Asyou begin to move away from asphalt and try your first trails, you quickly realize that the running shoes you were using until the day before have huge limitations and you feel the need – rightly so – for a dedicated trail running shoe.
The most obvious difference to the naked eye is definitely in the sole but the truth is that the upper and midsole are also often very different between a trail shoe and a road shoe, it is really a different approach.
For goodness sake, let’s get this straight: just as I’ve seen people run a marathon in flip-flops at a pace I can’t even dream of, in the same way I’ve seen people come down from the roughest mountains at breakneck speed in running shoes not even that different from a pair of All Star. All right. The good ones are good all the time. In 2019 Pablo Villa won the TDS-the most technical and hardest of the UTMB races-with a pair of shoes that I would recommend at best for an outing (he later changed sponsors, but that’s another story), but we mere mortals have to deal with our limitations.
What do you have to do with it?
I know, it’s a trivial question, but it’s the first question you have to ask yourself. It is clear that running 20-30 kilometers is quite different from running 80-100 kilometers (yes, if you get into trail running you will see that the distances you are used to on the road will immediately lose meaning). In addition, different types of terrain require different types of shoes; it goes without saying that the Dolomites and the trail around the pond behind the house do not have the same technical difficulties. And then the elevation gain you plan to do. In fact. The elevation gain as a function of distance: 1000m D+ developed over 5km requires a different approach than 1000m D+ developed over 30km.
All purpose
If you’re just starting out, you’ll tell me you want a shoe to do everything, like the famous four seasons tires (not to be confused with hotel chain), like the Levi’s 501s that are good for any occasion. Without purists turning up their noses, I tell you: that’s fine. Then you’ll figure out what you really like, what distances and what terrain, then you’ll buy another pair of shoes (and then another and then another). Trail shoes of this kind are those that most closely resemble road shoes in features and technical characteristics. They naturally have a treaded sole to handle gravel surfaces, but this tread is not deep and the grip is not extreme.For the same reason, the sole compound is not too soft, so it won’t wear out too much if you do some mixed asphalt/offroad outings. The midsole has a good compromise between cushioning and responsiveness, again because we imagine mixed terrain on which to run comfortably. The upper is structured but not overprotected either: no need to add weight and stiffness in a shoe you’re certainly not going to go extreme trails with.
Technical and fast
This is my favorite trail shoe, for what it’s worth. It is a mostly lightweight shoe, suitable for short runs (short for a trail runner, say up to 40-50 km). Taxation is important and aggressive, very technical climbs and particularly challenging descents are expected, grip is essential. In this case, cushioning gives way to responsiveness and the drop is greatly reduced, tending to be around 4 mm: you won’t be doing a lot of “runnable” trails with these shoes, and comfort takes a bit of a back seat. In addition, the upper will not be particularly protected but will wrap the foot so that it is at one with the shoe to increase sensitivity and precision: this sounds like a nonsense (if there are more rocks I want more protection don’t I?) but the truth is that this is a shoe suitable for those who are already experienced, those who know very well where to put their feet, and those who want to feel every roughness of the terrain in order to manage it to their advantage.
It is certainly not the first shoe you will buy. I did and I was very wrong: but it wasn’t the shoe that was wrong, I was wrong (unprepared). A few years and dozens of different shoes later now I have made peace with it.
The slipper
If you plan to run a lot of miles (roughly eighty and up) then you need the so-called slipper. The flip-flop is-obviously-a very very comfortable shoe in which you have to be comfortable from start to finish. It will be your companion and best friend for a decidedly large number of hours, even the slightest discomfort could become unbearable for all those miles. In this shoe, every component-sole, midsole, upper, laces-is devoted to comfort. Moreover, usually the longer the races, the less technical they are, the more kilometers you add, the more likely you are to encounter runnable trails, and the elevation gain, though important, will be distributed throughout the course. I don’t love the flip-flop, it must be said, but it is something each of us discovers after months (years) of running on the trails.
Waterproof or breathable?
Here is the age-old question: chicken or egg? Quality without saving or saving without quality? Personally, I never suggest a waterproof shoe, especially to beginners or those who only need to buy one pair. The GORE-TEX shoe (or other similar technologies) for the same model costs more and weighs more. It tends to be useful in the event of an accidental drizzle or puddle, but once the water has entered (and when it rains in earnest, the water enters through the hole soaking the sock) it risks becoming a death trap because it does not allow the foot to breathe properly. It must be said, however, that giant strides have been made in this area in recent years: if 4-5 years ago I would have been adamant in advising against a waterproof model, in recent months I have tried GORE-TEX models that have really amazed me. The North Face has gone even further, and its FUTURELIGHT fabric is currently unrivaled in terms of breathability for the same amount of waterproofing.
After that, the real world is not made up of such sharp and distinct categories, otherwise where is the fun in it? That’s why I’m about to get on a plane to go to the middle of the ocean to do both a long and technical race. And in such cases what do you do? How do you choose the shoe to use? Imagining that you will hopefully not be going to such a race on your first offroad outing, experience is definitely your best friend. Getting to know each other is essential. Equally crucial, however, is to know in as much detail as possible the terrain you will encounter, so for weeks now I have been studying the route and elevation, watching YouTube videos of the most technical passages, trying to figure out the percentage of rocky and runnable bottoms and, above all, at what kilometer I will find them under my feet.
At this point you put everything into a beautiful spreadsheet, then flip a coin and make your choice: only at the end of the race will you know whether it was the right one or not, in any case it will be a piece of experience for next time, for the next choice.
You will make mistakes-I made so many mistakes, both in the beginning and later-and you will learn.
But that’s okay.
Cover photo by Kirk Thornton on Unsplash