Running shoes- spec me

lynchy6789

lynchy6789

lynchy6789

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1,246
Hi,

I am looking at taking up running more seriously now with my planned half marathon run next year.

I will be doing road and offroad running (Through farm paths and woods).

Hoping somepeople can give me some advice on what shoes they use.

I say i have about £40-60

Thanks
 
1) Mainstream thinking

If it's your first pair, ignore brand, model and colour. Go to a proper running shop that can analyse your running style and then try on some of the shoes they suggest in store (they should have a treadmill). Purchase the pair that feels the best.

My current road shoes are Nike Air Zoom Triax 10+ and they are great for me. For you? I've no idea at all.

2) Alternative Thinking

You could consider the whole running shoe industry self-perpetuating and look at some of the alternatives such as the Vibram Five Fingers. Google "barefoot running" and there's load of stuff about how expensive running shoes aren't considered good by some people.
 
#Chri5# said:
1) Mainstream thinking

If it's your first pair, ignore brand, model and colour. Go to a proper running shop that can analyse your running style and then try on some of the shoes they suggest in store (they should have a treadmill). Purchase the pair that feels the best.

My current road shoes are Nike Air Zoom Triax 10+ and they are great for me. For you? I've no idea at all.

2) Alternative Thinking

You could consider the whole running shoe industry self-perpetuating and look at some of the alternatives such as the Vibram Five Fingers. Google "barefoot running" and there's load of stuff about how expensive running shoes aren't considered good by some people.
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Yet to see anybody adopt option 2! I wonder why :p

Option 1 is the best/sensible approach.

Another option is do the wet test, and buy a pair that you like based on your predicted requirement.
 
I went to Birmingham Runners where they put me on a treadmill and analysed my 'gait' (I think that's what it's called, how your foot impacts the floor basically).

Anyway after that I tried several pairs and by far the best for me was a pair of Saucony trainers, they cost me £65.
 
#Chri5# said:
1) Mainstream thinking

If it's your first pair, ignore brand, model and colour. Go to a proper running shop that can analyse your running style and then try on some of the shoes they suggest in store (they should have a treadmill). Purchase the pair that feels the best.

cut...
Click to expand...

A good shop will have record your gait and show you your foot strikes. Get the pair that makes it look like your ankle is at it's most stable.

When I got my first pair of real running shoes, I couldn't believe how much flex my ankle had on the recording of my old trainers, and how stable it was when I go the right shoes.

As others have said, I could recommend my shoes, but it would likely be pointless for your feet.
 
Running shoes spec me

Sauna will not have the same effect as running like MuscleScience said. I tend to do a slow jog on a treadmill to get my heart rate up before I lift weights.
 
I got myself a pair of Vibram FiveFingers in the USA not long ago, and recently started to use them more often while running. It's still really hard on my legs to run in them (walking is fine) but I can already feel my lower leg muscles getting far stronger, and my balance has improved loads. So far no real injuries. Hit a small stone the other day which wasn't much fun though lol. And I was going up steps in them and stubbed my toe. Meh.
 
Robbie G said:
I went to Birmingham Runners where they put me on a treadmill and analysed my 'gait' (I think that's what it's called, how your foot impacts the floor basically).

Anyway after that I tried several pairs and by far the best for me was a pair of Saucony trainers, they cost me £65.
Click to expand...

Got some sauconys too and they are excellent.

My left foot over pronates in a very bad way and the Sauconys were the only ones to pretty much rectify it as well as the slight on my right. THey were the cheapest pair I tried too and was not forced into purchasing anything more expensive.

This was at 'runners need' both in Canary Wharf and near Liverpool st.
 
I use Mizuno Wave Creation 9's, perfect for me although I'm not sure how light you could be before they might feel a bit harsh (I'm just shy of 16st).
As everyone else has said though, they're such a personal thing you can't really get recommendations, you have to go to a running shop and get some advice.
 
You say your on a budget but what price would you put on your knees? A gait test is highly recommended for any runner especially if you are road running. I've just had knee surgery to correct problems I've had when wearing commercial trainers for years when I was younger.

To be honest, running is a pretty cheap hobby compared to say monthly gym membership so an outlay for a pair of decent trainers, no matter how much they cost, doesn't change that and is going to save you lots of pain in the long run (excuse the pun).
 
Just to sort of add to the above, I had some Reebok DMX things that I wore to the gym and always found I could only run a max of 2km before I was in lots of pain from my shins.
I went to an Up And Running store and had gait analysis done. Turns out I'm a really bad over-pronator... I have spacker ankles... and needed the most supportive shoes they had in the shop.

Result? Oh yes. Running feels actually right/fun rather than torture.

Definitely recommend not knacking your legs and getting proper running shoes, if you need them.
 
