Shoe Store Science: How To Find Your Best Shoe At Retail
Selecting and buying a new pair of running shoes at retail is no easy process. Not when you consider the vast number of choices on that big, impressive-looking shoe wall.
And then there’s the sales person attending you. You’ve got to give him/her your close attention. After all, that’s why you came to retail. To get specialized help from a running expert.
For example, the sales person might inspect the way you walk or jog around the floor, or even offer “gait analysis” on the store’s treadmill. That sounds mighty impressive.
But is it? That’s one of many questions raised by a new paper that analyzed shoe-purchasing behavior of 101 runners at 8 specialty running retailers in the Seattle area. It also contrasted differences between the prospective shoe buyers (you!) and the salespeople advising them.
There’s a lot of information here, and it’s all freely available at the below link, so take a look yourself. I was most interested in the buyer vs sales person comparison.
For example, on average, the sales person was 11 years younger than the buyer, and a faster, more serious runner/racer. Retail sales people place great value on the in-store training they’ve received, and also on promotional materials from shoe companies and shoe sales reps. Buyers tend to lean on friends and family for advice.
A big difference occurred when the researchers looked at gait analysis. Let’s face it: Everyone likes this approach in principle. But shoe buyers are rightfully dubious, with only 37% saying that gait analysis influenced their eventual purchase.
The sales people? They love gait analysis, with 74% believing that it influences purchase decisions.
Conclusion: “We caution runners to carefully consider the advice from salespeople as many employees make recommendations that are not evidence-based and may have limited experience.”
Also, if you’re a bit confused, don’t feel bad. No one has truly figured out how to pick the right shoe. “While there is little scientific evidence to support shoe selection based on comfort, gait analysis, and individual biomechanics or anatomy, there is no alternative consensus best practice.”
So buy your shoes according to a good fit first, and their overall comfort second. Also, listen to your running friends. More at Footwear Science with free full text.
Foam Rolling Beats Muscle Soreness, But 5 Mistakes To Avoid
This paper grabbed my interest because it claims to be the first to show that foam rolling “effectively manages muscle soreness in athletes compared to a placebo control.” Also because the runner-subjects came from a “highly trained distance-running population.” All good.
I also like that Chris Lundstrom is one of the co-authors. He’s a former 2:17 marathoner himself, and coach at the Univ. of Minnesota as well as the Minnesota Distance Elite runners. One of his athletes, Dakotah Lindwurm, finished third in February in the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. She’ll be racing the Olympic Marathon in Paris.
On the other hand, the paper didn’t find that the runners performed better after foam-rolling vs a placebo condition. That would have been nice, but it didn’t happen.
In the placebo arm of the trial, subjects wore regular running tights that were falsely called “compression tights.”
The runners were all subjected to a tough, downhill running workout designed to produce plenty of post-run muscle soreness. Then they recovered with 16 minutes of foam rolling of the quads, IT band, and hamstrings, or 16 minutes of sitting in a pair of normal running tights that were falsely called “compression tights.” This was the placebo condition.
Several days after the downhill running, all subjects completed a Running Economy test in the lab, and a 3000-meter time trial. They fared slightly worse than before the downhill running, but the changes were roughly equivalent for both foam rolling and fake compression tights.
The foam rollers did report feeling less muscle soreness and less Relative Perceived Exertion than those who wore the fake compression tights. Practical application: “Foam rolling can be considered an effective recovery tool for runners because it can alleviate muscle soreness without negatively affecting running performance.”
That seems fair. Feeling better is a good thing in many ways. Too bad the foam rollers didn’t actually perform better. More at Sports Sciences for Health with free full text.
Another recent article gathered information from a number of therapists who use and like foam rolling. It also warned that there are 5 common mistakes you should avoid when foam rolling. More at Run Outside.
New Track Trick: Wear Heavy Road-Race Shoes
It’s not often that sports scientists publish a paper, and then a top distance runner does exactly what they advocated in the paper. Usually it’s the other way around: The athletes figure out something that works for them, and later researchers try to analyze and explain the technique.
