I have always liked training in lightweight racing shoes and was certainly a minimalistic runner long before the recent fad of runners running in Vibram five-fingers or simply going barefoot. I recently spent a couple of years doing a large portion of my running and racing using Puma H-Street "slippers" and have not yet found a trainer that I like running in. I most like doing all my running in racing shoes like the Asics Hyperspeed. Last summer I attempted using trainers again, bulky ones at that, and I don't know if that helped make my hip worse or not. I haven't been able to run since last August due to a torn labrum in my hip. I will have surgery to repair it next month. I think I always liked minimalistic shoes to help my hip and feet deal with the peculiar imbalances that I have had for years. Hopefully the surgery will clear up my stride and mechanics and let me run pain-free again.
I do think the minimalistic fad has gone a bit overboard, there are some great choices in shoes with a low heel drop and light weight out there now, something that was hard to find up to recently, but I doubt that minimalism and barefoot running is for most runners. It works for some, but many more end up injured.
Which brings us to a newer trend in running shoes: maximalism. A couple of companies are making shoes that oppose the minimalistic attitude with big cushiony shoes that are also supposed to help runners with their stride. The most interesting shoe is made by a company called Hoka One One.The ultramarathon trail-running crowd seems to be gravitating towards these behemoths of a shoe. I have heard that some claim it is like going mountain biking when you run the trails in these. You can step over and on anything. Running Times says it is like using a hovercraft. Hoka One One claims it is like levitating:
Despite their outrageous clown-sized foot plant they are also very lightweight. The first model made by Hoka One One is the Maffate which is their trail shoe.
Recently they have come out with the Bondi B which is not as severe a shoe, but still loaded with cushioning and meant to be also used for the roads, Many reviewers say that they can run 20 milers and still have fresh legs that don't feel beat up at all.
These shoes, although silly looking, intrigued me. I thought that the cushioning might be a good thing to have post surgery and the rocker sole sounded interesting for my functional hallux limitis (inability to bend the big toe when pushing off the ground). When I saw a pair of Bondii B's on eBay for far cheaper than the $170 retail price, I decided to get a pair. I am hoping that they may help me recover and get me back running much easier once I have recovered from my surgery. Now that they have arrived and I have put them on my initial reactions are 1) they are very big looking 2) they are very lightweight 3) boy, they are really cushioned, like walking on marshmallows 4) they seem a bit unstable walking around and 5) I think these might be very interesting to run in - I am not at all put off by them (usually a cushioned bulky shoe drives me nuts right when I put them on 6) I am going to try walking around in them - I really wish my hip let me run!
Ultramarathoner Karl Meltzer ran an average of 51.6 miles a day on his 2,064 mile journey across the historic Pony Express trail from Sacramento California to St. Joseph Missouri using 7 pairs of the Mafates.
Another recent running shoe that seems to be anti-minimalistic is the Mizuno Wave Prophecy seen here:
Mizuno says this of their shoe:
The result of seven years of intense research and development, Wave Prophecy is our most advanced, most dynamic shoe ever. Our engineers designed Wave Prophecy to match your running gait and the natural spring rate of your muscles and tendons. Whether you land on your forefoot, midfoot or heel, Wave Prophecy’s full-length Infinity Wave plates propel you forward with a smooth ride mile after mile. No matter how far and how often you run, you’ll always have the ride of your life.
Probably the most eye-catching and controversial design feature of the Prophecy shoe is the sole. It is almost completely separate from the rest of the shoe, connected by rubber posts. This creates 4 large holes that run right through the sole. A friend of mine joked that you could store your energy gels in there. The sole itself is shaped by the famous Mizuno “Wave.” This runs through the whole shoe and not just part of the sole as with previous Wave incarnations.
There you have it, you can go minimalistic or you can go maximalistic. The choice is yours.
Long before Chris MacDougal wrote the "Born to Run" book, I was a minimalistic runner. I have always felt more comfortable in a lightweight pair of racing shoes than any trainer that I have tried. That has been true for my 35+ years of running. For quite a few years, I have been living out the philosophy of the "less shoe, the better." It seems to work for me. I always said that I like the lightweight shoes without all the doodads because they let my feet do what my feet want to do (which in reality is very strange things). So I have been running with lightweight racers (Asics HyperSpeeds) as my training shoes and Puma H Streets and K Streets as my racing and track shoes.
