Wicked Wave Riders.
Amazing Alphaflys, Unbelievable Ultraboosts.
Other shoe models are available.
They all sound awesome.
And they are.
But why?
What's so special about running shoes?
What does all the marketing actually mean?
Why can't I rock up to park run in slippers or crocs or a pair of red stilettos?
Might twist your ankle.
What? parkrun.
Pretty muddy sometimes. Stilettos.
Stupid. Right,
okay, fine.
Let me rephrase.
What makes running shoes better than your average trainer for running, and what does all the shoe jargon
actually mean?
That genuinely is a really good question - I reckon
we should go and find out.
We've come a long way from canvas and rubber
plimsolls via Bill Bowermann's waffle-machine inspired Nikes in the seventies to
more recent iterations of what we would now consider a running shoe.
Recently, those super shoes have emerged as the frontrunners in athletics, with
top of the range technology like heel to toe carbon plates and foam soles.
What this does is it reduces the overall mass of the shoe, returning energy to the wearer, making you
more efficient as you run.
And interestingly, nearly a dozen records on the road
and the track have been broken in the last three years, during which time the use of these so called super shoes by the
elites has massively rocketed.
In fact, you might not have noticed it,
but at the recent Tokyo Olympics, a lot of athletes were competing in this technology on the track
and on the road, including some medalists.
Right,
history lesson over.
Let's look at some shoes.
Wh- what are you doing over there?
Get back in here.
And why are you wearing a lab coat? Science.
No, don't take it off.
You've made your bed.
Leave that on. Oh no.
Okay, so we're gonna talk about all the different elements of the shoes that I've talked about and all the
marketing blurb, all of the hype that you see online to try to actually explain what the different elements are as
we go. And I'm gonna start with a shoe that's really familiar to me, but will look really old fashioned to you.
That'll be no surprise there.
I raced a long time ago.
A long time ago.
So that's these.
These are actually the New Balance 205.
I was sponsored by New Balance.
So full disclaimer here, some of the shoes that I've brought with me from my olden days are by New Balance.
These are called the 205 because they set the world record for the marathon back in the day in the mid,
early two thousands, of 2:05.
All of the talk nowadays is about stack height and midsole foam.
These have none of that.
When I was competing early in the 2012, that kind of period, the focus was all on
weight and actually minimising how much shoe you could see. This, actually, isn't that
light - it's a really old fashioned foam in the midsole and the upper as well is
actually sort of slightly suede-y with a mesh.
So they do look a little bit dated.
You wanna take a look?
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
I mean, it is light, but I mean, I think that's because it kind of looks more what
nowadays we consider a fashion trainer.
So in that sense, it is quite light.
But wow, I would not want to run a marathon in these now. No, I know.
So that's Kenichi
set the world record in those and you actually mentioned there what looks like a fashion trainer. So here,
these are probably the New Balance version of almost like the Bowermann Classics in the 1970s Shoe.
And they're what we would consider a classic
Now. It's almost impossible to imagine that someone would have run pretty serious distances in these.
Almost no cushioning.
Very simple outsole on the outside.
So the grip is fairly minimal in different conditions.
And no clever technology, no clever lacing, no clever way of holding your foot.
So all of the stuff that we take for granted now just didn't used to exist.
Really. I think I literally had a pair of those at uni as just walking around trainers.
And if someone had asked me to run for the bus in those, I would've been like, no, no way.
They haven't got anything that you want for running. Well, to be clear, I'm a lot older than you.
But I didn't run in these, So I had these for the same reason that you just described.
So now, using this one as a slightly more modern, maybe 10 years later than this shoe, as an example of what I
actually did a lot of my training and racing in. First of all, you've got the upper on the top, basically the
fabric that grips to your foot.
So the bit that the laces pull around your foot is the upper, and that's usually made of some kind of synthetic.
And it can either be woven or knitted like the Nike FlyKnit upper that you'll see.
Then that's connected to the midsole, which is essentially the foam bit, the bit that provides the cushioning.
We'll come onto super shoes in a little bit, cause that's slightly different in
how they provide both cushioning and propulsion, and then on the bottom, the bit that gives you the grip.
That's the outsole, so that's made of different types of rubber.
That's what Bill Bowermann poured rubber into his waffle iron to create Nike's famous original waffle grip.
And then that's what gives you the grip on the bottom of the shoe.
I can't believe he did that to a waffle machine. With the outsole as well,
quite often, what you'll see with trail shoes is it's a little bit more aggressive.
That's to help you get grip, also so that water can run a certain way down outside of the shoe, but we'll
come more onto that later. So these are what I might call a more traditional racing flat from
10 years or so ago, which means they're slightly more aggressive.
You're closer to the ground.
That's where something called drop comes in. Right,
so you mentioned drop there.
