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How to Buy the Right Running Shoes

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When it comes to buying running shoes, it’s important to find a pair that fits your specific needs. Here are a few tips for how to buy the right running shoes.

Nike ZoomX Invincible 3 running shoe
Nike ZoomX Invincible 3

Determine your foot type

There are three main foot types: neutral, overpronated, and supinated. Neutral feet have a normal arch and roll slightly inward when running. If this is you, congrats, you have the ideal foot type for running. Overpronated feet have a low arch and roll excessively inward. Supinated feet have a high arch and roll outward.

Knowing your foot type will help you choose a shoe with the right level of support. Bring an old pair of shoes (even if you don’t run in them) to a running shop and have the staff take a look. They can also analyze your stride to determine the best shoe for you. You don’t need to know anything about running, trust the experts!

Look for a shoe that fits well

Running shoes should fit snugly but not be too tight. You want to leave some space between your big toe and the front end of the shoe. This is to give your foot room during your stride, but also account for your foot getting bigger as you run longer. Additionally, make sure the shoe is comfortable to walk in and doesn’t rub or cause any discomfort. A shoe that is too small can cause blisters or even damage to your foot.

Consider the surface you’ll be running on

Different shoes are designed for different surfaces, such as road, trail, or track. Road shoes have a harder sole and are made for running on pavement. Trail shoes have a more aggressive tread and are designed for running on dirt or gravel. Track shoes are lightweight and have a flatter sole for running on a track, and may even include spikes on the bottom. It’s usually a good idea to start with a road shoe and go from there.

Think about your running style

If you’re a heel striker (when your heel hits the ground first in your stride) like me, look for a shoe with more cushioning in the heel. I tend to wear down the outsole in the heel area first, to finding a shoe with cushion and lots of rubber on the bottom (like the Nike Invincible) is a good idea. If you’re a midfoot or forefoot striker, look for a shoe with more cushioning in the front of the shoe. Most shoes are designed with mid or forefoot strikers in mind.

Try on multiple shoes

Don’t be afraid to try on multiple pairs of shoes to find the best fit and comfort for you. It’s also important to note that different brands and styles may fit differently, so it’s always a good idea to try a few different options. If a store allows you to take your shoes out for a run around the block, do it! The best way to gauge the comfort of your running shoes is to actually run in them. A shoe might feel great while walking the aisles of a store, but they can feel completely different while running.

These are a few of my recommendations for how to buy the right running shoes. Be sure to subscribe to The Fresh Brew Run Club on YouTube for tips, shoe reviews, weekly running vlogs and so much more, all from the perspective of an average runner. Also check out my previous reviews. Happy running!

How to build a treadmill at home

freshbrewstaffLeave a comment

In a DIY, workout from home world, here’s how to build a treadmill.

Some helpful advice for figuring out how to build a treadmill at home.

How to build a treadmill

How to Build a Treadmill Step 1: Arrival

The treadmill will arrive at your house at the most inconvenient time possible. The crew will take a single glance at your door and claim the treadmill won’t fit and they can’t bring it inside. The crew will note “be careful with that computer” and point in a vague direction of the box. It’s unclear what they are referring to, but it sounds fragile. More on this later. The crew leaves, off to the next delivery, and you’re stranded with an overwhelming sense of panic.

Step 2: Getting it Inside

You are forced to bring it in yourself, which involves opening the box on your porch in sub-freezing temperatures and calling an unlucky friend to lug the individual pieces into your house. You’ll probably scrape the wall, but it’s ok, you don’t plan on staying in your house forever.

Step 3: Unboxing

Once the main pieces are in your house and you’ve shooed away your friend, you must unbox and unwrap the rest of the treadmill. You go piece by piece until you make a devastating discovery. The hardware package contains not one, but two allen wrenches. Some historians estimate that the screw was invented in 400 BC and the bolt appeared sometime around 1400 AD, but those two inventions and the thousands of subsequent improvements and tools to use them were apparently missed by the treadmill company, who chose to use the same hardware as a $9 mass produced cardboard Swedish end table. Get a towel for the bloody knuckles in your future.

Step 4: Organizing

After unboxing everything, the room will look like a refrigerator factory exploded, but this is normal. Separate all the parts into random piles so you have enough room to walk around without taking a metal part to the shins.

Step 5: Get an Engineering Degree to Read the Directions

You might want to take a quick pitstop, enroll in a local university and spend four years studying engineering in order to fully understand what the directions are telling you. Because without years of training, many decisions in the construction process will simply come down to best guesses and hoping for the best.

Step 6: Regret

You will eventually get to a point where you regret this entire endeavor, as the project is now getting the best of you. What even is the point of running anyway? Might as well take up something like bird watching or stamp collecting, both of which do not involve directions in 413 languages

Step 7: This Part Doesn’t Fit

At some point during the install, you’ll realize that a part just doesn’t fit. After frustratingly trying to attach and re-attach the part, you’ll take to the internet to discover that many people before you have faced the same solution. And the best conclusion is simply to deal with the fact that the part just doesn’t quite fit right. “It won’t hurt the structural integrity of the treadmill,” one commenter on Reddit will tell you. So grab a hammer and smash those parts together.

Step 8: Become an IT professional

Remember that computer the delivery guys told you about? Well it’s not so much a computer, but rather some kind of Android tablet that needs to be activated once you power up the treadmill. This includes a very slow hardware update, connecting to wifi and logging in to your treadmill brand’s website to activate. You know, how everyone loves to start a run. After divulging your deepest personal derails in the registration process, you are ready to run.

Step 9: Turn on Treadmill

After the construction and setup, flip the switch and listen to the sweet hum of success, as your new treadmill is ready to go. Just keep an eye on that left handrail, it’s pretty loose. Maybe even grab a new pair of shoes for the run. I recommend the Nike Pegasus Turbo. Happy running!