So, you've got your pair of running shoes, maybe they're new, maybe you've had them a while and you're kind of wondering to yourself, are these shoes too tight? Or maybe you even wonder, are they too loose? Well, I'm Jesse Funk and on today's episode of Runner's High, we're going to talk about shoe fit and whether your running shoes shouldn't be tight or should be loose.
If you haven't watched any of my other shoe videos on the channel, hit that subscribe button, bottom right-hand corner there, and then go check those out here in a minute. I'll probably link one here at the end of this video. If you haven't watched those you don't know yet, I spent several years working full-time, that's 40 hours a week fitting shoes for people.
That's people that are runners, people that have medical conditions, so this is my forte. I saw people and countless numbers of feet and shoes, figuring out how shoes should actually fit.
The big thing is that if you think your shoes are too tight, they probably are. That was more common than anything I would see. People think they need to be tight, they need to be laced tight, they need to be super snug. The problem is that when you run, your feet actually expand. Yeah, they get bigger, they don't stay the same size because of blood flow.
So, they expand when you're running. You need a little bit of extra room inside that shoe because of that expansion. The kind of sweet spot we're looking for is snug, but not tight, your foot should not feel constricted at all.
Now, if you've been wearing your shoes too tight for a long time, and you get into a proper fitting shoe, it's gonna feel like you're swimming around. It's gonna feel like your feet’s all over the place. That's the most common response I got whenever I got somebody into the correct size and shape shoe is, “Oh, I feel like it's all over the place.”
And I would say, “Just try it out. Promise me you’ll try it out for a week. If it’s a problem, come back.” 99% of the time, they do not come back until they need a new pair of shoes and they say, “Jessie, you're right. My feet feel so much better.”
The other thing is and I talked about this in another video, if your shoes are too tight, you can actually lose toenails in the process of running because you're bashing your toes against the end of the shoe and you lose blood flow and then the nail dies and it falls off, and it's a pretty gruesome scene for your feet to see. The other side of this is that you can go too loose. You can say, okay, I was really tight, now I need this really loose shoe.
That's not right, either. If you have some kind of sensitivity, you have neuropathy or something like that, that's a different consideration all together. That's when you need to see a specialist. You need to see somebody like me or maybe a podiatrist who can fit you specifically for your particular condition.
You can try to do it on your own, but it's always good to get an expert's opinion on how that shoe fits for you when you have some kind of medical condition that involves your feet.
So, now we know the shoes should be snug but not tight. Don't fall into the temptation of wearing shoes too small to race in either, just to try to shave off half an ounce. The half an ounce is not going to make a difference, especially when you're constricting your feet and they're not allowed to work properly.
Wear the proper ?? 03:35> shoe, and then keep in mind, last tip here, when you're fitting the shoes, if you're doing it by yourself, I always recommend going into the local running store. Let them help you. If you're doing it by yourself, figure out which of your feet is bigger.
Yes, you have different size feet, that happens for 99% of people. Figure out which foot is bigger. From there, you want to have about a thumb, that's a thumb's width in front of the top toe when you're standing up. So, hopefully you can touch your toes.
Otherwise, you need the aid of a friend. And that's about the amount of expansion room you need so your feet can get bigger without hitting the end of the shoe. So, that's all I have for you today. I'll probably link into that other video here shortly. So, click on that and stay with me if you want to learn more. I'll see you next time on the next episode of Runner's High.