What part of your triathlon gear best guarantees you a win? The shoes you wear play the most significant role in your whole race, and for this reason, a majority of triathletes change in between the races for cycling and especially running purposes. With so many shoes and sellers to choose from, the process can be downright confusing and tedious. However, the key factors to consider when choosing a good pair of running shoes will simplify things up for you:
Weight of the shoes
As a triathlete, this should be your primary priority when choosing your running shoes, as the distance you cover can be quite long and tiresome. Too much weight will drain your energy as the strides increase, and subsequently, they will give you slower leg turnover, making you lag behind. To beat this problem, your shoes need to be flexible and lightweight with a minimalist approach.
The shoes can, however, be lightweight and still have you at a disadvantage. You need to ensure that the shoe has other features that offer optimum functionality and performance on top of its lightweight design, such as the material of the shoe. To maintain the general, lightweight design while ensuring durability and comfort, check on the base structure and integrated features that offer good resistance to wear and tear during training.
The style of your feet
To ensure you get optimum performance from your running shoes, the manufacturers, together with experts in the field, came up with a variety of designs of shoes based on the style of your feet in terms of your pronation(this is how your feet roll or position themselves during landing when walking or running) tendencies and arches.
There are three main types of shoes based on these tendencies:
Motion Control Shoes: suitable for runners with severe pronation, often heavy runners.
Stability shoes: Best suits runners that end to pronate moderately or mildly, needing some level of added support.
Cushioning shoes: Designed paramount for biomechanically efficient runners.
Fastening System
Triathlon involves transitions from the three sports with varying distances, making time a limiting factor. To save on this, you need shoes with a quick fastening system such as lace-free shoes, drawstring systems, or speed laces. With these, you do not need to tie your laces, only wear the shoes as fast as possible and adjust the tightness at the end of the drawstring. Who knows, this could just be the spot where you beat your opponents!
Can you wear them without socks?
Breaking a record is all about using the shortest time possible, which could even mean you will not wear socks when transitioning. For this reason, you need shoes that are comfortable even when socks-free. Tri-specific running shoes are being made with inner liners that primarily assist comfortable sockless running. Test them without socks before purchasing them just to be sure.
Moisture-wicking ability
Getting shoes with this fabric will come in handy for your comfort throughout the run. You are prone to sweat when running, and this can make the experience very uncomfortable. Moisture0wicking shoes will help you stay cool through the capillaries that allow the inflow of air and outflow of your sweat. In addition, you might run during light rains and the shoes will do the magic! Did you know that there are running shoes that feature run-off channels for such cases? Moreover, the triathlon involves swimming as well, and this will help your feet dry faster.
So, the material of the inside of your shoes should be fast-drying and be able to eliminate odors on top of preventing you from getting fungal infections
What is your takeaway?
It is worth noting that the correct racing shoe should be very responsive to you as a runner in terms of getting optimal traction and being able to support you as propel all the way. A good triathlon running shoe should be lightweight, moisture-wicking, breathable, comfortable, and easy to fasten. To make your shopping even easier, some websites have a variety of running shoes for men with all the specifications you need, a click away. Thanks to the customer support centers for such sites, you can now get your shoes without having to leave the house for the store.
Note that it is advisable to run during the race with shoes you have been comfortably training in to avoid mishaps.