I'm going to pick
these up because HOKA are known for having an unusual drop compared to some other brands.
So what is the difference between HOKAs and say, New Balance or other different types of shoes?
During the minimalist shoe era, which is probably 10 or 15 years ago, people were looking to get as
close as they could to barefoot running.
And so they started introducing shoes with very little cushioning at all and with very little drop.
So that's the difference in stack height, the difference in height between your foot and the ground, between the heel and the toe.
So the lower the drop, the flatter the shoe, the higher the drop, the more your heel is higher than your
toes, and HOKA were the first brand to actually do a little bit of the reverse. So they're
maximalist shoes.
They've got a huge amount of cushioning, but there's still quite a flat, quite a low drop. So
there is a difference in drops between different shoes.
If I wanted to go from one extreme to the other, should I just jump into a new pair of shoes?
Or do you need time?
As with any transition in running, whether it's more training, different kit, you should take your time to
transition into it.
So if your running shoes that you're used to running in have a high drop, that's more traditional,
your heel is higher than your toes.
If you're going then to a more of a barefoot shoe or lower drop shoot like a HOKA, then you
might find that's gonna put extra pressure on your achilles and your calves.
Some people might be fine, they'll be able to run in them out of the box straight away, but because I spent 10 or 20 years running
in a 12 millimetre drop, to go to something that was four or five or six millimetres was a massive difference, literally
half the drop, so I noticed it straight away.
Nothing new on race day. So you mentioned stack height as well.
What is that?
If I grab those, stack height is literally the distance between your foot and the floor. So, the
drop is between the heel and the toe,
and the difference, the stack height is just how much midsole there is. A really high stack height
it means that your foot is held quite a long way
above the ground. Right,
And this is what's become quite controversial recently, right?
Because there's a rule on stack height for if you're running road marathon in athletics.
Yes, exactly that.
So look at these.
These are the Nike-
They have really long name, but broadly, the Next% 2, is what I'm gonna call them, the Vaporfly Next% 2.
And you can see these are a racing shoe as opposed to a regular, everyday running shoe
here. They look pretty similar.
The big difference is the stack height,
just how far off the ground the Vaporflyy Next% hold you.
There's this huge section of midsole, incredibly lightweight foam.
These aren't really any lighter than those old fashioned ones, might actually be lighter.
And then inside the foam in these super shoes, a difference between these and the regular
running shoes, where you'll see a lot of maximalist running shoes, do have a high stack height,
is there's a carbon plate as well.
And so the foam,
the combination of the foam, the geometry of the mid sole and the outsole
and a carbon plate that runs full length is aimed to give you extra cushioning because it's really thick
and padded but ultimately give you more energy back, more rebound, and then also to help you
propel yourself off the floor and carbon plates is interesting as well, because when you hear the term carbon
plate, I always envisioned the same thing.
Whereas different shoe manufacturers have taken carbon and used it in a completely different way, right? So
the Vaporflys compared to the Adidas Adizero shoes, which are
more kind of rod formations.
So how does that make a difference to your running?
Well, obviously, there's a huge amount, millions of dollars of research and development going into different brands, shoes to try and be the
brand that takes you ahead.
Ultimately, I think to this point, Adidas and Nike have come out on top with a couple of
different world records between them.
The evolution of the Next% is actually the Alphafly, which
is what Kipchoge wore when he ran sun two hours in that famous race
that wasn't a race. But each different
shoe company's Technology Department are finding different ways to do it.
Slightly different foams patented by the different brands, but ultimately they're all aiming to do the same thing, which is,
if you go really soft and really lightweight with the foam, then you lose out because you lose
responsiveness so you get extra cushioning.
But then you're sinking into the ground.
You're not getting much energy returns.
They feel good, but they don't make it fast.
So then combining that incredible foam technology with the really
responsive carbon plate propels you forward.
So if anyone hasn't tried these on or something like them, like the Saucony endorphin pro Adidas
adizero, those range of shoes, they feel like nothing you've ever put on before.
They don't feel like normal running shoes, actually quite hard to walk in quite hard, to run slowly and as
well.
And that's another key feature, actually, of the new super shoes and a lot of the maximum issues.
You do need to try them because often what you gain in propulsion and
lightweight cushioning and speed, you lose instability.
So if you run in a straight line, that's great.
If you're running really fast, that's great.
But if you're trying to take any corners a little bit slower than you might pay a price for it.
So ultimately, you don't have to buy lots of different shoes from lots of different brands in order to run.
And you can buy really good all round shoes that have a nice combination of stack
height, cushioning, responsiveness, durability.
Ultimately, if you're spending a lot of money as well, because if you're wearing these for all of your long runs of all places, then they
are going to wear out more quickly.
So that's something to bear in mind.
You don't have to spend loads of money.
