Weird Shoe Wear (Read 1012 times)

This probably belongs more here than in the gear section. I have a weird thing that's cropped up in both of my last two pairs of shoes. The first one..well that time I basically just cursed it out and said I wouldn't buy those again. But two pairs? Different manuf? So starting with the ASICS GelNimbus VII, and most recently with a pair of NB 1061s I've managed to wear through the padding that protects the upper part of your heel, so about halfway up the back of the shoe. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem but for the fact that what's wearing through is the plastic shield that they put in there to give the rear of the shoe some rigidity. Of course, this makes the shoes pretty much unwearable unless I want to deal with blisters on very short runs, and all out blood fest on anything over about 2mi. The sudden onset of this last year kept me from running a very cool race in Mexico and adding a second country to the dossier, very frustrating. Anyway, has anyone seen this before/have any idea what might be causing this? Are we talking stride, fit in the shoes, lacing, etc? It's not like the shoes have had a LOT of use, probably about 200mi for the first pair, more like 300 for the second. Tough to imagine compared to the insane durability I've gotten out of shoes in the past. I asked at the running store I'd been shopping at, and they were pretty much completely unhelpful. I don't think I'll actually be heading back there. Still, have to keep running, so it's off to get new shoes tomorrow. Thanks!

Sounds like maybe your heel is slipping and wearing out the liner as a result?

I'd second this one. But also what you might want to check is the rigidity of the shoe itself. Most of today's "high tech" shoes are so rigid that they don't even bend where they are supposed to bend. Feet bend quite a lot more than most people realize. I thought Nimbus was supposed to have their arch area more flexible (I'm not as familiar with NB model you mentioned)... If the shoe doesn't bend around the arch area, then as your foot flexes right before the toe-take-off, the foot bends forward but the shoe trys to stay straight and your heel would try to slip off from the shoe; hense creating friction on the heel area. Another thing is the shoe possibly too big. Many of shoe store people still recommend this "thumb width" extra space at the tip of the shoe (toe area) which, as far as I'm concerned, is a bunch of BS. You do need SOME extra space but not that much. If the shoe is that much bigger than your foot and if it's rigid, that's a sure combination for the heel slipping out. (plus of course, inadequate lacing and possibly material of the socks). Another thing is, I don't know how long you've been running but, sometimes you get this bump on the heel (I have it on both my heel) and that definitely creates more wearing than normal smooth heel. You could try to place some low friction material--once again, I don't work for them, but there's a MN based company called Engo that sells a small blue low friction patch. You could probably cut off a small piece and cover the hole where plastic is exposed. This way, at least you don't have to trash $100 pair of shoes!

This happend to my everyday sneakers...

It is particularly so simply because when you walk, you land more on your heel in sharper angle that there would be higher likelihood of heel counter and your heel rubbing.

Happens to me. I blame my feet. Narrow heel, wide forefoot. Flats work best. Try womens shoes. Ditto on the too big, and inflexible comment. Duct tape can slow the wear down. yup - bump on the heel, too.

My left foot is "noticeably" bigger than my right...It's hard to explain--if you're interested, I can send you the image (I had taken images in order to explain to other people).

Yeah, my right is at least a size smaller than the left, I put them side by side and...yeah it's a little weird. I don't quite get what you mean about the insoles, if you have pictures that'd be great. Back from the store in any case. ASICS Gel-Cumulus 9 is the new shoe, it was close between that and the Mizuno Wave Creation 8.

Have you tried the Gel Cumulus? The fit is similar to the Gel Nimbus, but it's lighter and more flexible and thus might be less prone to slip at the ankle.

You might want to try a Nike Vomero if the new shoe doesn't work beause(though I prefer the nimbus ix) it has a much softer contact point at the heal with more of an exoskeleton type of rigidity provider. I tried it to try something different from my Nimbuses and didn't like it as well but it will certainly work well for some people.