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BUYING TRAINING SHOES – Part 3

© Clive Maxwell Prestt

Exercise: The author's foot print type:

What do you think my thoughts on this are? I am now 43 years of age and today is the first time I have ever done this test, or looked at the wear pattern on my shoes. Aged 19 I got chronic Achilles tendonitis, had four operations, and still have a lot of pain form this injury. I had shin splints a couple of times too and had to give up training for a while.

Exercise: My foot print type

Fill out the table below for yourself and then write a paragraph describing yourself.

EXPLANATION OF RUNNING SHOE TYPES

So now that you've discovered the type of feet you have, here's a quick guide to the types of shoes designed for your type of feet!

Exercise:Fill in the blanks with the following words:-

Motion, shape, cushioned, flexibility, light, biomechanics, shock

A good pair of running shoes should provide_________, durability, ________control and _______absorption. However, as identified above and in part 2 of this trilogy, a runner's foot size, ______, movement combined with their ___________ and speciality means that different people may have different requirements from their running shoes. Running shoes tend to sit within five main groups: motion control, __________, stability, _____weight and trail. These are all technical terms associated with running shoes but what do they really mean?

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After reading the following explanations which by now you have established as the most suitable shoe type for your foot type, you should go to the web sites recommended via the links below the explanations, and look at some suitable training shoes which are likely to be good for your foot type: look at the prices and get saving. Just to help, here's a diagram of the parts of a running shoe:

Cushioned Shoes

Cushioned shoes generally have the softest (or most cushioned) midsoles and the least medial support. They are usually built on a semicurved or curved last to encourage foot motion, which is helpful for underpronators (who have rigid, immobile feet).

Cushioning is very important for runners whose feet do not roll inward or outwards as it is this rolling movement that helps absorb the shock that would be sent through the joints to the spine. The cushioning therefore is designed to reduce the shock when the foot hits the ground. If you have rigid and immobile feet and tend to underpronate then cushioned shoes are good because they have little medial support and soft midsoles. They enable foot motion and so are also ideal for high arch runners.