Running Mania

My toes were hammering against the front of my shoe on trail runs (downhill!), found this on the internets claiming to fix that problem!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... 3Du71GEH6s

Anyone try this?

Long story short: you use the extra holes at the top of the shoe to make crazy loops then tie the loops together when you're doing your laces...

jono

That's the "heel lock" or "lace lock" tying.
I thought everyone did that on their running shoes.

Jwolf wrote:That's the "heel lock" or "lace lock" tying.
I thought everyone did that on their running shoes.

I had no idea! I've only been running for a decade haha.

jono

Jwolf wrote:That's the "heel lock" or "lace lock" tying.
I thought everyone did that on their running shoes.

It's probably more common for women with narrow heels.

I've heard of it but don't do it. My Sportivas keep my heels in place via their design awesomeness.

I've only ever had problems on trails (with the steep hills/etc), and mostly I just let my toenails go to toenail heaven and shrug it off...

... but I'm doing a 50k this fall, and that seems like a bad strategy.

I'll have to try it next run.

jono

Do people really tie their shoes that tightly? I like to wear mine loosely, leaving just enough lace to tie double knots.


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not too tight, but I wouldn't want loose shoes on trails... I'd get too much dirt and other gunk in them.

I work at the Running Room and show people how to do this all the time.


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marymac442 wrote:

Jwolf wrote:That's the "heel lock" or "lace lock" tying.
I thought everyone did that on their running shoes.

It's probably more common for women with narrow heels.

Yup. All my shoes are laced that way.

My feet go numb if I tie my laces too tightly, but for running on trails I don't want my feet moving around in my shoes, so I tie them a bit more snugly.

RobW wrote:Do people really tie their shoes that tightly? I like to wear mine loosely, leaving just enough lace to tie double knots.

If I don't do the heal lock I often get blisters because my heels slip up and down.

I never do that and even if I wanted to, I'd have to go buy different laces because I would never have enough length to do it with the laces that come in my shoes. The beauty of a wide wedge shaped foot, LOL.

As for tightening, I keep my laces pretty loose in the mid foot. I will tend to tighten them up a fair bit more at the very top right before I tie them though. I never pull "up" on the laces, I pull "sideways" on them. When I do that, it seems like it just locks in the upper most part of the shoe without really tightening the rest of the laces down on my mid foot. It gives a nice locked down feel without really compressing the rest of my foot.

Jwolf wrote:

RobW wrote:Do people really tie their shoes that tightly? I like to wear mine loosely, leaving just enough lace to tie double knots.

If I don't do the heal lock I often get blisters because my heels slip up and down.

I got around that by using double-layer socks... I like my laces loose, otherwise I seem to get all kinds of little aches and pains in my feet.

Took a closer look at my trail shoes - they don't have the heal lock fancy holes! They have weird laces though (Solomon Speedcross) - tiny cord with a slider thing. I guess if I go tighter I should be able to prevent the slippage... got to mess with it.

jono

Tightening up my shoes helped, even without fancy laces. I like loose shoes but I guess for downhill it isn't the right way to go.

jono

I've tried that heel lock method and never got to like it. It seems like the laces are often too short to do that and make a good bow. However, sometimes I run the laces through the extra pair of holes in the regular way--seems to help lock down the heel, too.

Avis wrote:I've tried that heel lock method and never got to like it. It seems like the laces are often too short to do that and make a good bow. However, sometimes I run the laces through the extra pair of holes in the regular way--seems to help lock down the heel, too.

I'll do that if I need to lock things down more. I skip the second to last hole and lace normally using the last hole (my laces always seem too short to use both holes) and it seems to work just fine.

I used the lacing technique to take the pressure off the bunion area on my foot as the shoe was a bit too tight! I've used the lock method in the past (when I first started running). These are great suggestions.