Despite the minimalistic shoes, my hips have remained imbalanced and unstable. However when I have tried training shoes, I have felt even worse. I have also forsaken traditional shoes and for over a year now, I have worn the Vivo Barefoot shoes at all other non-running times. They are extremely comfortable and also let my feet do "what they want to do." The problem that I have been thinking about is that even after all this minimalism, my hips are no better when running and my stability problems seem to be getting worse. A few weeks ago, I bought a more built up racing shoe, but it didn't seem to help my running and at times made it worse. It was more like running on a big sponge. I have improved my hips throught the Postural Restoration work this winter, but despite working on my hips and doing exercises all the time, once I start running things fall apart again. The previous three weeks have not been good. I get things balanced, go for a run and they fall apart for a couple of days, and if I try to run through it, things turn worse. I was back to having the problem where my whole left side was "stuck". Something was not right in my feet (I'd keep trying to mobilize the bones) and my hip. I was also back to the pressure under my kneecap that I get when things are out of alilgnment. My running was horrible as was my racing attempts. On Monday, I somehow got rid of the knee pressure and felt better alignment wise. I went up to race in Lowell Tuesday night for the 5K. I felt great despite for the 90 degree heat. When I started running though, I had no control of my legs and hips. Everything was going at wrong angles and it wasn't a fun run (results and I did win in my age-graded weight category). I went to the Gate City Striders workout the next evening in more 90 degree heat and did the 10 X 400m workout (81-86 secs). Again, my hips and alignment were throwing me all over the track and I was fighting my body to try to keep straight. Despite all the work I have been doing, I still can't run correctly! and there is nothing much left to find out there that I can try to improve things- or so I thought.
Then I saw Lori Thomson's newest video for running. I follow all her videos for runners, as she is a Postural Restoration therapist and Postural Restoration work has improved my hips (no longer am I tight at the front of the hip) and if I don't run at all my hips feel better than in years, but I am a runner and I have to find the solution that keeps me running. The new video is called "Instability of the Feet in Runners" and it took me awhile to let the video sink in because of the "shoe" issue. First off, she talks about "calcaneal instability" or heel bone instability. Now this was interesting to me, because when I got sent to a physical therapist this winter (who fortunately practiced "postural restoration") it was only because I asked my primary care doctor for a visit. I had pretty much given up on physical therapy due to previous attempts, but I wanted to ask a therapist about ankle mobility and issues with my heel not seeming to be lined up correctly. I was hoping I could just get a couple of questions answered and maybe learn a "trick" or two to fix things. I ended up getting 2 months of twice weekly Postural Restoration work with some traditional physical therapy techniques that helped my hips greatly, but with more running I seemed to be at an impasse. I was back to thinking the same question that plagued me for years, "Are my hips causing my problems or are my feet causing the problems?"
In this video, Lori says that if your heel bone is unstable and not in the correct position for running, then your pelvis may not be in the correct position for running (she does say it can be the other way around too). She also then explains a major part of the postural restoration philosophy: most people have a forwardly rotated pelvis on the left side. That is me. My left shoulder and pelvis are way in front of my right pelvis and shoulder. She also shows how this affects the way the foot apporaches and lands on the ground.This also desribes how my feet land and got me thinking that maybe this is why my stride is all over the place lately. My feet are landing at weird angles (and quite differently on both sides) and maybe as they hit the ground and try to roll, it send my legs in different directions and through different rotations.
Lori shows another exercise to learn how to shift into the left hip (my difficult move) and how to feel the bottom of the feet. This is all good stuff, but I wasn't willing to listen to the last part of the video, because this tells about how to choose a good running shoe. I thought I knew everything about shoes and minimalism was the way to go. Well, I thought it through and decided to give Lori's ideas a try. I printed out a list of PRI approved shoe options and headed over to Runner's Alley to see if they had any in stock and then to see how they might feel on my feet, but that was all. It was funny when I got there because there were a couple of other runners trying out Vibram 5 Fingers and Nike Free shoes as they were contemplating minimalism and there was I, a true minimalist believer, trying on what seemed to me to be boats!
