Shoes: So many conflicting opinions

Why wouldn't you want to buy 7 pairs of shoes?

Honestly, it would be too much post and hassle to return them.

I didn't go down the barefoot route as I saw it as a fad

I didn't go down the minimalist route as I saw it as a fad

I tend to run in simple relatively light neutral shoes

I'm interested by the carbon plates but can't see myself spending a fortune on them for a while yet. I thought they were a fad too but either the marketing is exceptional or maybe there's something in it. I'll give them a try at some point, probably when regular races restart

I dunno. I have run in pretty much every type of shoe on the market, with exception of super minimalist ones (went as far in that direction as Nike Free 5.0). Guess what, everything is runnable and feels good when I'm fit enough. Maybe I'm blessed with being average and thus a primary target for the shoe designers. Or maybe there's not that much difference.

Anyway, I gotta agree the plated supershoes are working for longer stuff. And there's probably too little shoe for big mileage in some shoes, at least without gradual adaptation.

Trial and error at first sometimes, but this. As a rule, anyone who goes to extremes is to have their advice taken with as much a pinch of salt as your cardiac doctor allows (i.e. barefoot diehards, "I-need-a-shoe-for-severe-overpronation" addicts, or people who believe heelstrikers are the biggest problem - etc).

To narrow down, what do you specifically need. Is your foot wide/narrow (Peg=narrow)? Are you mainly on roads (some cushion is wise)? Do you actually 'over-pronate' or is it just relative weakness (if the latter, stability shoes will make you dependent - a comfortable drop and a strengthening programme will be better)? Do you tend naturally to land more hell/mid/forefoot (you'll maybe want the cushioning (or air/gel etc) to be most sympathetic there.

I am a mid-foot striker with narrow feet and run on roads mainly. I ran in Altra for a while (just to see). They did strengthen my calves and feet - they also injured me, not because of the drop or cushion (Paradigms have plenty cushion, and the drop is easy to adapt to) but they were way too wide for my narrow feet - and the lockdown was poor. I run in Peg 37s now and far better for me. Yes - the shoes injured me... not because they're terrible shoes (although I personally wasn't impressed by the build quality at all) but because it was wrong for me. The Pegs don't ask as much and hence don't strengthen my feet the same way - but I've set many PBs in them and I love them. I just add strengthening training.

My foot is narrow at the heel and wide at the front like a monkey, I cannot really emphasise this enough, it is because I didn't really wear shoes until I was 12 or so and don't really wear them much now so subsequently I have problems with shoes.

The Nike Free which was mentioned earlier in this thread was actually one that I got on with, but they stopped making it.

I have Altras but the new version of the Escalante I don't like. The old one was fine (it was v 1.0, I just checked). The new one has an incredibly stiff heel counter and it is annoying as it digs into the back of my foot. This is the v 2.0. I can't get on with them and it is annoying as I bought two pairs! They seemed OK at first.

So I think I need a wide in the forefoot, flexible shoe, but I'm edging away from the barefoot ones as zero drop may not be the best idea. Someone said if you get shoes that have zero drop, it loads towards your forefoot whereas something with a small heel (say 0.5mm) actually loads more towards your hips and so on. I do NOT want to load towards my forefoot. The problem is loads of the wide ones are zero drop.

I started wearing racing flats after reading some minimalist hype back in the day, and liked them better than the stability shoes running stores had stuck me in. Then transitioned to forefoot striking because of recurring runner's knee/IT band issues from being flat footed (had this in stability shoes too). Now I'm entirely running in low drop flats, except for technical trail runs.

Not a fan of these new soft foams without a plate. Too mushy and high stacked to do anything offroad, and I don't know think they really do anything for recovery.

With the latest super fast times from runners who were a lot slower until recently the shoe advantage seems real. Shoe assists detract from the sport.

The new Escalante 2.5 (you have last year’s version, version 2.0) is softer than the 2 all around. Softer midsole, softer upper, softer heel counter.

I buy shoes I think might work at a given point in time. If they work, great. If not, I put them on ebay and get all, nearly all, or more of my money back, and try another shoe.

