The blurb:
As any runner knows, choosing the right shoes is crucial for comfort and injury prevention. Most specialist runners’ stores, such as Sweatshop, offer a free ‘gait analysis’, where your running style is assessed in order to determine what type of trainers will give you the right level of support.
The process:
Sales assistant Joe Headland talks me through the process, which starts with customised insoles. He heats up a pair before moulding them to the shape of my feet—something I haven’t come across anywhere else but that apparently offers better stability in the shoe.
Then my foot balance is tested to determine my pronation—how the force of impact of each step is distributed as I run. This is affected by the size of the arch, causing either overpronation (when the foot rolls slightly inwards) or supination (outwards), and dictates what kind of running shoe I need.
To begin with, Joe takes pictures of my feet while I stand on a glass box with heat sensors, which shows the shape of my foot arches the same way wet foot prints do. I already knew I have high arches, but the next step of the assessment—the treadmill run—will show how this affects my running style.
Joe picks out a few different shoe styles for me to test, starting with the classic Nike Pegasus. I step on to the treadmill and run for about a minute and a half. Looking at the footage afterwards, it appears that that I am a fairly neutral runner with a slight tendency to overpronate, particularly on the right foot.
I try another two pairs and we then watch the footage of all three test runs displayed next to each other in slow motion, clearly showing how the different types of shoe affect my gait. The best ones turn out to be a pair by Mizuno—the same brand as my old trainers, which were also picked out following a running analysis, so I am fairly certain Joe has got it spot on.
The results:
My new trainers feel great and I can’t wait to rack up some mileage in them over the summer. I may even join Sweatshop’s Running Community, a free-for-all running club that meets several times per week and runs together in various London locations, including Hyde Park.
