Mark Threlfall: Hello. Welcome. Now, today I've invited along professional triathlete
and friend to the show, Sam Pictor. Sam Pictor: Hello. We're going to be asking
the question, are elastic laces actually bad for our running?
[music] Mark: Now, for years now, triathletes have
been making use of this, a very cheap and simple piece of equipment to speed us up on
race day. Sam: Yes, elastic laces are in many ways a
triathlete's best friend. An easy way to speed us up in transition, you simply remove your
old laces from your trainer's thread these in, fasten them at the top, and voila you're
good to go. Pound for pound, they're probably the cheapest way of knocking off time on race
day. Mark: Yes, that's right. Now, we know that
these can save us time on race day, but I know plenty of triathletes out there that
use them all year round both for racing and for training.
Sam: I've definitely been guilty of this in the past, Mark. I think I've not been bothered
to take them out of my race shoes and so next I've gone to race they've still been there.
The amount I've done 10K's, half marathons in them, but really, Mark, what is wrong with
that? They're convenient, they're easy to use, we quite happily race in them so why
not train in them also? Mark: It's not okay.
Sam: I can see you don't approve so why don't we go for a run and take a closer look at
this. [music]
We've been running for 30 minutes now and during that time, I've spent close attention
to how my foot feels running in these laces. Now, they do hold my foot pretty well, but
I do notice that it does expand and contract slightly on impact and during extension in
the toe off-face. Mark: Yes, that's probably the main difference
really now specifically with real laces or traditional laces like I'm using, they're
designed to securely hold your foot, so it's limiting and reducing the amount of that forward
and backward movement, the up and down movement, and even side to side movement.
Sam: Whereas elastic laces are primarily designed to allow you to get your foot easily and quickly
into your shoe. Elastic laces are stretchy enough so you can get your foot in very easily,
but they're tight enough so that your shoe will not fall off when you're trying to run.
Mark: Generally speaking, that is absolutely fine for races particularly short distance
races where every second counts. Sam: That's true for a 10K. I might do 6,000
to 7,000 steps for a half marathon, 15,000 steps, but training day in day out, I guess
that's hundreds of thousands of steps. That sounds like quite a lot.
Mark: Yes, it can really start to add up. I guess this is where the issues may start
to arise because as we've alluded to earlier with elastic laces, they stretch so your feet
can start to move around within the shoe. Your traditional laces, provided you're wearing
a well-fitted shoe, you shouldn't get quite as accessible as much movement of your foot
in the shoe and it should support the way in which you run. See, with the traditional
laces, they can be tightened effectively so it holds your foot securely across the top,
they don't stretch, they don't contract, they just hold your foot nicely in place.
Sam: Yes, whereas elastic laces can allow too much movement which overtime during the
contact phase and the toe-off phase, can put your foot under a lot of stress.
[music] Mark: To elaborate on this, when we run, we've
got muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints all of it in our foot that are required to activate,
work together to stabilize our foot. With elastic laces, with that increased movement
of our foot within the shoe, we have increased instability. That means that those muscles,
ligaments, tendons, and joints have to work even harder to control our foot and maintain
the functional bit. Sam: I see. This can cause an issue because
by constantly stressing these structures in the same way, it causes niggles, overuse,
and even full-on running injuries. In fact, by running so many more miles in these laces,
it can lead to any movement in the foot or just lead to rubbing or irritation and blistering
which any runner knows is just not good news. Mark: Yes. The fact of the matter is, it literally
takes a few minutes to swap the laces out on those shoes and you could potentially prevent
yourself from getting a rather annoying and avoidable injury.
Sam: I've definitely been guilty in the past of doing this. In fact, I've overtightened
these laces before to try and stop my foot from moving inside the shoe. What this has
done is it's caused information on the top part of my foot which has then just been very
frustrating when you're trying to train regularly and race.
[music] Mark: Now, in the past with traditional laces
and you're welcome to try these elastic laces as well. I've actually used a special lacing
pattern where I'd loop background on the top two eyelets. That would just help to hold
my foot more securely in the shoe, stop the up-down movement, and any heel slippage. You're
welcome to try that with elastic laces as well. May work, may not, not too sure, but
welcome to give it go. This whole subject does remind me a bit of
the whole barefoot running today in which barefoot fans out there will tell you that
actually running barefoot does work the foot hard, but it helps to strengthen it and improve
the function of the foot when you're running. You might be able to say the same for elastic
laces as well. Obviously, with barefoot running, you increase your margin, training barefoot
gradually, you'd want to do the same with elastic laces as well.
My only bit of advice here just from personal experience having run in elastic laces a lot
is that you do feel a slight loss of efficiency in the elastic laces. It's really hard to
explain or to prove but it's definitely there. Obviously, any loss is outweighed on race
day or particularly in short-distance triathlons with those super speedy transitions.
Sam: Excellent. I think that is some excellent food for thought. What I've come to realize
is that elastic laces are, of course, great for race day, but perhaps best avoided for
everyday training. Mark: Yes. Exactly. It's not like we see ultra-marathon
runners using elastic laces so for all those training miles I think it's best to stick
to those traditional laces. At least that's what I'd advise. On that note, race you home,
Sam. Sam: Oi, come on. Wait.
[music] Mark: All right. Nice one chase that one,
Sam. Sam: Yes. Thanks, Mark. Now, I hope you found
that useful. Mark: Yes, and if you do have any more questions
on elastic laces or laces in general, actually, just drop them in the comment section below,
we'll do our best to get back to you. I hope you've enjoyed today's video. If so, give
it a thumbs up, give it a like, and don't forget to give GTN a follow on our social
media channels and subscribe to us on YouTube. [00:07:16] [END OF AUDIO]