But here’s what happened at the NCAA Track Championships last week: University of Florida superstar Parker Valby walked off the track to face questions (YouTube; go to 2:30 in video) about the strange shoes she wore in winning the 10,000 meters. “They’re my recovery shoes,” Valby said. “I’m trying to save my legs for the 5000” (2 days later). The shoes in question were apparently a pair of thick Nike Vaporfly shoes (made for road racing) with spikes set into the outsole.
And here’s what running shoe researchers Dustin Joubert and Geoff Smith had written several days earlier in a just published paper. “This could make the Advance Footwear Shoe [like Vaporflys] an attractive option for longer track races, particularly in National Collegiate Athletic Association and high school athletics, where there are no stack-height rules.”
Joubert, Burns, and colleagues had just tested several road-racing super shoes and several track super spikes (and a conventional spiked shoe). They wanted to determine relative oxygen consumption and energy expenditure in the different shoes.
Result: The super spike was 2% more efficient than the conventional spike. However, the thicker and heavier road-race super shoe was equal to the super spike.
Conclusion: Where regulations do not ban super shoes on the track, such as in NCAA and high school competitions, distance runners can perform as well in thick road super shoes as they might in thinner, lighter super spikes. At the same time, they will presumably “save” their legs a bit, because that’s what the thick, cushy road shoes are designed to do.
This Simple Running-Form Change Stops Knee Pain
A number of studies have indicated that a change in running form--from forefoot striking to rearfoot-striking; or vice versa--could alleviate various running-related joint and muscle pains. Now we’ve got a meta-analysis and systematic review that adds even more evidence to the previous work.
The researchers were looking specifically for a way to reduce knee pain, since that’s such a widespread problem for runners. They dove into prior medical studies looking for “running technique modification associated with patellofemoral joint loading.”
The patellofemoral joint is basically your knee behind the kneecap. It is “loaded” every time you land on that leg, from the ground impact forces that move upward from your foot to your knee to your hips.
In some runners, these forces lead to knee pain. After all, you land on one foot or the other roughly 1700 times per mile. If you’ve got any weaknesses around the knee, this amount of pounding is going to stress them hard. So what you can do?
The researchers assessed results from 14 previous studies, and concluded: “Moderate evidence indicated that the forefoot strike (FFS) pattern led to a reduction in patellofemoral joint (PFJ) loading compared with the rearfoot strike (RFS) pattern.”
In other words, switch to a forefoot or midfoot landing rather than landing on your heels. Also, run with a shorter stride. The two go together well--forefoot landings, and short strides--and they have proven effective.
This technique works because it reduces loading at the knee, and consequently knee pain. Remember that all changes in running form should be introduced very slowly, with perhaps just a few minutes per day at the outset. Then increase gradually. More at International J of Biomedical Engineering & Technology.
How To Keep Your “Body Battery” 100% Fully Charged
Garmin, the GPS watch company, wants us all to run more … and presumably to buy more of its digital products. So it recently produced a long list of “Smartwatch data highlights” connected to health and wellness scores.
Some of these might raise an eyebrow. For example, at your next annual physical, ask your doc about your “Body Battery” score. I think you’ll get a “Huh?” look and reply.
That said, I rather like the Body Battery metaphor. We all want our health and physiology to be fully charged--not running on low or sinking to “no charge.” And Garmin says that running 50 miles a week will charge your Body Battery more than 10 miles/week.
Sounds good. The more you run (up to a point), the more health benefits you receive.
Garmin also says that running up to 50 miles/week will improve your sleep, lower your resting heart rate, lower your stress, and make you 7 years younger than your chrono age. I don’t think Garmin’s wrong on any of these claims--just a little bit too confident of its numbers.
The company is on much firmer ground when it offers a couple of running metrics by country. I probably wouldn’t have guessed that the French run longer per workout--5.43 miles--than runners in any other country.
That could be a good thing for this summer’s Peoples Olympic Marathon in Paris (“Pour Tous”). I just learned about this. It will be an “open” marathon race beginning at 9 pm on August 10th. The Peoples Marathon will use the same course as that morning’s Men’s Olympic Marathon, and the next morning’s Women’s Olympic Marathon.
In other words, there will be three marathons on the same Paris marathon course in just a bit more than 24 hours. Nice. I hope the U.S. does the same at the 2028 L.A. Olympic Games. Though we’ll have to pick up our training volume. At this point, Garmin doesn’t even give U.S. runners a Top 20 ranking for distance/workout.