What's the issue again?

GALEN RUPP STOLE MY SHOE!!!!!!!!!

Tugboat1980 wrote:

The new Escalante 2.5 (you have last year’s version, version 2.0) is softer than the 2 all around. Softer midsole, softer upper, softer heel counter.

Thank you, this is really interesting. It might be a very good option for me. I loved the Escalante 1.0.

I've run in all sorts and some of my favourite road shoes have been the NB 1400V5 and 6 and the Adizero Adios 3 so reasonably lightweight and I've tried Hoka Rincon (quite nice despite looking a bit weird) and on trail and fells I'll still run lightweight shoes like the Sense Pro and Inov8 xtalon 210 but easily the most remarkable shoe I've tried in my 10 years of running has been the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly NEXT%.

It's unquestionably a step above anything I've worn on the roads. The biggest benefit for me, is how forgiving they are while running and afterwards. I can comfortably run 30s/mile faster on easy days at the same HR and even compared to Hoka the padding is a world better.

They're crazily expensive but they're simply better.

There are no conflicting opinions really.

We all have somewhat different feet. So the most important thing is to get the right kind of running shoes for YOUR feet.

Not your favorites athletes feet, YOUR feet.

Don't listen to all the fads like zero drop or minimalist shoes.

Just get the running shoes you can run injury free with without paying $250 a pair for it.

When i got serious about running a few years ago i did a lot of reading on footwear studies (pubmed, runresearchjunkie.com, ect...) to become educated on the measurable differences that can occur to your body when wearing a specific type of shoe.

Since i was basically starting from the ground up as a new runner only planning to log 15MPW i decided it would be worth giving ALTRA shoes a shot to help develop my feet and move towards a more natural(what i thought at the time) running form.

I wanted to make sure fit was dialed in prior to purchase so sent an email to my local running shoe store. Gave them as much info about me as possible. When i showed up he had a stack of boxes set aside for a legit fitting/selection session. Trying them all on back to back to back made it so easy to weed out the ones that were not an optimal fit for my feet. He knew that i Wanted the Escalante but made a serious push towards another shoe as well (NB 890v6). I figured the guy knew what he was talking about since he literally just got back from a morning long run and was helping me while still in his running kit.

First few months i thought the 890's were "too much" shoe for me. It wasnt until after being able to hold down a higher weekly mileage i started to appreciate them and i thought to myself man im really glad i took that guys advice. Ended up logging 300 miles on em and they paired very nicely with my Escalante's for daily training.

Now three years later i have a variety of shoes in rotation. The only thing they all have in common is a weight of around 7ounces. I'm a light guy with a fast cadence so appreciate a light shoe. Currently working with:

- Hoka Rincon

- NB Rebel

- NB 1400v6

- Altra Escalante

Each of these shoes differ in design and have a distinct/unique feel. I really like having a variety of drops from 0-10mm. No matter what type of run or what state of recovery i'm in there is a pair to grab, and if a week or2 goes by that i miss my fav(NBRebel) then the next time i lace up the feeling is that much sweeter.

it's very strange but there isn't a good way yet, to decide..

research suggests in the meantime, the most comfortable shoe is most likely the best shoe for you..

https://www.outsideonline.com/2420016/habitual-motion-path-research-running

grammatical toilet explosion wrote:

Tugboat1980 wrote:

The new Escalante 2.5 (you have last year’s version, version 2.0) is softer than the 2 all around. Softer midsole, softer upper, softer heel counter.

Thank you, this is really interesting. It might be a very good option for me. I loved the Escalante 1.0.

Maybe give Topo Athletic a try. Similarly wide toebox but much better midfoot lockdown and better build quality.

grammatical toilet explosion wrote:

The Nike Free which was mentioned earlier in this thread was actually one that I got on with, but they stopped making it.

Nike Frees were the last Nikes I had that I truely enjoyed running in too. Nike Frees are still available. Here's the customized version for $150. Pick your midsole (3.0 or 5.0) and colors:

Run in what is comfortable and works for you. Plenty of good shoes out there these days. Hard to find a bad pair really.