add that there is also a fairly small group of shoes, referred to as universal, i.e. those that will work equally well on asphalt and less demanding terrain, such as paths in the park or forest tracks.

Such shoes, although nominally designed for running on asphalt, do not lose much of their good properties in light terrain. It goes without saying that many Polish runners are looking for such universal running shoes.

On the other hand, we also have very off-road shoes, which, due to the height of the aggressive tread, will not be suitable for the proverbial "patting asphalt", because they have poor grip, and besides, they wear out extremely quickly. In any case, proper diagnosis of the surface on which the new shoes will be used by us is one of the basic conditions for a successful purchase of running shoes, not only on the Internet.

What about the size?

In this regard, when buying running shoes online, I suggest not to follow the company's size at all, but the length of the foot in centimeters. These brand sizes really do make a difference, and a centimeter will always be a centimeter. How to measure it well? And again, a paper card will help, on which we carefully trace both our feet, and then measure the outline with a ruler with a millimeter scale.

We measure very precisely the distance between the extreme points along the length of both feet. It may turn out that we are in the group of 10% of the population that has a longer second toe than the so-called. big toe, which must be absolutely taken into account. Thanks to this measurement, we get the length of the inner insole in the shoes in centimeters.

The more accurately we measure it, the better. We also never buy shoes on contact. Always add min. 5 mm for almost certain swelling of the foot after a few kilometers of running. If we have feet of different lengths (quite a common case), we always buy shoes in the size that takes into account the larger foot. Never vice versa! Runners with longer running experience should also be reminded that with thousands of kilometers the foot is naturally flattened and the fact that a few years ago they wore the European size 42.5 does not mean that they will fit in it now.

Their current foot size may be much larger (e.g. 44 ) and you should not be guided by the size of your old shoes, because they are usually worn out and out of shape (i.e. they do not keep their original size).

Another important aspect that must be taken into account when buying new running shoes is the so-called. mileage, i.e. how much and how often we will run. A different shoe is recommended for a person who runs recreationally for several kilometers 2-3 times a week, and a completely different one for an experienced runner who covers over 100 km a week, whose average training distance is about 20 kilometers. The latter information (about the length of the average distance) is important because with the distance covered, the foot swells more and more (especially when it is warm) and increases in volume.

In addition, if a runner covers distances longer than a marathon (i.e. ultra), he should buy shoes even 1-1.5 cm larger than his own foot. Failure to take into account the above recommendations and, consequently, buying running shoes that are too small always ends up in the same way, i.e. damaging or even completely removing the nails.

It is also worth remembering that if we buy shoes 2-3 millimeters too big, nothing will really happen, but if we make a mistake by the same amount in the other direction, the consequences of this fact will be unpleasant.

Tech fireworks…

Since the time when one of the co-creators of the great success of Nike, the legendary trainer Phil Bowerman created the famous Cortez, a model of a running shoe in which half of America used to run (including Forrest Gump in the cult film), a lot has changed in this industry.

Although another famous "running shoe maker", i.e. Yoshitori Omori from the Japanese city of Kobe, who has been co-creating the most successful models of Adidas running shoes for over 20 years, still sculpts these shoes almost by hand (the last mentioned Adizero Pro), it is enough to literally glance at shoe models produced today in comparison with the editions, let's say 10 years ago, to notice significant changes in this area.

Check out asphalt shoes

Although the main parts of running shoes have remained unchanged - i.e. the sole and upper, today they are completely different constructions, both in terms of technology and design. But what's interesting is that the famous Cortez model is again produced by Nike, although not as a running shoe, but a lifestyle shoe. There are countless new technologies in running shoes and each season brings new revelations in this field (one of the latest is the carbon fiber plate in the midsole mentioned at the beginning).

It is also not always known (even among experts) which of these technologies are worth betting on, and which ones should not be bothered with, because they will disappear from the market quickly, as has happened many times before. Nevertheless, a large part of them has settled down for good and changed not only the appearance, but also the functionality of modern running shoes.

Let's start with the upper, which has changed significantly compared to those from years ago. Around the same time, two leading companies in the running market - Nike and Adidas - introduced two revolutionary materials - flyknit (Nike) and primeknit (Adidas). Without going into technical details, it should be explained that this enabled the production of completely new, seamless, knitted uppers, that is, they wrap the runner's foot very closely - like a sock.

It is worth noting that uppers of this type are extremely comfortable and pleasant to use and quickly solved the eternal problem of many runners for whom traditional shoes with hard, stiff uppers were uncomfortable. Especially if someone was suffering from the so-called. bunions.

