Running is the most accessible sport as we need fewer accessories, mates compared to other sports. All you need is the will to go out and a pair of running shoes. When we started our running journey around five years back with our colleague in the office gym, our main focus was to be more regular with activity than fancy & costly shoes. And finger crossed, we didn’t get any injuries until now. So this means our running shoes are healthy for our feet and leg. With the long distance of running target and out-of-shape of current pair, we were hunting for new and better options to be safe for legs than just lucky.

How do you select your (running) shoes?

We went to one nearby shop to do our foot analysis, which we had the impression was something delineated, and then buy shoes accordingly. But the experience was not satisfactory, so we did some homework, consulted running mates with their experiences of different types of test etc and putting all together here.

What is Pronation?

Pronation is the natural movement of the foot that occurs during foot landing while running(mostly focused in this article) with the shoe on a surface. It differs from person to person, which is perfectly normal. To avoid any injury during landing and to give comfort to our knees and feet, we need shoes with respect to the pronation type.

How to check foot pronation?

There are many cumbersome options, like the treadmill test, gait test, track test, etc., to do analysis and know the pronation type. Sometimes, this will cost us both time and money. But for regular amateur runners, the below three easy, free self–assessments give them more confidence to know about their shoes and avoid marketing buzz.

1. Wear Test: By examining current/old running shoes and its impact areas.

• Overpronation: More Impact on the inner side of shoe.
• Underpronation:   More Impact on the outer side of the shoe.
• Neutral :  More Impact on the middle part of the shoe.

2. Wet Test: Use bucket water and flat dry surface, to check foot arch type

• Flat (Low/No arch) — Complete foot shape we can see.
• High arch —Middle part of the foot get narrow compare to heel and toe parts.
• Normal (Medium arch) —Neither high arch nor low arch.

Do you like to know about our running journey, then click Running Journey 1KM-21KM.

3. Back Stability of Shoe

As showed in above image, it is easy to press and fold back of the shoe on the right one with black sole which is not healthy for running as it has minimim support while landing. Better to look for hard back like left one with white sole. This is just to demonstrate the type of shoes, not about the brand.

Running shoes are broadly divided into three categories:

• Motion Control Shoe — Very rigid and stiff. Not able to fold in the middle and twist sidewise of shoe. Additional support elements in the sole.
• Stability Shoe — Rigid than Neutral and can not fold and twist easily. Some stability elements in the sole.
• Neutral Shoe — Easy to fold the shoe in the middle as it is soft. Twist and squeeze easily. No additional supportive elements in the sole.

Who needs what:

Flat Arch type ~ overpronation advise to go for stability/motion control shoes.

High Arch type ~ Underpronation advise to go for neutral shoes.

Normal Arch type ~ neutral pronation advise to go for neutral/stability shoes.

FYI: This combination can be different for different (exterme) scenarios.

As you now know the type of arch and pronation of your foot, you can ask for shoes which will suit these conditions. Also, you can get good suggestions on Asics site with Shoe Finder option. You don’t need to be biased or rely only on shopkeepers words. Do share your experience with shoes and feet analysis.

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Do you like to know, How to prepare for Next Running Event which is around the corner? Then check this Long Distance Runing