For me, buying new running shoes is a weighty issue. I’m a heavier runner who doesn’t want to lighten his wallet more often than he needs to.
As any runner knows, picking shoes is an exciting ordeal. You have all the brands and reviews to read, but ultimately, you’re just casting the dice and your money and hoping the pair you buy will work.
For myself, I’ve run in Brooks and Saucony with some success, meaning, little to no injuries. I’ve tried Asics, which I did like, but found I ran through them fairly quickly.
I’m starting the search again, which means reading the reviews, trying to match up my running mechanics with a variety of shoes and narrowing that down so I can hit my local running store and try a few out. While I enjoy the research and checking out the designs and colors, the one thing that bothers me is the lack of attention weight is given in the reviews and especially the shoe finders on the websites of the brands.
I checked out Nike, Saucony, Brooks, Hoka One One, Asics and a couple more, but none asked me to plug in a weight. I’m not sure the reason for that because it seems like weight should affect what kind of shoe you buy, not only for support and avoiding injuries, but also the longevity factor for the shoe.
At around 215 pounds (97.5 KG, or a little more than 15 stone) I’m guessing I’ll run through a pair of shoes faster than my buddy who weighs 180 pounds ( a little more than 2 stones lighter).
Anyway, I don’t get why that’s not a part of the consideration. Especially since as you get faster and often lighter, you will probably find yourself changing shoes to match that lighter frame. At least that’s what I’ve found.
See, I went through a 5-year running phase back in the early 2000s in which I ran off about 35 pounds and was able to log consistent 5k times around 25 minutes, with the best around 23 or so. I really think it was 22 something, but I’m not sure if that’s just a trick of time on my memory , but I do know I was proud of the time. I could probably hunt it down, but I just can’t be bothered with that because those days are gone.
The important part of this is that I found after dropping the weight, the shoes I started in didn’t really work for me. They seemed heavier and while I don’t blame the shoes, I did run into injuries while wearing certain shoes I ran in when heavier. So I changed and found that Brooks and Saucony worked well for me. I have tried a few other brands but they didn’t really work for me, even the ones supposedly endorsed for clydesdales.
These days I have lost significant weight again and I’m working to get down to a more healthy 200 pounds. I’m six feet tall, by the way. That said, I’m also pushing 50 and I’m running closer to 32 minutes a 5k. Overall, I’m happy with that. I’m moving and that’s generally a good thing to be doing when you’re alive.
My two goals in running are simple. Get healthy and stay healthy, which means avoiding serious injuries. I’ve done OK on both fronts so far, but I’ve been reading about changing shoes and the recommendations that you rotate shoes.
I typically keep only one pair of shoes until I wear them out and then buy another. I start the hunt well in advance, but because I only get one pair at a time, I have a hard time choosing. After all, these things will be with me hopefully for 400 miles or so, but at my weight I’ve had to change them out more often, closer to 250.
Now this has been the dilemma for me, do I get the same pair that I’m running in today and just rotate between new and old, or do I get another pair for faster-paced runs and keep my current pair for training and longer runs? Is that a good idea. I didn’t find any definitive research on the matter.
So like buying a new pair of shoes, I find that I’m just going to roll the dice.
I like the idea of having different shoes for different types of runs, but I can’t really justify the spend for super specialized shoes. Like I won’t be getting racing shoes for the 5ks I run in. But I do think it’s advisable to have a lighter trainer for certain days.
So I’ve decided to find a little lighter trainer in a different style or brand than what I’m currently running in. I’m at around 150 miles in those shoes and so far so good.
As for the shoe I’ll be buying, I’ve got it narrowed down to five and hope to get that list down to three in the next month before I head to my running store and try some out.
At some point, I do hope to be able to just drop in and buy “my shoes” from the store like you get the “regular” at your favorite diner. I’m just not there yet.
Chalk Creek Writing Outfit 