Athletic shoe guide: Avoid these 3 common mistakes
An elite runner guides you on what not to do
Rachel Hannah earned a bronze medal in the women’s marathon at the 2015 Pan Am Games and she’s a registered dietitian at Medcan.
Here are three common mistakes you can avoid when you are assessing your athletic shoes.
Not asking for help when shopping for a new pair.
- Access your shoe guru and let them guide you. A knowledgeable sales associate will use their expertise to your benefit. But be sure to do your part: come prepared with specifics about what you plan to use the shoes for (type of training) and other details (type of terrain, frequency, and weekly mileage).
- When it comes to measuring your foot, the right assessment will include width in addition to foot length, as well as the natural side-to-side movement of the foot (pronation, neutral or supination).
- Tell the associate about your favourite pair of shoes and describe your preferred ride, cushion and stability. Fashion is also a reasonable consideration – who doesn’t like to look sharp on a run?
Keeping your shoes well beyond their peak.
“Shoes don’t have shelf-lives, they only age with weight-bearing use.”
Shoe longevity has been pretty standard, around 500K to 800K. Shoe companies could make shoes that last a lot longer, but then the ride would be stiff and heavy and not very appealing. The challenge is to make a shoe that has a nice weight and fit and ride, and has substantial enough longevity to justify the investment. I change my main training shoes (New Balance 860) every three months and take note of mid-sole compression. Fresh mid-sole foam will take 48 hours to rebound to its original state, so alternating shoes can enhance the longevity of your running shoes. Look for wrinkles in the foam at high contact areas like the heel and forefoot as this is a sign that the mid-sole is compressing and not rebounding the same as it did when the shoe was unworn.
Underestimating the importance of good shoe design.
The trend of running down the road or trail in barefoot-inspired footwear has mostly faded since the trend was at its peak in 2011. While doing some foot strengthening activities barefoot on turf or grass can be healthy for feet, generally our feet need protection so we can achieve our goals. Barefoot-inspired footwear did force the shoe industry to hyper focus on how shoes are made, so now only the essentials are included. Purposeful design of footwear now entails more intelligent geometries in mid-sole foams, thinner uppers that conform and hug the mid-foot and offsets closer to the ground.
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