so this post is about that.
last year i put screws in my shoes that were near death. then i ran in those for the duration of the winter in 2013 and tossed them at the end of the season... no harm no foul. worked great, costs pennies, and is easy peasy lemon squeezy. here's how you can do it too:
i used 3/8" hex screws which i bought from home depot for a little over a buck a bag. i think there were 8 in a bag so i bought two bags. there are several "how to's" out there where a lot more screws are used but i found that seven per shoe were enough for me. i placed the screws near the outside of the shoe (see image) so that i wasn't actually landing on them, and that is where it seemed the shoes were the thickest. i recommend trying this before going out and spending $$ on yak traks or some other device that might not work as well, might be heavier than you expect, and certainly won't be as cheap. also... it is notable that i didn't lose any screws on a couple hundred winter miles in 2013. i believe that it is common place to lose some at some point so i'm pretty happy that i didn't lose any. i think this is because i didn't pre-drill the holes. i just screwed the screws in, and while it might have been a little more difficult to get them in the shoes i think it's why they didn't fall out all winter.
seven screws per shoe
 |
| my friend jeff's various screw patterns in different shoes |
5 comments:
I think putting screws in my shoes would really cause me problems for my winter running. I'm pretty sure it'd damage the treadmills at my gym.
I'm fascinated by your shoe screws! I'm not a fan of winter running due to all the slipping and sliding but maybe trying this method will help. Do you just put the shoes where you want or is there a specific pattern that you follow?
i'm pretty sure you'd get kicked out of your gym for that!
the top shoe picture are my shoes from last year. i will follow that same pattern this year as it worked great for me. i went along the outside of my shoes where the foam was the thickest and my foot strike wasn't. the other picture is my friend jeff's shoes. as you can see he uses a different method on all of his different shoes. i think you just have to figure out what works for the shoes you have and what will be comfortable. i found that it wasn't comfortable running on pavement so much as it was on snow and trails. if there wasn't a significant amount of snow/ice then it wasn't worth it to wear the shoes with the screws in them. if you google "screw shoes running" you will get a few tutorials. it's pretty common in the trail running community to do it this way.
Thanks for the tips! That's good to know about pavement running since that's where I do my miles. Usually there is not much snow left - mostly just the leftover ice factor.
Post a Comment