Thanks to the new sock uppers, the problem disappeared immediately. Systems and cushioning materials became more and more perfect and more diverse every year, although the direction of the search for running shoes manufacturers was still the same - how to obtain the lightest possible material with the best energy absorption capacity. A real revolution in this regard took place in 2013, when Adidas launched the boost material. From now on, nothing in running shoes was supposed to be the same as before...

The aforementioned boost turned out to be one of the most perfect cushioning materials in the history of running. The capsules from which it was built not only perfectly absorbed energy at the moment of impact, but also dynamically returned it at the moment of rebound. In addition, the boost was light and, equally important, insensitive to temperature changes. Thanks to this, it gave the same level of depreciation on hot asphalt during hot summer and cold winter (it did not stiffen like traditional foams). In addition, it was extremely durable and there were cases of running up to 2.5 thousand kilometers in one pair of boosts, without adequate damage to their depreciation after such a mileage.

No wonder that runners around the world instantly fell in love with "boosts" and did not want to buy shoes from other brands. It took quite a few years for adidas' global competition to find an answer to boost, and only in 2017 did its first serious competitor appear in the form of react foam, which was created by Nike. Soon after, another excellent wetsuit by the same company appeared under the name zoom-x .

Back to the carbon plate

But it was already known then that it would be difficult to win the competition with boost with another foam that was even lighter and more resilient. A second (besides the foam itself and its various combinations) was necessary, a key element of the cushioning of running shoes. All the producers did what they could, but Nike turned out to be the fastest by releasing the Vaporfly 4% model in 2017, in which Eliud Kipchoge almost broke the 2-hour barrier in the marathon at the Italian Monza track. He only missed 26 seconds. However, this did not turn out to be the most important thing, but the publicity gained by the new shoes in which he ran at that time.

The effect was such that all speed runners around the world immediately wanted to have the same shoes - i.e. equipped with a carbon insert providing unprecedented acceleration and running dynamics. Since then, there has been a real madness about running shoes with this type of insert, until finally even Adidas itself finally broke and installed a "magic" carbon fiber plate to the mentioned boost.

Check out shoes with a carbon plate

Other manufacturers of running shoes also decided to make the same move, as it turned out that no foam or their combination could win against such a dynamic, light and strong material as carbon fiber. What does all this mean for someone who is about to buy running shoes online?

So what shoes should you choose for yourself?

First of all, we have to answer the question - what do we really care about in our running? Is it mainly about speed and setting new life records at all distances, or about calm and safe running in your own comfort zone of physical effort? Of course, taking into account the previously described parameters of buying good running shoes, i.e. our current weight, foot profile, type of surface, or the mileage covered.

Many times in my work as an advisor, I have observed the genuine astonishment of clients who measured shoes and stated - how much individual models of running shoes can differ from each other. There are light and agile shoes like wild cats, there are also running shoes as comfortable as fancy road cruisers in the automotive industry, there are also extremely fast shoes and shoes definitely slower, but so strong that they will not be able to cover even the longest distance. What to choose from this wide range of shoes? What else should you consider, what else should you consider? Here are some hints.

If we love speed and love to race, let's choose shoes with the aforementioned carbon plate, although you should know that these types of shoes are generally harder and stiffer in the feeling (this is the effect of the plate mounted in their midsole). These are also shoes that require good running technique and are not forgiving in this area, so they will not be good for every runner.

So if we have feet that pronate strongly (so-called overpronation), we should not choose this type of shoes, because they may not meet our expectations. Especially when we're not running too fast. In addition, the fastest ones are usually racing shoes, in which you do not train, but only wear them for starts. Why? Because although they can provide fantastic running experiences, they have one disadvantage - they are unstable and wear out very quickly. Not to mention that they are usually quite expensive.

If, on the other hand, we are looking for training shoes that will not let us down during hundreds of training kilometers, and we want to protect ourselves against injuries, we should choose shoes with the highest possible cushioning. They may be slower than the racing ones, but they will provide us with the appropriate level of safety and comfort. They will not be so dynamic, but from the first moment you put them on your foot, they will delight you with their softness and comfort. They will also forgive a lot more mistakes in running technique, and if we have pronating feet and choose shoes with good stabilization, they will effectively support our every step.

If, for example, we have feet deformed by bunions or wide metatarsals, it is worth getting interested in shoes with sock uppers. But be careful here! People with so-called with a high instep should not choose shoes with a tongue integrated with the upper, as they may have problems putting them on. On the other hand, people who have previously twisted their legs, which may indicate instability of the ankle joint, should rather choose shoes with solid, well-supporting heel counters. In this context, also, any pain in the knees, tibia or hip joints requires shoes with the highest possible level of cushioning.

Krzysztof Szwedzik
Customer advisor - Sklep Biegacza Warszawa-Powiśle