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On my second pair of Altra runners after reading about them here. The toe box suits me perfectly. However the lack of heel drop isn't great for a toe runner like me and the latest pair (Olympus) aren't faring well as my heel ups and wears the inside.
So I'm looking for a brand that does a trail runner with a well cushioned forefoot a decent heel drop as well as the roomy toe box.
Any suggestions?
Topo?
I'm loving the new VJ Ultra 3's.
I was going to suggest Topo too. Inov8's new wide sizing should also work.
the latest pair (Olympus) aren't faring well as my heel ups and wears the inside.
Is the heel lift thing more about heel fit with the Altra last rather than drop per se? I appreciate that the two aren't completely unconnected, but my experience with outdoor footwear is that the relationship between forefoot volume and heel fit varies a lot from brand to brand depending on the last they use - a'last' btw is a wooden or plastic 'foot' which each individual shoe or boot is built around rather than just another word for 'fit'.
Brands have their own lasts based on what shape they've decided their typical user's foot shape is, though they may vary across the range based on the type of shoe or boot.
Quite often a last with a lot of forefoot volume will also assume a wider heel, but in real life, quite a lot of people have a narrow-ish heel and a broad forefoot, so you need a brand with a last that matches your foot basically. The best way of finding that, annoyingly, is to go and try lots of different options at an actual bricks and mortar, specialist retailer.
I know more about general outdoor brands than running ones, but the principles are pretty much the same. I don't think heel drop in itself will ever prevent heel movement within the shoe if the fundamental heel fit is wrong for your foot.
Man blathering about lasts in adidas factory:
I have no idea why the vast majority of shoes aren't shaped like feet
My requirements are the same as yours -- a nice wide toebox with some heel rise, and the options are very limited so far as I can tell
Topo are the best I think, really good
Altra do actually do two shoes with 4mm drop now (Experience Wild or something is the offroad one)
I'm trying to favour non-US companies now, and that makes this really hard.
Inov8 do make some of their shoes with a wide foot-shaped toebox, but it's not as easy to tell which as it used to be. These are examples that could work:
https://www.roadtrailrun.com/2021/03/inov-8-trailfly-ultra-g-300-max-review.html
https://www.roadtrailrun.com/2024/04/inov-8-trailyfly-multi-tester-review-9.html
Another Topo fan here, I found Altra way to big around the heel and mid foot. The 5mm drop on my mtn racers is a pretty good compromise between a traditional running show and a true barefoot style.
Another thing you could try (if you haven't already) is to try a set of superfeet or similar insole with a decent arch support. This will help to lock the foot back in the shoe and stop the heel lifting. It'll also give a bit more space around the toes, especially when going downhill!
I have no idea why the vast majority of shoes aren't shaped like feet
Do you mean 'like your feet'? Joking aside, the majority of brands make shoes which, in their estimation, match a typical / average / whatever foot. If your feet fall outside those parameters - very wide / narrow / wide forefoot and narrow heel / high volume / bunions etc - then you'll probably find it more difficult to find shoes that fit. Feet are lots of different shapes, widths, volumes, proportions etc.
I have no idea why the vast majority of shoes aren't shaped like feet
Do you mean 'likeyourfeet'?
It seems to me that most shoes are way pointier and more tapered than most feet. I've been meaning to look into the history of this as I assume there is just some long term (fashion?) reason why shoes are the shape they are, and this has come to influence sports shoes even though fashion shouldn't count there.
Perhaps with things like fell running a narrow squished fit is appropriate, maybe with cycling racing shoes too.
This may have some insight:
Inov8 do make some of their shoes with a wide foot-shaped toebox, but it's not as easy to tell which as it used to be
It should be easier now. They used to have a width scale 1-5 and different models had randomly different rating. Now all models (I do t actually know it's all, but the ones I'm interested in) have Wide and a Precision variation.
Thanks for the tips. To avoid spending a whole day out shopping (which I loathe) I followed up some of the suggestions here and ordered some Topo Ultraventure 4.
I've been wearing custom orthotics for 20 years and my latest set are pretty knackered but the podiatrist gives me the shits and charges a fortune so I also got some high arch Superfeet to try out... They cost about 1/10th of my normal orthotics so are worth a go.
Hope to try them both out tomorrow.
I bought some topo terraventure 4’s recently and they’re great. Not as flexible and thin in the sole as my barefoot shoes are, but super comfy and spacious for walking/ hiking and trail running (what I bought them for).
Just out of interest, have you tried the heel-lock lacing with the Altras?
I use both Altra and Topo shoes, and with the heel-lock lacing it holds my heel really nicely in back of the shoe and I get hardly any movement. So much so that I don't tend to get my feet slipping forwards in the shoe even when running down steep downhills.
Thanks for that suggestion I'd never heard of such a thing. Looks like I could benefit from it. There's no way I have spare lace so I will have to try changing the lacing to high arch and heel lock patterns.
I only started using heel-lock lacing when I was shown it by someone in a running shop when I was moaning about one of the manufacturers changing how they made one of their shoes... it naturally had a snug upper but roomy toebox.
The guy the suggested I try the Altras but the heel fit wasn't right. So he did the fancy lacing and it was pretty much instantly perfect as I could control... I reckon I probably now use slightly larger shoes too, giving my toes loads of room to wiggle around, and don't find any slippage at all.
Good luck with it...
I’m using heel lock for the first time with the topos, it wasn’t too bad before but feels much more secure now
Thanks for that suggestion I'd never heard of such a thing. Looks like I could benefit from it. There's no way I have spare lace so I will have to try changing the lacing to high arch and heel lock patterns.
There are loads of different ways to lace shoes, it's worth doing a quick Google for them. I always heel-lock mine with the "mickey mouse ears" pattern, for example.
Yes indeed I went searching to work out the heel lock and found this.
Big fan of Asics Trabuco, but the normal not the Max for trail running, and can be had at a decent price on sportshoes.com
Finally got the first run in. One hour of techy muddy rocky slipfest.
Very impressed. My only concern with them was the relatively tame looking sole not being grippy enough. But they were fine.