The French may run long, but they don’t go fast. They placed 19th in the speed category with their average pace of 9:34 per mile. The Irish are quickest at 9:06/mile, with the U.S. placing 14th at 9:31. More at Garmin.
Power Up Your Pace: The Runner’s Guide To Heavy Lifting
We runners are always hearing that we need to do more strength training. It can improve running economy, the experts say.
And it might also reduce injuries. Who doesn’t want both?
But then comes a critical question: Should I lift heavy weights or lighter ones? Most research has investigated the heavy-weights approach. However, recent papers propose that lifting low and moderate weights can also yield impressive gains. So which is the best and most effective path to follow?
Here’s some helpful advice from Dave Cieslowski, an ultrarunner who’s also a PT and podiatrist. He addresses the question: Lift heavy or not?
His answer? Sure, go for the big stuff. In fact, he says it’s a “no brainer” that heavy lifting improves performance.
Cieslowski adds an important cautionary note: Don’t do it at every session. Heavy lifting, like other “heavy” parts of your training--speed work; long runs; etc--should be done in a periodized fashion. That means: Don’t do heavy lifting when you’re also doing hard speed work or long runs. Too much is too much.
Conclusion: “In a nutshell, I am totally in favor of ultrarunners lifting heavy, as long as it is part of a well-rounded training program and proper form is being used. Your body, results and general enjoyment of running will all benefit.” More at Ultrarunning.
Unlocking The Mysteries Of Achilles Pain And Muscle Cramping
As you know, an athlete called the “GOAT” is the Greatest Of All Time. You’d probably like to be the GOAT at some distance or event. However, try to avoid the similar looking, not so happy designation of “GoATI.” That one refers to Gradual onset Achilles Tendon Injuries.
A top South African Injury prevention program known as SAFER has spent years tracking runner injuries primarily from South Africa’s big and famous ultra marathons. The team’s newest report looked into the development of Achilles tendon injuries in more than 61,000 race entrants. Several of its findings were expected, but several were also termed “novel.”
Result: There were more Achilles tendon injuries among runners older than 31, among those with more years of recreational running, among males, and among those who ran ultramarathons vs half-marathons. “Novel” factors included: 1) a higher “Composite Chronic Disease Score;” and 2) a history of allergies. More at Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation with free full text.
The SAFER group also recently analyzed muscle cramp problems among almost 11,000 finishers of the famous 54-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa. They found that male runners were twice as likely as females to report muscle cramping. Cramping also occurred in those with a high composite disease score, and those with a prior history of collapse or muscle cramping.
Two training related links seemed particularly noteworthy: There were more muscle cramping issues among those who had increased their training by more than 10km/week, and among those who had decreased their training pace (run slower) by more than 60 seconds/km, which is equal to about 90 seconds/mile. More at J of Sports Medicine & Physical Fitness.
Chew On This: Energy Bars Don’t Need Lots Of Extra Chewing
Most endurance runners get their midrace carbs from drinks and/or gels. These tend to go down smoother than bars, which require chewing, and may also upset the stomach more than less-solid foods.
However, until now, no one had actually studied “how food chewing time and number of chewing cycles affect physiological and perceptual responses to exercise.” So let’s take a look. Our guide is well known runner-GI response expert Patrick Wilson, author of The Athlete’s Gut.
In this trial, 15 experienced male runners performed a time to exhaustion treadmill test while receiving an energy bar containing 180 calories. On one occasion, the runners were instructed to chew the bar 20 times. On another test, they chewed 40 times.
Wilson and colleagues hypothesized that 40 chews would be better than 20. After all, it would produce more and smaller food particles. These ought to pass through the stomach with less distress, and get into the bloodstream faster.
But the differences weren’t significant--not on blood glucose, carb vs fat oxidation, GI symptoms, or time to exhaustion. Conclusion: “Runners partaking in ultra-endurance events likely do not need to concern themselves with how thoroughly they chew solid foods during competition.” More at European J of Applied Physiology with free full text.
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners
“Everything you need is already inside.”
--Bill Bowerman, famed Olympic and Univ. of Oregon track coach