As we wrote in our previous post, this question is not about what running shoes to buy. This question is about how, once you know what (type of) running shoe you want to buy, to choose which one in particular. If you haven’t read our post “Which running shoes to buy?“, read it before reading this post, in other words before looking for the answer to the question “How to choose running shoes?”.
So after you have determined – even through our detailed search – what kind of ground, what kind of distance, what kind of pace you are looking for running shoes for, you have to choose from the set of running shoes you get. You have to decide whether you want supportive or neutral shoes, what size, what drop, what laces, what gender, etc.
Choose a stable, supportive or neutral shoe?
We deliberately start with the hardest one, once you get past that there are much easier questions. The real difficulty isn’t just deciding whether your foot is pronal, supine or neutral, but how much you want to adjust your running shoe to suit it, because you don’t necessarily have to.
To determine how your foot is positioned or to go to an orthopedic exam where the doctor will determine, you may well know, but you can test it very easily. When you step out of the bath from shower with wet feet, look at how your foot makes a mark on a dry surface , and you can decide by looking at figure 3 below:
If you pronate, your ankle tilts inwards, if you supinate, your ankle tilts outwards. If the two directions are only minimally present, there is not much to support it. If there is significant displacement then most people think there is, you should support it, so you should choose a running shoe that is for overpronators or over-supinators. But it’s a symptomatic treatment, which may not be good.
It’s easier to accept that your foot is overpronating than to correct the lean. In a previous post where I wrote about the differences between women’s, men’s running shoes, I mentioned that pronation originates(s) all the way from the hip. Correcting the ankle’s inward or outward lean by strengthening it is a long process, but it’s much better than symptomatically solving the problem with a supportive shoe.
It’s not the role of this post to dissect this, but when choosing a shoe, you have to decide if your foot is overpronating or overpronating. Either you buy a running shoe that provides counter support and thus avoid possible injury, or you embark on a long and bitter process of strengthening your foot and hip so that your ankle doesn’t buckle or pop out, so you choose a neutral shoe.
Unfortunately, I write from experience that I’ve had running shoe injuries due to poor ankle support, so consider your decision carefully.
The weight is also important for stability. For heavier weights (over 75 kg for women and over 90 kg for men), it is a good idea to buy running shoes for stable or overpronating feet, even if the runner’s feet are otherwise neutral.
Drop, the slope of the shoe sole
The sole of a running shoe has, or can have, a slope, this is the drop. If the sole of the shoe is 35mm at the heel and 27mm at the toe, then the drop is 8mm. I wrote a pretty detailed post about the drop earlier, worth a read.
When buying running shoes, most runners do not choose the drop, they suffer it. In English, they choose a shoe and accept how much it drops. I did the same with my first few running shoes, although drop can affect your injuries, what your ground contact is (heel, midfoot, toe-off) so it’s worth taking that into account. Read my post on this if you’re serious about choosing running shoes.
Size of running shoes
I’ve mentioned several times on the site that running makes the foot swell and get bigger. You should take this into account when tightening the laces and choosing the size of the shoe. You should buy running shoes at least half a size larger than the size you wear for everyday use.
What tends to cause problems is that some running shoe brands take this into account by default and give you a shoe that is slightly larger than the actual size. In other words, the size of a 42 running shoe is actually the size of a 42.5 normal shoe. It is therefore worth looking at the size in centimetres. Measure your foot, add at least half a centimetre and order your running shoes based on that.
Width of the running shoe
As with the ankle drop, this is only in extreme cases something to be concerned with. If you have a very wide or very narrow foot, check whether the running shoe you are considering is recommended for thin or thick feet. The problem with narrow feet is that if the running shoe is wider than the foot, it may cause the foot to slide around in it and become sore on longer runs. And with a wide foot, you’ll simply have trouble getting your running shoes on and off and they’ll be uncomfortably tight. Fortunately many brands have recognised this problem and offer the same running shoe in different widths.
Women’s or men’s running shoes?
That seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not necessarily, which is why I’ve written more about it in this post. The point is that there are some cases where it’s more appropriate for a woman to buy a man’s running shoe, and it might work better for a man to buy a woman’s shoe. I’ll use my own example to show you why, for me as a male runner, the women’s was better than the men’s in the same shoe, read on.
Seasons
Many people can’t afford it, but it’s also worth considering what weather conditions you’ll be using your running shoes in. For example, if you’ll be using them mostly on a treadmill, indoors or in summer, the shoe should have good breathability and, to a lesser extent, be waterproof. Needless to say, running shoes with less breathability or a thicker upper are sufficient for winter. You can say you’ll manage with a thick sock and use a thin, breathable shoe for summer in winter, but you should take this into account when choosing your size