#Chri5# said:
2) Alternative Thinking

You could consider the whole running shoe industry self-perpetuating and look at some of the alternatives such as the Vibram Five Fingers. Google "barefoot running" and there's load of stuff about how expensive running shoes aren't considered good by some people.
Click to expand...

This is a really interesting point.

See this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18075931

There is very little evidence to suggest the supportive shoes produced by by the mainstream shoe industry 'work'.

Phyre said:
I got myself a pair of Vibram FiveFingers in the USA not long ago, and recently started to use them more often while running. It's still really hard on my legs to run in them (walking is fine) but I can already feel my lower leg muscles getting far stronger, and my balance has improved loads. So far no real injuries. Hit a small stone the other day which wasn't much fun though lol. And I was going up steps in them and stubbed my toe. Meh.
Click to expand...

That's just it, today's supportive shoes have weekend our muscles, it takes a few months to strengthen feet and leg muscles and get back to running the way we evolved to (not landing on an overly padded heal!), that is the best long distance/endurance runners in the world. A human can out run any other animal on the planet, and the latest Nike trainers don't to better than a couple million years of evolution.
 
clv101 said:
This is a really interesting point.

See this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18075931

There is very little evidence to suggest the supportive shoes produced by by the mainstream shoe industry 'work'.



That's just it, today's supportive shoes have weekend our muscles, it takes a few months to strengthen feet and leg muscles and get back to running the way we evolved to (not landing on an overly padded heal!), that is the best long distance/endurance runners in the world. A human can out run any other animal on the planet, and the latest Nike trainers don't to better than a couple million years of evolution.
Click to expand...

Hocus pocus!
 
JoeMama said:
What do you base this on?
Click to expand...

There's lots of studies to show that. The two key points is that we are the only mammal that can breath independently to our stride, all other mammals can only take one breath per stride and O2 becomes a limit. And our bare bodies with huge amount of sweat glands can cool more efficiently.

A fit human can outrun a horse over a marathon distance. Whilst a deer can sprint faster than a human, it can only do so for 10 minutes before it is over heated and exhausted. Humans can jog faster than a deer and keep it up for hours. As long as you can keep the deer in sight, a human can run a deer down to exhaustion.
 
#Chri5# said:
1) Mainstream thinking

If it's your first pair, ignore brand, model and colour. Go to a proper running shop that can analyse your running style and then try on some of the shoes they suggest in store (they should have a treadmill). Purchase the pair that feels the best.

My current road shoes are Nike Air Zoom Triax 10+ and they are great for me. For you? I've no idea at all.

2) Alternative Thinking

You could consider the whole running shoe industry self-perpetuating and look at some of the alternatives such as the Vibram Five Fingers. Google "barefoot running" and there's load of stuff about how expensive running shoes aren't considered good by some people.
Click to expand...

For No2 I would buy a pair of Innov8'tes, some pbwalsh'es or some track racing shoes. Wouldnt recommend it though I knew someone who ran a 1/2 marathon on some adidas Sambas and ended up with a toe fracture and a broken ankle. Off-road you would be ok, probably.
 
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clv101 said:
There's lots of studies to show that. The two key points is that we are the only mammal that can breath independently to our stride, all other mammals can only take one breath per stride and O2 becomes a limit. And our bare bodies with huge amount of sweat glands can cool more efficiently.

A fit human can outrun a horse over a marathon distance. Whilst a deer can sprint faster than a human, it can only do so for 10 minutes before it is over heated and exhausted. Humans can jog faster than a deer and keep it up for hours. As long as you can keep the deer in sight, a human can run a deer down to exhaustion.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've read a lot about this and how it fits in with our evolution. I was reading something that suggested at one point a few million years ago our brain capacity jumped quite remarkably. This required a large amount of protein which could have only come from us hunting animals. The problem is that we had no weapons at that time so it's said we ran down animals until they became exhausted.

It seems like a digression but if you think about it, what sort of shoes were these neanderthals wearing? Clearly not the cushioned Nike trainers you might find today. No, they would have been barefoot. Or at least very close to it. We evolved to run barefoot, and only in the last 50 years or so have cushioned shoes taken off.
 
clv101 said:
There's lots of studies to show that. The two key points is that we are the only mammal that can breath independently to our stride, all other mammals can only take one breath per stride and O2 becomes a limit. And our bare bodies with huge amount of sweat glands can cool more efficiently.

A fit human can outrun a horse over a marathon distance. Whilst a deer can sprint faster than a human, it can only do so for 10 minutes before it is over heated and exhausted. Humans can jog faster than a deer and keep it up for hours. As long as you can keep the deer in sight, a human can run a deer down to exhaustion.
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree with that, not least because my great uncle worked on a farm as a kid and a sheep escaped and he had to chase the thing, but it kept running and eventually it dropped dead. Poor bloke had to pay for it out of his wages :(
 
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