Insoles and Cushioning (Read 484 times)

I posted this in the Gear forum which doesn't get much traffic. Sorry for the crosspost here, but I am interested in the opinions and experience of the veterans around here. thanks. I am on the lookout for a new pair of shoes right now and from what I understand the cushioning a shoe provides is the key piece that breaks down after so many kms/miles of use. I understand the tread also wears, but the treads on my shoes seem to still have some life in them. I don't want to injure myself by not using new shoes enough so I was wondering if adding cushioning insoles to my shoes would lengthen their life? If the cushioning is not as "cushiony" as it once was and the shoe is otherwise just fine, would adding an insole allow me to wear them for a few hundred more kms/miles? I am a heavier, newer runner with a neutral stride/gait. Thanks for any advice from anyone who tried this or from someone who can point out a flaw in the argument.

You certainly don't want your shoe to be too hard, or "deaden" as you called, but the shoe should not be too soft either. If the shoe is too soft, then it now become unstable. It'll start to wiggle around (your foot, that is); you can't transfer enough "power" to the ground--think about hitting trampoline hard; it just sucks the force and you don't feel the "push" at all, would you? Fast guys prefer wearing very thin shoes or rather hard sole; because otherwise, they can't transfer the force to generate "power". Of course, you don't want it too hard either. The key is to find just the right combination for YOU. But in most cases, people pick, for whatever the reason, shoes waaaaaaaaaay too soft. A big part of is marketing. We've been "taught" by so-called "experts" that, in order to aleviate landing shock, you need lots of soft rubber underneath the heel. What happened is that, because of the heel area, and over-all, got too thick, now the shoe is way too unstable. Now all the manufacturers start putting those "stablizing" materials, plastic, metal, you name it; which made the shoe now waaaaaaaay too rigid. The shoe should definitely fit your foot well; but the shoe should also be light and flexible. If the shoe restricts the natural movement(s) of your foot, that would put undue pressure on your foot and eventually you'll strain your foot, causing some injuries--I'm thinking, what do you call those illnesses like heart diseases or obesity, etc., that's associated with "modern society"? Same can be said about "most" of running related foot and leg injuries. Okay, so I digressed... Going back to the original post; putting extra insole. I sometimes do it myself but only to "fit" the shoe more snug to my own feet. If you chose a shoe based on how well it fits, then you shouldn't play around adding extra "cushion" INSIDE the shoe to improve the "cushion". That would make it too snug. I had this pair one time and, because my right foot is very slightly smaller than my left; and with this particular pair, I could feel it quite clearly. So I added extra insole (not the whole thing; I usually cut off pieces out until BOTH my feet feel the same snugness) in my right shoe. But this extra cushion turned out to be a bit too much and I could definitely feel "unstableness"--or, in other words, my foot was wiggling a tad more than the other foot. I remember a great barefoot runner from South Africa, Zola Budd, had some problem with her shoe (when she trains), she added extra insole made out of pieces of newspaper and that fixed her problem (I can't remember what the problem was). The point is; that particular "insole" made of newspaper couldn't be too "cushiony". If the rubber or insole or whatever it might be is too soft, it not only loses stability, but also increase the unstability (if there's such a word...) as well as decrease, in most cases, the life of the sole itself. Softer rubber has, in general, you can envision, bigger or more or bigger AND more (microscopic) bubbles. Harder rubber has less or smaller bubbles; hense firmer. Of course, the problem with the rubber with bigger/more rubber is that they will flatten more/quicker. So in terms of shoe, more often than not, softer is not a solution. Most people think the shoe aleviate landing shock. The truth is; YOU need to learn to aleviate landing shock. It is the way you land, how your ankle and knee flex, and how your hamstrings and Achilles tendon stretch that aleviate the landing shock. If you get the false idea of shoe doing all that, then the actual parts of your body that's supposed to do so would get weaker and weaker. Next thing you know is you see many (and mostly slower runners) land hard on their heel with their knees locked, shooting up the landing shock all the way up to their spine; getting all sorts of problems like knee pain and lower back pain and hip issues. And they claim that's "over-use" syndrome (when they only runs something like 15 miles a week...). Anyways, if your concern is actual well-being of your legs and healthy running, don't be cheap and owe several pairs of shoes and rotate; and get new pairs more frequenty than not. Don't try to "compensate" by adding $2.00 insole to gain a few hundreds miles of shoe life span. But first and foremost thing you should think about is to learn the correct running technique so your body will help you aleviate the landing shock. Actually, you'd be surprised, you'll get to the point you probably won't feel the shoe "deadening" so much any more.