Harlow Running Club

I need a new pair of trainers, my current ones are pretty old & must have close to a thousand miles in them!

Obviously trainers are a highly personal thing but nevertheless, anyone care to share their views / recommendations / non-recommendations....?

Personally I'm after a shoe that'll be good to train for & run in a marathon. 

I'm a pronator & I gather I have flat feet (!)   My current trainers are Nike Air Alaris which seem OK but were chosen mainly because I liked the colour....

Just watched The Gadget Show & they spoke very highly of Asics Gel-Kayano 16s so that's one I'm considering looking into..

Ideally I'm looking for something that will make me about 15 minutes quicker

Hi Adrian, as you say a very personal choice. I have been wearing the asics 2100 series for the last 5 years or so, recentley purchased the latest model - 2150 and would highly recommend these. I too have been told I overpronate and tried the kayano's a few years ago but found these a bit 'clumpy'. As you are pretty nippy take a look at the 2150's. Good luck !!

Adrian,

At Track tomorrow there will be a person there who goes some form of foot analysis who may also be able to make recommendations.

Personally, I would get yourself to Runnerway in Saffron Walden and have them fit you a pair of shoes.  It is surprising how much difference there is between even the same "type" of shoes. They all offer slightly different levels of support and cushioning that may not suit you, even though they all may be "support" or Motion Control"

For example, I wear Mizuno Wave Inspire 5's. These are of the support variety as I am overpronate too. I found that for me, one particular Asics suport shoe (I think they were Asic 2100's) did not hold me as well. To complicate things further, the Inspire 5's have very little cusioning in the front which makes them feel fast. However, if you are a mid/forefoot striker, these may not be good for you, particuarly on long distance as you will have no cusioning in the area your foot impacts the ground.

I have worn Gel Kyano 14's or 15's once. They are one of the most pricey shoes, but although they were supportive for me, I found that they were the most expensive blister makers ever.

What I am saying here is that there are so many factors to getting the "right" shoe and that are very personal to your gait and running style. Even then, you may find they are not right after 100 miles in them.

Hi Adrian,

I'm looking to get a new pair of trainers soon and I'm thinking of going over to running shop in Saffron Walden like Jon suggested to see about getting my running gait looked at properly before getting my next pair

Have mostly had Asics trainers since I started running and found them good but last pair seemed to fall apart quicker than I would of expected so I switched over to Saucony's last time but haven't found them to be as comfortable to run in

Trouble is there's such a choice when looking on-line or in a shop and I must admit that like you sometimes I've gone on the looks of the trainers as long as they are in what I think to be my correct type of shoe .

I know Ryan went over and got his feet/ trainers checked and was recommended Mizuno's I believe which he hadn't thought of but have turned out to be the right one's for him

Like the others have said each person is different so it might be worth getting checked before laying out the best part of £100 on a pair on Kayano's

Howard

Adrian,

I too have flat feet and I have found that this cannot really be corrected properly by trainers alone as the arch itself needs to be lifted. When I first started running I went to She Runs He Runs in Bluewater where they put you on a treadmill to asses whether you are a overpronator/supinator  etc. They suggested I get a full support trainer as I was over-pronating and recommended the Mizuno Wave Nirvana (I believe). This was ok for a while but I ended up getting more problems and eventually went to see a podiatrist. 

The podiatrist looked at my trainers and instantly said that the running shop had probably made my problems worse with the trainer I was recommended, although through no fault of their own as they are only trained to the most basic level of gait analysis. The reason I was over-pronating was because of my flat feet, which actually stems from the hips. Since then I have had orthotics made - these last for around 2 years before you should get your feet re-assessed, but if there are no changes in you biomechanics they will last for a very very long time and all you need to do is swap the insoles whenever you buy a new pair of trainers. 

I now only need neutral trainers, which means I can get some of the best cushioning - I run in Asics Gel Nimbus, but also have a pair of Adidas Supernova, and I find both of these very comfortable.

I may be an exception - but just wanted to recommend a podiatrist over sports shops because they really know their stuff!

Georgina

Many thanks for the various replies

I went to GO Outdoors in Harlow today & they actually do video gait analysis there. I gave it a whirl & the conclusion was that I'm a mild overpronator & long story short I'm now the proud owner of some Asics 2150s which seemed OK.  They were £81 with the discount card which is at least a tenner more than you need to pay (I now know, having looked around on the Internet since I got home....) however if they work out well I'll be more than happy with that.

Training is utter rubbish at the moment though. If it doesn't improve dramatically very very soon I'll be looking for a comfortable walking shoe to do Brighton in

After discussions a little while back I finally managed to get myself over to Runnerway shop over in Saffron Walden on Friday to get my Gait analysis done

Well all I can say is that I highly recommend paying them a visit as the staff couldn't of been more helpful ,spent about an hour in the shop trying on about five different pairs/types of trainers all including runs on the tread mill and then looking back at the video footage to show how or not it improved , even told me to go for a run outside for a while and see how they felt running on the paths

Anyway it turned out I was using the wrong type of shoe before and am now running in Mizuno Wave Rider 13's which feel so much lighter and comfortable than what I had before - plus you get a 10% discount through the club so I paid £72 which turns out to be the same as the best price I have seen them on line for

And to top it all I took almost 2 minutes off my PB at ST Clares 10K on Sunday on their maiden voyage , although not sure if that was the shoes or just me trying a bit harder

I know other club members have and do use this shop and if you haven't had your gait checked I would recommend getting yourself over there at some point

Howard