Stuff I Like: Altra Shoes and How They Changed My Running Life
Every once in a while in life you come across a true game-changer. These are products, ideas, theories or strategies that completely change how you see things going forward. For those already rolling their eyes right now, knowing this about a shoe, I hope you at least finish the read before passing judgment.
This is not something I expected. I didn’t go out looking for a solution to a problem. I have enjoyed running since college, where I really started to include it into my weekly fitness around the age of 18. I continued running up through my early thirties, mostly 10k’s and a couple half-marathons before taking an 8 year hiatus, picking it back up a couple of years ago when I turned 40. My weekly mileage is not high, I only run about 15 miles a week, typically broken down into two easy 4 milers and then a 6-7 miler. The long run is in the mountains or on the trails on one weekend, and with a weighted vest on the road the next. It is a schedule that doesn’t burn me out or wear me down and still leaves me feeling good enough any day of the week to add other activities. While I do truly enjoy running, I don’t run just to run, it is a means to an end which for me is strength, cardio, and overall health….and of course, Run & Gun competitions.
The one consistent theme throughout all these years is that I am an overpronator. I am no doctor, which you should keep in mind as you continue to read this article, but being an overpronator basically means when my foot lands it rolls inward. This is actually a fairly rare issue with someone as lightweight as I am, but alas it is there. Every technical running shoe store that has filmed me running comes up with the exact same conclusion: “Overpronator-Severe.” I do not doubt this is the case. When I have attempted to run in shoes not made for overpronators, I have a host of issues such as shin splints, knee, and ankle pain. When I run in the proper shoes, I tend to do OK. To be clear, I don’t need special shoes to walk around in or for any other daily activities, running is the only activity that always required stability shoes, from my 20’s and all the way through my 40’s…well, until now.
I bought my first pair of Altra shoes on November 1, 2019. I remember that day exactly because I was on my way to the Rockcastle Zombie Run and Gun in KY and I stopped by an REI to pick something else up and walked out with a new pair of shoes. At this time, I was attempting to run in Hokas, it was my first try with that brand as well. My intentions for the Altra Superior 4’s was for it to be nothing but a casual shoe with the added thought in the back of my mind that they could help me adjust from my typical 10mm heel shoes to my 4-6mm Hokas. I liked the look, I wanted to see what zero drop was all about and I wanted to try the wider toe-box. My entire life I had run in shoes with a 10mm heel-to-toe drop and I already had read all the horror stories of trying to run in a low-drop shoe if your foot was not used to it. Every athletic shoe, boot, and dress shoe I have ever owned had a high heel-to-toe drop, so I knew better than to try to suddenly start running in a zero drop shoe.
When you first slide inside a pair of Altra’s and stand up, you may feel a sensation like your heal is actually lower than your toes, that is not the case, its just that you are not used to standing naturally while wearing a pair of athletic shoes. The sensation fades very quickly and shortly after you begin to wonder how you ever crammed all your toes in any other shoe and why in the world all other shoes want to force you to lean forward. More on that later.
The Hokas did not work out for me as a running shoe as they really, really hurt my knees on slower paced runs. Possibly the worst knee pain I have experienced, I know a lot of people who swear by Hokas so this is not a knock on them, they just did not work for me. I swapped back to my Saucony Guide 13’s with an 8mm drop and everything cleared up quickly. In the meantime, I was walking around nearly every day and doing CrossFit in the Altra’s. I was really enjoying the wide toe box and the zero drop was great for lifting in the gym. Despite never running in them, I did begin to notice achilles soreness every morning and eventually this turned into outright pain during a series of box jumps one evening.
Despite not wearing the Altra’s running it was clear that my achilles and my calf was not near mobile enough to handle the zero-drop. My entire life, in every shoe I owned I had been walking around with my heel elevated, shortening my calf and achilles and now it was getting stretched out and it didn’t like it. The pain had gotten so bad I could not run or exercise. I was at a crossroads with the shoes I really loved and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do…
Let me go ahead and be very clear, the shoes themselves did not cause this. What caused this is years of wearing shoes with an elevated heel and the subsequent shortening and demobilization of the heel and calf area. God designed us to walk around barefoot, plain and simple. When you are barefoot your achilles is at a right angle with your foot. This is natural. This is how your body properly supports weight. Your body also balances using the muscles in and around your toes. To be effective your toes must be able to spread out. Traditional running shoes allow neither one of these. Why? My guess is aesthetics. Altra shoes have no drop from heel-to-toe, just like being barefoot and the toe boxes are wide enough that all your toes splay out inside naturally. For the full effect, I wear Injinji toe stocks inside my Altras and it basically feels like I am walking around barefoot except with superior protection and cushioning underfoot.
I enjoyed the Altras so much, I decided that no matter how long it took, I was going to retrain my body to accept the zero drop. I believed, it was the most natural way to run, walk and stand. Despite the fact that I never had any intentions of running in them, my long term goal had now been to give that a shot. I had no idea how that would work since these are NOT stability shoes and NOT for overpronators but I had a hunch that since this shoe would force me into a natural gait, things would work out. It was a gamble I was willing to take and it worked out unbelievably.