You can get a good all around shoe, but what the brands do, and actually what I had the luxury of doing
myself as a professional is having different shoes for very different paces, because I found myself more comfortable
mechanically running different paces in different types of shoes.
Shoes also come in different widths, so if you find yourself with your shoes bunching up on the front lace lace holes when you try
and tie them tight enough, then you might want to look for a slightly narrower brand.
Conversely, if you find yourself bulging out and other brands do come up wider, actually really important.
Part of how a shoe fits is the lacing system that uses as well.
So these ones have offset or asymmetric lacing system, cause it's off to one side, but a
very thin unpadded tongue because they're racing shoes.
So they want to keep the weight down.
The other shoes that have things called like a goose.
It'd tongue whether the tongue is connected to the outside of the upper or a sock
line, a bit like the ultra boost.
Yes, so these the tongue isn't detached from the rest of the shoe.
But you have got this bit that pulls your foot in tight, and it's kind of like a sock, isn't it, exactly.
Just fits tightly around your foot.
All one piece.
And then there's those extra layers on top that pull the laces tights.
There's also a lot of chat about pronation, which means your foot rolling inwards when you strike the ground.
There are specific shoes that can cater for that, but they're definitely in the minority and the majority of shoes.
All the ones we've talked about today are neutral shoes, particularly the super shoes.
Really high stack height can be a little bit unstable.
So if you know you have issues with pronation, then that's something to take into account.
Yeah, because that's not helpful.
If you're wearing a shoe, no matter how fast it is, if it's not going to help you in terms of your foot placement
could cause injury.
Exactly. And the more tired you get, the fast you're trying to go, the more exaggerated biomechanics is going to become so
ultimately could lead to injury.
In a brief history of where running shoes came from, we've looked at all of the bits that make them up
basically all of the boring stuff.
Sorry, and now we want to answer some of your questions.
We always get sent in questions from you about shoes.
So here are some quick fire FAQs.
You can take the goggles and coat off
now. Question one track athlete.
Why do some running shoes have spikes?
It's simple to give you extra grip, so there's a spike plate at the front, which is a bit like carbon
plate does now in terms of the Super Shoes.
It gives you that proportion and then spikes just give you grip on the rubber surface of the track.
Particularly next question.
Why do my running shoes
Always have one extra eyelet, one hole for the laces that I don't use.
Good question.
Now some people ignore this, but this hasn't loads of different names.
Runners not.
He'll lock.
You call it butterfly lacing.
Basically, it's a way of forming a tighter connection at the top of your shoe.
Check out our January monthly show if you want to know how to do the run is not because we tell you how to do it, but that
extra little eyelet at the top.
Very useful.
Now.
These are my running shoes, and this definitely shows I need this question answered.
How do you wash running shoes?
Just showing off?
Went to Thailand running ultra marathons.
Yeah, we have got video all about that on the running channel, not the sexiest of subjects.
We need to be careful because the shoes are made up of various different adhesives, which can be degraded
in a hot washing machine.
So be careful going to do that.
Cool wash, maybe a toothbrush.
Get them in the bath.
Some hot, soapy water or warm safety water safety water and you're good to go.
Called my housemates Toothbrush.
How long might a pair of running shoes last?
Me? Good questions.
So a lot of manufacturers recommend that it's 3 to 500 miles before you should replace your shoes.
However, there is also some research that suggests that your shoes can go beyond the 600
mile mark.
Now you don't have to do the math yourself.
There are loads of different ways that you can track this on.
Apps like Strada or Garmin.
Connect the things that you're looking for, though.
If you're not sure whether it's time to retire your shoes is, are they still doing the same as when you first have them?
New? Is the foam the same.
There. Holes in the shoes is your outsole is starting to look a little bit tired also.
How do you feel when you're running?
If you're starting to notice niggles and your knees or ankles, then it might be time to replace your
shoes.
Also top tip.
Why not rotate shoes as Well, if you've got two pairs, you probably are more likely to get a little bit
longer use out of both of them compared to if you just had one pair of shoes and wore them to the end of their
life.
And if they are at the end of their life for you, they might be able to be given a lease of life somewhere else by recycling
them. There are lots of different charities that will take in your old running shoes.
Andy.
What does it mean when a pair of shoes or hung up on a telephone wire outside someone's house?
Another question.
How do I know it's shoes to buy?
Listen to running channel.
Every year we do a roundup, actually, a couple of times a year we'll do a roundup of what we think are the best running shoes, having
tested a whole bunch of them as exhausting work.
So check out our channel for the video, all about the best running shoes in 2022.
So that's everything that we've got to offer all about running shoes.
We looked at insoles out souls, mid soles, plum soles, late holes and track golds and even
after all that, if you still got questions about running shoes, let us know in the comments and we'll see you next time on The Running Channel. Bye.