The protection of trail running shoes. The guardian angel.
When you run in the mountains, it is easy to hurt your feet. A typical kick to a stone , a damn root sticking out of the way, an imprecise support that makes you brush the side of your foot against another nearby stone, all those damn pebbles in a long descent.
Each course is full of enemies and ambushes for your feet. Inadequate foot protection can spoil your race or training day.
- The protection of trail running shoes and products
What does a trail running shoe have to protect? Practically everything, the sole of the foot, the toes, the instep.
Protecting the sole of the foot in a trail running shoe
The protection of the sole is the task of the sole and midsole. These two elements separate us from that pointed rock that we had not seen.
With regard to the midsole , the more material there is, the more it will protect us. In fact, maximalist shoes with raised midsoles offer good insulation from the ground. But pay attention! Because as I have already told you, the higher we have the support of the foot, the less stability we will have.
Another element that serves to protect the sole of the foot are the studs . A sole with many studs close to each other and high enough can protect the sole of the foot properly.
The queen of protection of the sole of the foot is the anti-rock plate , which is neither more nor less than a piece of a hard material such as plastic or carbon, which is positioned between the sole and the midsole.
Here I put again a photo of the Peregrine ... with anti-plate rock. Essential for my taste. You can see it among the orange tacos.
If you have delicate soles and suffer from every pebble on the ground, your shoes should have this additional protection for the sole of the foot.
Some runners don't like the anti-rock plate as it might make the shoe less flexible, but this is a very subjective choice between flexibility and protection.
Long live the trail runner, toe protection
The fingertips and nails are another of the elements that suffer the most when running in the mountains.
Obviously, the front part of the shoes is the one that will be responsible for protecting the toes, specifically at the end of the shoe an element called "bumper" is positioned , or what is the same bumper.
If you regularly run in the mountains, it is practically impossible that you have not ever kicked a stone . Sooner or later the Trail Runner starts playing soccer with the stones, especially when the legs start to get tired and the runner's reactivity starts to decline.
These "bumpers" are made of different materials more or less rigid and cover more or less surface of the toe of the shoe.
Obviously the bigger and stiffer this bumper is, the more protection we will get, so that our feet will not be afraid of our football obsession with stones.
Again, comparison between a strong bumper like the Akasha and a lighter bumper like the Peregrine 7. As you can see, the Akasha have more rubber.
You have to be careful, because a too rigid bumper can create problems of crushing the toes during descents, especially if the shoe does not have a good foot support.
In my case, knowing this, I can assure you that neither the Peregrine nor the Akasha have this problem.
Imagine that you are running down a very steep descent, the foot tends to slide forward and flatten against the tip, if the fingers meet a very rigid wall, they will suffer and the famous black nails heritage of the mountain runner will be formed.
To avoid problems during the descents, it is advisable to have a good descent technique, it took me a bit to start going down well, I have written an article in which I explain all the tricks and tips that I have followed so that the descents are my strong point. Here you have the link: Improve trail running descent technique. 15 definitive tips
It is clear that the choice of bumper protection depends on what type of tours you are going to do.
If you are going to travel in a pure and hard mountain with a lot of stone and a lot of technical route, you will have to think about having good protection .
If you are going to run on routes that are runable, not very technical, with little unevenness, then the bumper should be lighter.
Protection of the body of the foot, sides and instep
The protection of the body of the foot, mainly the sides, is the task of the upper .
To protect the upper, usually structures are incorporated more or less rigid and more or less hard, as if it were a kind of skeleton, heat seals, or sidebands which serve to give tension to the laces and provide securing foot to the time to protect it.
To make the tension of the laces reach the midsole, these structures are placed on the outside of the upper or as part of it. The normal thing is to find heat-sealed in different materials or the side bands of different types of rubber or plastic.
Some slippers have a kind of skirt , just where the midsole connects to the upper, which serves to give additional protection to the lower part of the foot .
Some small elements that make a difference in the protection of the trail running shoe
There are some protective elements that are often overlooked but are essential that can spoil a trail running race.
These are small details that make the difference, such as preventing pebbles or dirt from entering the inside of the shoe. A more protected shoe can be considered one that will prevent these residues from entering the interior, because a pebble can literally destroy a foot.
In reference to this, it is important that the upper closes well around the ankle and that the tongue joins the upper correctly.
In this image you can see the sock style necklace of the New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro v3
The reed is very important, it has to be a single piece integrated into the upper. In fact, you always see more uppers with one-piece sock-shaped tabs, which can even cover part of the ankle.
The negative points of a shoe that is too protected
Well, since we have to protect the feet, let's put all the possible protection and make the shoes are tanks ... wait a minute, calmly, there are a number of contraindications in overly protected shoes.
The first problem with shoes with a lot of protection is weight . The more protective structure we have, the heavier the shoe will be.
Another problem could be the flexibility of the shoe , a shoe that is too protected could be less flexible making the transition from support during the race more difficult.
Another factor that is compromised by very high protection is the breathability of the shoe. A very protected shoe can present perspiration problems and make the foot more warm than necessary.
What level of protection do we have to choose for our mountain running shoe?
Well, I'm going to give us an answer, I don't know.
Only you can know, depending on what you want to do.
Obviously the level of protection will depend a lot on the type of route and the distance you are going to run.
If you are going to face a very alpine race , with many kilometers, many stones or with a lot of unevenness, or on the contrary, you are going to run in a mainly flat race with little unevenness and with a lot of forest track.
I imagine that in the first case, in the case of the alpine race , there will be many stones, many complicated steps, many indecisive supports, a lot of quarrying. Protection should be prioritized and lightness and speed removed.
In the second case, I imagine that there will be few difficult areas, and little probability that the shoe will touch stones or other abrasive elements laterally. In this case, you will surely need shoes with less protection but that are more adapted to running at fast and reactive rates.
The level of protection is completely different in both cases.
