Choosing durable trail running shoes

 Choosing durable trail running shoes

The durability of mountain running shoes is very important, especially for economic reasons.

Mountain running shoes are subjected to much harsher conditions than road running shoes. They take bumps and scrapes for hours.

- Choosing durable trail running shoes and products

How many kilometers does a trail running shoe last?

It is difficult to say, it can be considered a good duration around 600 or 800 km for an ultra trail shoe.

Other more specific shoes for fast competitions, can last very little, even less than 200 km.

The wear of the shoes is concentrated in very well defined points:

To begin with, the rubber gives the sole . As the kilometers go by, the studs are used up, especially in the heel and toe area, that is, in the landing and take-off zones.

In this photo I show you the sole of the old Saucony Peregrinas 6 (green) and the sole of the newer Saucony Peregrine 7 (orange) before releasing them. As you can see, the Peregrina 6 tacos have already been almost completely consumed.



It is not uncommon to find shoes that offer soles with two different materials, one harder to protect these areas and the other softer in the rest of the sole to give more traction. For example the Akasha, as you can see, the sole has two colors that identify two materials, hard red, soft black



Each sole is designed for a type of terrain , the concept of this design should be respected to guarantee the durability of the sole of the shoe.

The midsole . Step by step, themidsole is compressed and expanded,the quality and quantity of material of the midsole will determine the maintenance of the characteristics over time, mainly the amortization capacity and reactivity.

In reference to this point, the weight of the runner is very important since obviously a midsole will suffer more with a 90 kg runner than with a 70 kilos runner.

The Upper suffers from the rubbing of stones and roots. The upper fabric, for example a mesh, has to be as resistant as possible to guarantee an adequate duration. As a negative effect, a thick and durable fabric could be very hot.

As I have already indicated, the upper has elements that serve to protect the foot and the upper itself, such as heat-sealed ones. The amount of these elements will determine the resistance of the upper.

Attentive! (Again), because these harder elements can represent, in turn,   critical break points since they are areas of union of two different materials a softer tissue and a harder protection that can trigger breaks in the less resistant tissue.

Here again I show you the upper of the old Peregrine 6, as you can see, it has begun to break in the flexion zone of the fingers. Excellent durability, they have stayed like this after many kilometers and having put them through all kinds of quarries.



The duration of the Trail Running shoes will depend on how we will use them. To prolong their life, you have to use them in their natural habitat , that is, use them for what they have been designed.

If you put a shoe with studs and sole designed for mud running on an asphalt road , after not even 100 km you will be able to say hello to your shoes forever. (I already said it, something dies in the soul ... when a friend leaves ...)

The same, if you wear light shoes and without protections to run through a high mountain quarry, in addition to possibly hurting yourself, you could damage your shoes prematurely.