Training in racing flats?

the only time i use racers is when i'm doing a speed workout--intervals or faster stuff, and sometimes on tempos or fartleks i'll wear them. i usually use a pretty lightweight trainer anyway though (mach 1) and i think they've worked the best for me. i think especially the smaller and lighter you are, its more important to have a shoe that flexes more easily to help avoid injuries like plantar faciitis. if you really pronate and have flat feet i wouldnt recommend running all your miles in flats though. but i have heard of plenty of ppl who run everything in racers, especially the nike ghost racer and the mizuno wave phantom.

Can you get all the cushioning you need out of a pair of really good insoles (put into say, a Teva proton)? Or do shoes (even racers) provide some benefit that I haven't thought of, beyond cushioning?

What do people recommend for someone like me with injuries related to pronation? I overpronate, putting extra stress on the inside of my Achilles. I've had injury problems on and off on the inside of my Achilles, at about the same level as the bottom of the ankle, and motion control shoes and orthotics seem to help reduce the stress on the tendon.

Normally I do my faster workouts in racing flats, and I like running in the lightweight shoes much better than running in the heavy motion control shoes, but I worry that if I wore the flats every day my over-pronating would cause lots of problems.

Any thoughts?

Over pronation is caused by running shoes.This is one of Nike's dark little secrets.The wide padded raised heel nike has been putting into running shoes since the cortez alters the foots biomechanics in such a way as to cause over pronation by speeding up foot plant.The cushioning messes up biomechanics so then they add stability and control and try and tell ya that it is your foot that has a problem....I really think that someday all the big running shoe companies will get socked with a class action lawsuit.

They been telling lies for decades.

Only if you land on your heel.

RD wrote:

The main difference between trainers and flats is most trainers (that are around now) are very support oriented. That means they have a "medal post" which protects against pronation. The reason running in flats feels better is because they don't have a medal post (besides the fact they weight 8 ounces less). If you don't pronate (which puts in in the large minority of the population) the medal post can be very harmful.

......just naming brands doesn't help (unless its Asics or New Balance which only have medal post shoes....just to different degrees).....And just for reference I had the same injury problems and recently switched out of Asics to the Adidas supernova cushion and have had no injuries at all.

All of the Asics cushioned trainers have single-density EVA and none have medial posts or other anti-pronation devices.

i'm gonna give this a bump back up to the top... and out of curiousity has anyone tried training in flats and had a really bad experience? it seems like not just from this thread...

Bump für alle

does anyone no where to get a pair or several pairs or nike ghost racers...i swear those shoes were tailor made for my feet...too bad they're discontinued...also, what is a good shoe that's similar to the ghost racers that people are wearing now??i see nike has the air streak or whatever...anyone have any opinions on that shoe??

I'm in the same boat with the ghost racers. The Air Streak is MUCH harder, and doesn't fit the same. The Air streak spectrum is much softer. Very different shoes from the Ghost.

The new Nike flats are made on a Japanese last, so they tend to run wider. Try the Fila and Mizuno flats as well as the new Brooks.

I swear by training in flats now, my pick is the Nike Triax TC or the old Streaks. I am wondering has anyone tried the Fila marathon shoes, ya know the ones all the Kenyan guys wear, I'd like to try them but none of the stores around here seem to sell them. As far superlight flats like the New Balance 150s I don't think the cushioning is a problem, but rather that the shoe is so minimalist it will fall apart quickly. My take is that the less shoe there is the better, but I don't want them to fall apart too soon, so I opt for slightly heavier pairs ~8 oz. or so.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole wrote:

does anyone no where to get a pair or several pairs or nike ghost racers...i swear those shoes were tailor made for my feet...too bad they're discontinued...also, what is a good shoe that's similar to the ghost racers that people are wearing now??i see nike has the air streak or whatever...anyone have any opinions on that shoe??

Eastbay had them the last time I looked, which was maybe two weeks ago. Click on "track & field" in the "sports" box and they were on one of the later pages.

just got the teva protons today from rei. they remind me of a story i read in runners world years ago about the tarrahumara (sp?) indians running leadville in sandals made from old car tires. an 11 1/2 would have been perfect, but they only do full sizes so i needed to get a 12. they don't fit as snug as i might like. i remember the old nike aqua socks being a very tight fit that was nice. just walking around town in them you really do get that barefoot feeling and realize how much even a racing flat gives you in terms of cushioning. you really need to think about controlling your foot plant in these things, which i think is a good thing. went for a very short walk/jog in them on some trails and they felt good. running on a trail felt much better than walking around on cement. i'm not going to start doing all my running in these things yet, but i'll work them in. i'm in the midst of a training comeback so my lower legs are pretty weak to begin with. thanks for the suggestion on these things. i just hope the rubber outsole holds up well.

After 200 miles my proton's are wearing well.

Only haveing whole sizes is a limitation.

You might try an insole or sock liner for running on hard surface.It took me a few weeks before hard surfaces felt ok and I had done alot of barefoot running so a gradual approach using softsurface for cushion is a good idea.

Thanks for trying these out.

i just did an 11+ mile run/hike on some pretty gnarly trails in the tevas. my feet are pretty achy, but the good kind of ache. i'm not sure if i'll be able to run in these things full time because a lot of the trails i run can get pretty rough. i never noticed it too much before today. still, it was a good workout for the feet and lower legs and will try to use these as much as possible. might stick some insoles in them, but i don't want something too squishy.

Has this been posted?

www.runningbarefoot.org

After 8.5 years of probably 30 calf tears, hamstring injuries, plantar fascitis, and IT band problems, I have decided to go the barefoot/racing flat route. I've started by putting my foot in rice to strengthen the feet and lower legs, as well as really stretching the lower legs and playing some basketball to strengthen the calves. I started this very slowly about three weeks ago and haven't had any problems. This is on very low mileage. Currently 6 1.5" 170 - raced in college at 140-143. I've tried alot of other routes so hopefully this does the trick.

B

take it slow, brant. i spent my college years running in custom orthotics and supportive trainers so my feet and lower leg muscles were pretty weak. i had a few injuries when first trying to do all my training in racing flats, but i attributed that to just doing too much too soon too fast. i'm trying to make another comeback now and am starting by doing long hikes with some running thrown in in either racing flats or now these teva slip ons. and once i start running for real i'm not going to wear a watch for a LONG time.

good luck.

Not saying u guys are wrong... wrote:

I'm not saying you guys are all wrong for training in flats but it still doesnt really make much sense to me how you can be less injury prone wearing a shoe that has a whole lot less to it. After wearing flats (Asics Tiger Paw) in track workouts and races I always felt that my legs, especially my calves, felt more beat up. Anyone else have any good reasons to make the switch, cause I am very injury prone??? Thanks.

Because with flats you can run properly, landing with bent knees.

With trainers, because the heels are built up so high, it teaches people to land hard on their heels with straight legs. That causes problems and injuries. If you then did the same thing in flats then sure it would be a problem there. The solution is to don't do that and run right.