The first thing I did was take two complete weeks off. Nothing. Nada. This was hard as I had reached a running peak that I had not seen since my 20’s and was very much enjoying it. After two weeks of rest, I started doing eccentric heel drops. Three sets of 15 on one leg, three sets of 15 on the other leg, every morning and every night. 180 reps a day, every. single. day. These drops help stretch the calf and achilles, and for me, it really helped build up muscles all around my foot that had never been worked before since I always performed them barefoot. I made a vow that I would wear nothing but Altra shoes all day and every day during this entire process, for everything. If I wasn’t in Altra’s I was barefoot. I did not want to put on shoes with a high heel-to-toe drop and have my achilles resort back to a relaxed state. I wanted it to get used to being stretched and heal up in that same manner.
After two weeks of the heel-drops, I bought a pair of Altra Escalante 2’s for the road and Timp 1.5s for the trail and I began to run. I started out with a simple plan. 1 min run, day off. 2 min run, day off. 3 min run, day off. If you think it was hard to only run one minute and then stop, you would be correct. I wanted to go through this transition one time, not get halfway into it and realize I pushed too hard and have to start all over. The mental discipline may have been the toughest part of it all.
I continued running every other day increasing my run time minute by minute. After week 4 of the heel-drops, I added a 12 lb vest to the drops to increase the intensity. After week 8, I went to a 20 lb vest. I continued to increase my run time, just 1 minute at a time throughout. I did heel drops without missing a single morning or evening for 14 straight weeks. After 14 weeks, I removed the vest and went back to just once set a day, 15 on the left and 15 on the right, this time mixing in straight and bent leg drops. After 16 weeks, I stopped the drops altogether and also began running in the Altra Torin 4’s. I now consider the Torin’s my road shoe and the Escalante 2’s my workout/crossfit shoe. I prefer the firmer feel of the Escalante’s when lifting and appreciate the extra cushion in the Torin’s while running.
The soreness gradually subsided across the course of the 16 weeks and then went to virtually zero the two weeks after stopping all drops. What was even more amazing was my running. First of all, zero pain, anywhere. Not an ounce in the shin, not an ounce in the knees and now, none in the heel. It also completely eliminated some lower back pain that I had been experiencing intermittently for years. I do zero stretchings before running, but just make sure I warm up slowly on the first few minutes of the jog before pushing the pace. After my run I simply do 30 seconds on each leg with a back knee drop that stretches my calf and achilles. That’s it. How could this be since this is not a stability shoe and I am a severe overpronator? Well, because I don’t overpronate in these shoes. What I had hoped to work, worked.
These shoes prevent you from over-striding. I overpronated before because I was heel striking, out in front of my body. With Altras, you can’t do that, the run will feel very uncomfortable if you attempt it. You run with a shorter stride, directly underneath your body and you land near-exact on the mid-foot. This helps negate inward roll and the toe box allows optimal balance. A wonderful side affect of running in this manner is that your knees flex appropriately and you land very softly. I had never experienced running with such little impact. Additionally once I started back running with a weighted vest, another attribute of the shoes appeared, all back pain while running with a vest was gone. I believe this is because in shoes with a high drop, you are leaned forward and you are supporting that vest out over your hips and centerline with your lower back. Since the Altra’s enforce a strict upright posture with your feet landing directly beneath you, you are able to support more weight much, much easier, and with less strain on your spine and back.
The result of buckling down and deciding I was going to go all-in on the Altra train has been incredibly rewarding. I run in them, I walk in them, I workout in them, I even bought a pair just to destroy messing around in the yard. My body feels like it is working like it was always meant to. My legs feel stronger than ever. They have always been one of the weaker parts of my body but now they feel like solid roots. I thought the calf and quad muscle was one muscle, but the Altras have built my legs up in such a different manner, I now can see those muscles are made up of at least three separate ones. I run 3 times a week and I don’t have to worry about stability or pain. I carry weight while running and it is remarkably easy. What Altra’s did for me was ruin nearly every other shoe company. Does your toe box force my pinky toe in against my others? No thanks. Is your heel elevated so it is like I am walking all day on a decline? No thanks. I don’t believe we were built that way and I refuse to go back.
I said I bought my first pair of Altra’s in November of 2019. I now own 8 pair. I do understand that VF Imagewear purchased the company fairly recently and I see some complaints that they are changing up some of the shoes to provide more widespread aesthetic appeal by shrinking the toe-boxes down and such in shoes like the Timp 2.0 and the new Viho’s. I really hope they do not mess with this wonderful formula. In hindsight, this is how all shoes should have been made to begin with. Why it has taken this long for someone to figure out is beyond me. It is the simple things they do, like building a shoe that works with how you are actually built or making all their trail runners with a system that easily accepts gaitors. The founders Golden Harper and Brian Beckstead didn’t have to be geniuses to figure out how to design the perfect shoe, they just had to be paying attention. I am sure glad they were.
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