What to keep in mind when shopping for running shoes

How to choose your Running Shoes

This article is not meant to be a shopping guide nor will it give you a complete overview of what to consider when buying running shoes. My objective here is rather to give you a kind of an insiders perspective on cushioning and some negative effects involved with it that almost noone talks about.

There are lots of misconceptions regarding this topic out there. For many years I fell for super cushioned shoes. The more the better it seemed to me. Nowadays there are shoes who apparently even think for you via integrated microchips and adapt this 'crutch' to your needs.

And that is really a great picture because that's what it ultimately does for you. There are several studies by sports universities which indicate that too much cushioning can actually harm you because it weakens your feet and especially the Achilles tendon. You can google for them. One was e.g. made by the sports college in Cologne, Germany.

I first heard of it from my local sports dealer. This guy is really my secret hero when it comes to great information on sports science and physiology. I already briefly introduced him to you when I talked about my experiences with the Nike free.

When you are used to run with very comfortable and soft shoes it probably is not a good idea to change that right overnight. But you definitely may want to consider the effects of what I'm talking about here for you in the long run. So my suggestion is to gradually adapt to shoes with lesser or even no cushioning as for instance the Nike free, which is really an excellent running shoe to my mind. See the Nike free article above for reasons why.

If you don't want to use a Nike free - although I cannot come up with one reason why you wouldn't want to - any kind of racing flats will do the job. So if you buy different types of shoes, buy different types of racing flats. Stay away from those ugly and heavy trainers.

The philosophy behind this idea is the following one:

Heavy shoes tend to deteriorate the feeling of the foot as a part of the leg. It can affect the acceleration and the speed as well as the whole trajectory of your foot. If you are not up to do some kind of weight training you should avoid those heavy types of shoes like plaque.

Besides reducing the weight of your running shoes there is another big reason for having thin soles without any cushioning. It helps you to develop a smooth running style, increase your fine motor skills and gives your feet very important feedback from the ground that you'd be missing otherwise completely.

Will you please remember this one idea: You cannot become really fast as long as you rely on a crutch. Makes sense, doesn't it. Feedback and precision is absolutely everything when it comes to speed in running and triathlon. Your legs receive neuro-muscular feedback signals from the ground to change the muscle (so called innervation or recruitment of muscle fibers). That way your legs prepare for the landing.

And cushioning or thick soles distort the whole timing sequence in such a way that it not only slows you down but also leads to what we more commonly refer to as 'running injuries'. Because your muscle gets the signal to adapt way too late, which again leads to a whole bunch of other undesirable effects that we won't examine to further detail right now.

The faster you run the more you will point the landing on the ball of the foot in contrary to beginners or Don't-Know-Betters who tend to land on the heel and roll over the whole foot. Cushioning or thick soles prevent you from running this way and keep you locked into an inefficient running style forever.

If you want to become a faster runner, I suggest you reread this article and eventually get yourself a new pair of running shoes.

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