Hi All
The last few years I have not been able to jog/run longer distances than about 5km, and this is mainly because of shoe issues.
The last "traditional" shoe that I felt great running in was the New Balance 767, which was about 10 years ago. At that time I did not know about over-pronation and stuff and the shoe happened to have a medial posting and I think it is a shoe for slight over-pronators. But the wear on the shoe got to great and I think that was the cause of me getting plantar fasciitis, which started my endless search for a shoe.
At some shoe shop a guy checked my running gait and said I over-pronate and I bought a Nike shoe to handle it. But I couldn't run further than 5k in it without getting bad blisters on the inside of my feet. Next I get some Asics (Sorry I gave these shoes away and can't remember the model but they were all hi-end running shoes) and I had the same problem, although it was little better. I ended up putting duck tape on my feet when I went for runs, which actually helped alot.
After these problems I went to a podiatrist and he also said I over-pronate and built an insole for me. I got various shoes to put the insole in, or to run in without the insole, but never got a combination of insole + shoe or just shoe which I was able to run over 5k in and be injury free. The shoes which I tried with the insole was New Balance 1080v2, 860v3 and 870v2. Without insole the 1080v2 felt like it made me over-pronate too much and I got blisters on the inside of my feet, the 860v3 did not feel good at all, even without insole the ITB band stretched too much causing issues at knees and hips, the 870v2 is probably the best shoe out of the three and the insole also kind of worked with this shoe, but the problem was that the arch of my feet worked too hard for some reason in this shoe and after 3km the arch would burn from tiredness, it is almost like I try to counter the over-pronation which happens in this shoe and it is just too much work to handle. I also were injury prone in knee and hips with all these shoes.
So in desperation I started running barefoot on grass for abit and it felt great, never felt any twitching in the knees and the hips never got strain on them (because of ITB being stretched too much). I couldn't really handle any other surface than grass on barefoot so decided to give the vibram fivefingers a go and got the bikila's. The experience was the same as running barefoot and I really enjoy running in these, but I still have not managed to up my mileage in these. I normally get my calves eventually fit enough to run 3km without being sore the next day's. The problem is that I get hot-spots when get to 3km and blisters will form if I try to run further, some spots in my feet really burn from the contact/friction at 3km. I got injinju toe socks, but it does not make it considerable better.
So with these experiences I think that my over-pronation problem is caused by heel-striking and this happens in shoes with a relative big heel-drop (8mm and greater). I have fairly flat feet/fallen arches and a fairly wide feet. And with a anti-pronation shoe with heel-drop, I think it is like a battle of causing and fighting anti-pronation which does not feel good and my arches suffer trying to maintain good form, or I get blister in inside of feet when I over-pronate.
I have been looking for a shoe which will help me to run at least 10km, injury free and without pain. The shoes that interest me the most at the moment is the Altra's, with the zero heel drop and the wide toe-box.
I am not sure which Altra to got for, Altra One2, Altra Provision, Altra 3-sum (since I dabble abit in triathlon's also).
What do you think about my issues, and which shoe would you recommend for me?
PS: Sorry for the long post but this is the first time I am seeking online advice on this running shoe problem.