I tried on about 5 pair of shoes. What I noticed in the brief moments in the shoes was how tight the heel counter was, how flat and solid the footboards were, and how I could get my big toe down in all of the shoes (something I have been working on pre- postural restorartion and even during with my PT). They felt good for such beastly things. I think whenever I have tried training shoes in the past, I always gravitated towards more lightweight trainers that ended up being a bit soft and spongy with little foot control. This type of shoe often made my hips worse! I wasn't sure which one to try, so I ran just a bit on the treadmill with each pair. One pair left my left hip feeling unstable, one pair was a bit too tight in the heel, and one pair had my hip feeling real good on the treadmill. This was all so unscientific, but I decided to but the pair that left my hip feeling best. I bought real training shoes for the first time in years! I ended up with a pair of Brooks Defyance 3 shoes. I wasn't planning on running that day, as my left glute medius had been sore since the track workout the night before, but I felt good in the shoes and took them out for a run. It was interesting. Yes, they were big shoes, but they felt better than other trainers I had tried in the past. My feet felt very comfortable and I was getting a smooth transition from heel to toe (and I wasn't landing heel first as I thought would automatically happen). I ran Friday with not major problems again. The only thing is I am running slower than I normally would, but this could be because I am using different muscles. This morning I woke up and the first thing I thought was that I wanted to go for a morning run (I don't do morning runs- I hate morning runs- it usually takes all day to get my body to a place where I can even think about running) so off I went for a successfull morning run. I am still running slower, but my stride and the way my hips are hinging is feeling better. This is only three days in to my experiment, and it could be that I am feeling good for other reasons or the shoes may eventually throw my body off in other directions and create additional problems, but I am very intrigued with the results so far. I love my Vivo Barefoot shoes, but something else funny has happened. I wore the Brooks to school yesterday, because I liked the way my feet walked in them. I am also wearing them today. I feel much more stable wearing these things. If this keeps up I will have to buy another pair: one for daily use and one for walking.
Does anyone know of a lost tribe of long distance running people that uses supportive running shoes to achieve thier mystical running abilities? If you do, let me know, because we may be able to turn the idea into a best-selling book. And I know that all my running friends who have laughed at my lightweiight running shoes through the years are probably getting a good chuckle from this post.
Here is a previous video where Lori explains PRI approved running shoe options.
I gave up on running shoes a few years ago. As much as I enjoy running and trying out the newest technologies and shoe designs, I was becoming completely frustrated with what the running shoe companies were coming out with as training shoes. I could not find a running shoe that I was comfortable running in at all. It all came to a head a few years back when I was training for a Fall marathon and I was in decent shape. I had no training shoe that I liked and Nike just came out with something called the Shox. I tried it out and thought it was pretty comfortable at first. Then I went for a 25 mile workout with some friends in them. I thought I was fine, but the next day I had my problems with my knee that kept me out of running for a few months.
I decided to go with what I enjoyed running in. I always liked running in racing shoes. Of course, I was always told not to do that as they would wear out too quickly and that I would harm myself from too much pounding. I found that with my weird stride the racing shoes had the least amount of support and that allowed my feet and my foot muscles to "do their own thing" as I ran. I started using up all the older pairs of racing shoes I had around. Then I had to find shoes to buy. Unfortunately stores around here don't well racing shoes. I found some models I liked such as the Asics Tiger Paw, but then Asics would stop making them and after using up all the last ones I could find online, I still had a tough time finding shoes. I tried some retro shoes. I found some Tiger 81's that I wore for awhile and some retro waffle trainers from Nike. I had wore many pairs of these when they were the current technology back when I was in college. The funny things about the retro version was that I got blisters on the same spot on my foot as I had when I wore the real versions years earlier. I still could not find a shoe that I really enjoyed running in.
I tried out some Puma H-Street "fashion" shoes that some minimalist runners were using and very much enjoyed them (except for the colors). They were basically a thin layer of rubber sole with a track spike upper. They weren't made for running in but they were great for running in. I used them for a few years including racing in them up to 1/2 marathons. I still have a few pair for walking around in (the slightly heavier leather ones) and one good pair left for running, but like all good shoes, Puma stopped making them and I could not find them cheap on eBay any more.
