High-Tech Help? The Running Shoes of the Future

Excerpted from
The Cutting-Edge Runner: How to Use the Latest Science and Technology to Run Longer, Stronger, and Faster
By Matt Fitzgerald

Running shoe technology has improved markedly in the past several years, and we can expect that it will continue to improve. What will the running shoes of the future look like?

I got a taste of the future when I did some work for an upstart (and now defunct) running shoe company called Britek. This company was founded on an innovative energy return system for running shoes created by a runner and inventor named Brian Russell. Unlike traditional running shoes, the midsole of Russell's shoe used no foam, gel, or air. Instead, it was made of three independent hard plastic chambers-located at the heel, forefoot, and toes-with a highly elastic rubber coating stretched tightly over them.

When your foot lands in one of these shoes, the impact force and your body weight stretch the rubber membrane into the chambers, trapping energy in the form of tension. As your foot rolls forward and lifts, the tension is released in the form of energy (or "thrust") traveling in the same direction as your foot. As a result, your foot actually spends less time on the ground and leaves the ground with more force.

The chambers are positioned and shaped in such a way that even the energy produced by the lateral motion of your foot is trapped and redirected to provide lift and forward thrust. This corrects biomechanical deficiencies and prevents further energy loss in the form of dissipation.

Britek running shoes looked a lot more like a foot than a conventional running shoe, and perhaps it's no coincidence that Brian Russell used to do much of his running barefoot. Laboratory testing of the shoes confirmed that they did in fact provide superior energy return, and the elite athletes who tried them, including three-time Olympic marathoner Lorraine Moller, gave them the thumbs-up (I never got to try them myself). Unfortunately, this was not enough to allow Britek to succeed in the absurdly competitive running shoe market.

Nevertheless, better energy-return technology is a feature we are certain to see in running shoes to come. Shoe developers around the world are working feverishly to develop these technologies. One that is already on store shelves is the WaveSpring, a metal spring system embedded in the midsole of Spira brand running shoes. Testing indicates that it works reasonably well, and in fact, USA Track and Field has outlawed it in its events.

The running shoes of the future are also likely to be a lot less shoe than those of today. They will have less cushioning material (but not at the expense of impact absorption) and be lower to the ground, lighter, and more flexible. In short, they'll be a lot more like running barefoot. Nike recently created a minimalist running flat called the Mayfly that weighs just 4.8 ounces. While this in itself was a fine technical achievement, the Mayfly does not offer much cushioning or stability, and indeed it is designed to fall apart after 60 miles of racing use. The promise of the future is shoes with Mayfly weight along with cushioning and stability that match or exceed those of today's best trainers.

Scientists, doctors, and engineers are also working on better ways to custom fit shoes to various types of runners. Tim Noakes, M.D., professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, has already developed a prescriptive system with existing shoe models that he uses in his clinic in South Africa. But the system of the future will be more sophisticated and will probably affect how all running shoes are made and sold. The idea is to classify half a dozen or so shoe types, at least one of which works well for every runner. The next step is to identify the structural and biomechanical characteristics of runners that match up with a particular shoe type.

Once this system is in place, you will be able to learn your shoe type through a simple analysis and ultimately shop by that type-or at least until something changes in your foot and body structure or biomechanics. For example, instead of telling your salesperson you're a size 9, you might find yourself saying something like, "I'm a class C, size 9."

Adidas recently took customization in a different direction with its "1" running shoe, which contains a computer chip. The chip reads the wearer's impact characteristics and uses the data to make appropriate adjustments to the midsole firmness. It's a nice idea, but there are two problems. First, the chip has no use after the first 50 or 60 strides, because it can gather all the information it can possibly use with this small amount of usage. There's no need to wear a chip-containing shoe all the time. I think such shoes should be used only prescriptively. Second, running shoes really must be customized to the runner at the structural level. Fine-tuning the stiffness of the midsole is no help if the unchangeable structural characteristics of the shoe are not a good match to the wearer. That said, I have no doubt that we'll soon see a day when computerized shoes are used prescriptively in stores to help determine the best type of shoe for your stride and biomechanics.

Key Points

• People are designed to run barefoot. In the modern world, we have little choice but to run in shoes most of the time. But we can minimize and work around the inherent drawbacks of shoes.

• Comfort is your best guide in shoe selection. The more comfortable a shoe is, the better it will perform in your everyday running.

• You can limit the tendency of shoes to weaken your feet and reduce their proprioceptive capacity by doing such things as running barefoot on safe surfaces and performing balancing exercises.

• Custom shoe orthotics successfully treat about 60 percent of the running injuries for which they are prescribed.

• All running surfaces are not equal. Consequently, the ideal shoe for running on grass is seldom the ideal shoe for running, say, on asphalt.