Forums >Gears and Wears>Trail shoes and/or inserts for narrow heels
I do about 75% of my running on trails and I am having a really hard time finding shoes with sufficiently narrow heels. Even the very few models that allow you to use heel lock lacing are still super wide. The instability caused by my foot sliding around inside the shoe is worse than running in an inappropriate shoe for the terrain!
Are there any decent models out there for me? Or even some kind of insert?
The road shoe I've had the most luck with is the Mizuno Wave Rider, but their trail offerings don't seem very inspiring/robust from the reviews.
I usually wear a neutral shoe, but I'll try anything as long as it actually fits at this point.
You could try lining the inside of the shoes with Moleskin (thin) or Molefoam (thick). The stuff is cheap, and you can always pull it out if it doesn't work.
I run in thorlos socks and they have different thicknesses available. I don't know your running temperature or feet sweat rate but thicker socks might help.
tomatolover
I don't wear trail shoes but I have incredibly narrow heels ( so much that even as a size 9.5, I will never be able to wear high heels without looking like I a kid trying on her mother's shoes) . I wear brooks launch now, but wore adrenalines in the past that particularly fit my narrow heel (they have width sizing) and I do know that they come in a trail model.
+1 on Brooks. I like the Adrenaline ASR over the Cascadia among their trail shoes. For me, their sizing works really well in the normal width - even their normal width has a narrow heel. Their narrow is too narrow in the forefoot for me, but it is an option. (modified because it looks like they don't do the trail shoes in narrow. But, don't be put off by that - still worth a try)
Kalsarikännit
It took me many, many years to find trail shoes that I liked. When I discovered LaSportivas I fell madly in love with them. I typically like a super snug heel and a wide forefoot, but the Crosslites and C-lite 2.0's run narrow through the whole shoe in a way that makes my foot feel very well enveloped but not confined. I heard that they have discontinued these and the Bushido (which I have not tried) has taken its spot, but it is still easy to find the Crosslites.
Two things worth mentioning: These are meant for gnarly, technical trails (I just wear road shoes if it isn't a rock and root fest), but if you will be running on rocks I think they are definitely worth checking out because the material they use on the bottom of the shoe, frixion, is the same stuff that they use on their climbing shoes and it is sticky and glorious as hell. There is no sliding around on rocks with these on.
I want to do it because I want to do it. -Amelia Earhart