The Ascent Journal

Running shoe research is a black box to some degree. Researchers put the shoe on a runner’s foot and have them run. Then, we measure some things while they run. In one sense, you can still argue that the results of this kind of research is useful and well controlled. Through a different lens, by changing the shoe, we’ve changed several things at once. A recent paper proposes one way to think more clearly about what might be going on inside the black box.

The recent work of Tizian Scharl and his team help clarify how running shoes affect female running form. Their 2024 paper is a one-hundred-and-seventeen page clinic on the form changes running shoes cause for female runners.

Super shoes have taken over elite road and tracking running in the decade since they first emerged with Nike’s invention of the Vaporfly 4%. One category of runner that hasn’t gotten the same boost that everyone else got when super shoes appeared: trail runners. Research on trail running can be hard to do. Simulating rock and switchbacks on a treadmill in a laboratory poses some readily apparent challenges. Two recent studies provide some answers though.

If you’ve run long enough, you already know this: your feet at mile 5 are not the same feet at mile 45. After a series of races that absolutely trashed my feet, I decided to dig into what's actually happening during long efforts. How do blisters really form? Why does a shoe that feels fine in training fall apart on race day? What actually matters when picking the right fit?

Race-Day perspectives from Shae Rhinehart, Robbe Reddinger, and Coach Greg illuminate the experience of JFK 50 for future runners

Running-related overuse injuries remain a plague on the sport, sidelining some 20% of runners for at least a few days each training block. Shoe manufacturers and running retailers have worked with clinicians (podiatrists, physical therapists, etc.) to help runners and walkers alike find a footwear solution that will keep them free from injury. With the advances in shoe design and materials science over the last decade, what should we know about footwear's injury-reducing c

What some of the latest developments in running footwear might mean for all of our success in the sport. I grew up with the barefoot...