This summer I started using Asics Hyperspeeds for all of my running. The model I liked was upgraded to a model, Hyperspeed 2, that I didn't like as much, but that I have been wearing since October. Oh my, it is time for a new pair as most of my training and racing have been in that same pair. I tend to get plenty of miles out of a pair of racing shoes. There is a Hyperspeed 3 and I guess that is what I will have to try next, even though I read it is a narrower fit. The other thing about the Hyperspeed 2 is that it has holes in the bottom. This is not a good thing for winter running here in New Hampshire.
What I really like is that it is not just some runners who are getting into minimalistic shoes. It seems that shoes companies (and not just Nike with the Nike Frees) that are making shoes that allow your feet and and the muscles of the feet do the work when walking so as to strengthen your feet like you would do if you were walking barefoot. I have had 3 pairs of Nike Frees, but my favorite was the original which they don't make anymore (isn't that a common thing with running shoes?). The thing with the Nike Frees is that "you can leave your old self behind".
I wrote how much I enjoy using the Vivo Barefoot Dharma shoes here. They are a definite hit with my feet. There are other companies following similar ideals in the design of their shoes to give your feet a more natural stride. Here are some interesting shoes that I have found.
The Sanuk sandals look like an interesting shoe. It is really a sandal base with a canvas upper. I don't ever wear flip flops or sandals but these seem like they would be comfortable for kicking around in when you are wearing shorts in the summer. I think my Vivo's just wouldn't make the cut. But what do I know about fashion. I am most interested in comfort!
Feelmax is a shoe company in Finland that is coming out with shoes that simulate barefoot movement. These look very light and flexible, sort of like the pair of wrestling shoes I had in high school. I am not even sure if you can get these in the United States yet, but they look comfortable.
The Ecco Biom is a shoe I first heard about on ruuner author Matt Fitzgerald's blog. The Ecco Biom Project website is fairly graphics intensive (sort of like Nike's) so it is hard to move around quickly. It looks to be quite a technical and expensive running shoe, particularly if you get the Yak leather version. Although it doesn't look like it in the pictures, it claims to have a low heel where the heel remains close to the ground. The web site claims it allow natural foot movement. The concept is that excess cushioning and external support is not what is needed in a running shoe. They claim that the shoe allows your foot to do what it was created to do, because the bones, muscles, and ligaments of the foot were designed to run, let them run. I like this philosophy so it is interesting to see how this will translate into a running shoe that looks pretty technical and includes a training plan to adjust your feet to the shoe. Of note is that when the Nike Free first came out and I bought a pair a training plan was in the box to slowly help you adjust to the shoe. It worked fine for me from the first 8 mile workout I did in them. The are supposed to debut in March this year, so it will be interesting to read the reviews. I bought a pair of Newtons when they first came out and they were just as expensive. They sit in my closet unused because me feet were too wobbly in them.
Then there is the Vibram Five Fingers shoe. Some runners swear by these for the ultimate barefoot running experience without being barefoot. They seem really weird looking to me. Maybe I'll try a pair someday because the concept sounds natural.
If it is the upper of the shoe that bothers you, you could try out these topless sandals from poonzwear.com. You just stick them on the bottom of your feet and go.
I see that there is work being done in England towards developing a heel-less running shoe
These "Healus" shoes look very interesting. That is former 5000m world record holder David Moorcraft reporting and trying out the shoe. I used to be a heel striker when running but over the years have transitioned to a more forward midfoot or forefoot landing.
This reminds me of the Newton running shoe and its foot pods at the front of the shoe that came out last year.
The last running shoes that I felt comfortable training in were called Asics Tiger Paws. It was a basic flat racing shoe and after wearing out my 6 pairs they can no longer be found. I do my track workouts and races in Puma H Streets. I love the minimalism and the light responsive ride. I have raced up to half-marathons in them but don't use them for daily training.
I have gone through a bunch of other shoes but nothing feels happy on my feet. I bought a pair of Vitruvian Symmetry running shoes last fall. The original model I use is still on sale for $30 including shipping. Although they are a little too much built up for me they do have a solid flat ride while running. So I bought another pair last month for myself and a pair for my wife. Another plus is that they are a shoe company from New Hampshire. I think if Vitruvian would build a lighter less built up model for racing it would be a great training shoe for me.
