Running shoes and gel cushioning insoles have padding in the wrong places
On Monday January 26, 2009, I bought a pair of the 'Adistar Control 5' ( http://www.netsweat.com/Running/Online_Running_Store/Category/Mens-Road-Running-Shoes.htm ) ( http://www.runningwarehouse.com/descpageMRS-ASTCT5M.html ) running shoes at Marathon Sports in Cambridge MA ( www.marathonsports.com ) (617-354-4161). The shoes cost $130.
On Sunday Feb 8 (13 days after I bought the shoes) I wore them outdoors for the first time; while wearing them I ran this outdoors course that I run on Main and Moody Sts in Waltham on the sidewalk, five miles, the first third and fifth miles jogged, the second and fourth miles walked--my time was 92 minutes 2 minutes worse than my personal best of 90 minutes. The course features a run uphill on Moody St going south on the fifth mile, and a walk uphill going south on Moody St on the second mile. On Tuesday Feb 10 I ran the same course a second time, this time with one gel insole ( http://www.paragonsports.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category_Insoles%20&%20Pads_10551_10051__20523_-1_1.htm ) for padding in each shoe. The second run my time was 94 minutes, 4 minutes worse than my personal best of 90 minutes.
Since Thursday Thursday Feb 5 I had been in a way 'under the weather', which impaired my performance. Conversely, On the Feb 8 and Feb 10 runs the clothing I wore was lighter than it was when I did my 90 minutes personal best.
I bought the shoes because I estimated that my time for this run had reached a plateau of 90 minutes, and not gotten any faster than 90 minutes, because at the 90 minute speed the pain factor became significant--along this line, the slower you run the easier it is to minimize pain.
One could reasonably theorize, that the time at which the difference produced by a new shoe is most clearly felt, is during the first few hundred yards run in the shoes. While running the first few hundred yards I ever ran in these 'Adistar Control 5' shoes I could tell right away, that the shoes (compared to the cheaper Adidas cross-trainers) made it easier to generate and maintain momentum, similarly to the way a wheel makes it easier to maintain and generate momentum.
However after the first mile on the first run, during the second mile jogged on the first run, I noticed that there was pain in the toes that was slowing me down. The first run in the end my time was 92 minutes, 2 minutes slower than my personal best run in the Adidas 'Powerpoint' cross-trainers.
The second run, run using the gel insoles, combined with the 'Adistar Control 5' shoes, there was pain in the front sole section of the foot again, this time the pain was in the ball of the foot and also the toes, not just the toes; and the pain in the second run started during the first mile jogged not the second mile jogged. Compared to the first run, the pain was more inhibiting during the second run; it got to the point that I switched from my natural style of the heel and the ball of the foot striking the ground at the same time, to the heel striking the ground before the ball of the foot strikes the ground, which is a style that I find to be unnatural dainty and inefficient.
I was disappointed that the Adistar Control 5 shoes failed to provide the level of cushioning support that I need. Seems to me that the shoes and also the gel insoles (from some company that was not Adidas), have not distributed the padding in a way that corresponds to my personal needs.
The Adistar control 5's sole is 1" thick at the ball of the foot, 1.75" thick at the heel, and approx 0.5" thick at the extreme front end of the toe. The gel-padded insole is thickest in the arch of the foot area and the heel, and thinnest in the ball of the foot and the toes area. The Adistar Control 5 shoes like most shoes, force the foot into a position wherein the heel is (compared to barefoot) unnaturally high.
By way of contrast, my feet while running in the Adistar Control-5 shoes both with and without the added gel insole, need padding in the balls of the foot area and the toe area, and have more than enough padding in the heel area.
When I run long-distance type running the heel and the ball of the foot hit the ground at approx the same time. I estimate given my state of knowledge as of now, that this is normal for long-distance running; running on the balls of the foot is the style used for sprinting not long distance running. The heel striking the ground before the balls of the feet strike the ground is characteristic of walking, characteristic of a clumsy type of running.
Alternatives I face now: replace the shoes; get yet another pair of shoes; find gel insoles with padding in the right places; create gel insoles with padding in the right places using scissors etc makeshift style.
I suspect that my tactic of buying the motion control shoe that had the most padding amongst motion control shoes, may have been erroneous. Perhaps I should have just gotten the shoes with the most padding period, and to hell with 'motion control'.
Now I'll find out exactly what Marathon Sports meant when they said that they could let me try out another pair of shoes if these shoes did not work out.
On Sunday Feb 8 (13 days after I bought the shoes) I wore them outdoors for the first time; while wearing them I ran this outdoors course that I run on Main and Moody Sts in Waltham on the sidewalk, five miles, the first third and fifth miles jogged, the second and fourth miles walked--my time was 92 minutes 2 minutes worse than my personal best of 90 minutes. The course features a run uphill on Moody St going south on the fifth mile, and a walk uphill going south on Moody St on the second mile. On Tuesday Feb 10 I ran the same course a second time, this time with one gel insole ( http://www.paragonsports.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category_Insoles%20&%20Pads_10551_10051__20523_-1_1.htm ) for padding in each shoe. The second run my time was 94 minutes, 4 minutes worse than my personal best of 90 minutes.
Since Thursday Thursday Feb 5 I had been in a way 'under the weather', which impaired my performance. Conversely, On the Feb 8 and Feb 10 runs the clothing I wore was lighter than it was when I did my 90 minutes personal best.
I bought the shoes because I estimated that my time for this run had reached a plateau of 90 minutes, and not gotten any faster than 90 minutes, because at the 90 minute speed the pain factor became significant--along this line, the slower you run the easier it is to minimize pain.
One could reasonably theorize, that the time at which the difference produced by a new shoe is most clearly felt, is during the first few hundred yards run in the shoes. While running the first few hundred yards I ever ran in these 'Adistar Control 5' shoes I could tell right away, that the shoes (compared to the cheaper Adidas cross-trainers) made it easier to generate and maintain momentum, similarly to the way a wheel makes it easier to maintain and generate momentum.
However after the first mile on the first run, during the second mile jogged on the first run, I noticed that there was pain in the toes that was slowing me down. The first run in the end my time was 92 minutes, 2 minutes slower than my personal best run in the Adidas 'Powerpoint' cross-trainers.
The second run, run using the gel insoles, combined with the 'Adistar Control 5' shoes, there was pain in the front sole section of the foot again, this time the pain was in the ball of the foot and also the toes, not just the toes; and the pain in the second run started during the first mile jogged not the second mile jogged. Compared to the first run, the pain was more inhibiting during the second run; it got to the point that I switched from my natural style of the heel and the ball of the foot striking the ground at the same time, to the heel striking the ground before the ball of the foot strikes the ground, which is a style that I find to be unnatural dainty and inefficient.
I was disappointed that the Adistar Control 5 shoes failed to provide the level of cushioning support that I need. Seems to me that the shoes and also the gel insoles (from some company that was not Adidas), have not distributed the padding in a way that corresponds to my personal needs.
The Adistar control 5's sole is 1" thick at the ball of the foot, 1.75" thick at the heel, and approx 0.5" thick at the extreme front end of the toe. The gel-padded insole is thickest in the arch of the foot area and the heel, and thinnest in the ball of the foot and the toes area. The Adistar Control 5 shoes like most shoes, force the foot into a position wherein the heel is (compared to barefoot) unnaturally high.
By way of contrast, my feet while running in the Adistar Control-5 shoes both with and without the added gel insole, need padding in the balls of the foot area and the toe area, and have more than enough padding in the heel area.
When I run long-distance type running the heel and the ball of the foot hit the ground at approx the same time. I estimate given my state of knowledge as of now, that this is normal for long-distance running; running on the balls of the foot is the style used for sprinting not long distance running. The heel striking the ground before the balls of the feet strike the ground is characteristic of walking, characteristic of a clumsy type of running.
Alternatives I face now: replace the shoes; get yet another pair of shoes; find gel insoles with padding in the right places; create gel insoles with padding in the right places using scissors etc makeshift style.
I suspect that my tactic of buying the motion control shoe that had the most padding amongst motion control shoes, may have been erroneous. Perhaps I should have just gotten the shoes with the most padding period, and to hell with 'motion control'.
Now I'll find out exactly what Marathon Sports meant when they said that they could let me try out another pair of shoes if these shoes did not work out.
Labels: balls of feet, calculator joke slow times running track, dysengineering, misengineered, pain, running shoes motion control cushioning shoe finder, toes
posted by David Virgil at 2:51 AM
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