I'm training for an event, it includes running 5 miles on trails. I have just been running in whatever tennis shoes are in the closet, several years old, nothing special, whoever was on the rack at Ross.

I'm probably only doing 20 miles a week, 3-5 miles at a time. I'm a big guy 6'+ 250#+ coming from a heavy weightlifting/power background not endurance. I'm going pretty slow 10:00 pace on concrete, 13:00 on trails.

My feet, knees, shins, hips don't hurt, except normal soreness type stuff.

If I continue to increase loading do I need to be concerned about dedicated footwear for training? I'll likely have to be in boots due to the terrain of the event.

Thanks in advance

UninformedInternetBlogger said:

---

I'll likely have to be in boots due to the terrain of the event.

---

boots? what kind of terrain are you talking about here? I highly doubt boots are needed.

Running cow trails/ ranch roads on a ranch in the hill country. It's what I have done on these in the past, but I have stepped up training.

I have used these for the actual event. https://www.511tactical.com/511-at-mid-boot.html

Just invest in a good pair of trail runners. REI has a good selection at every price point you can imagine:
https://www.rei.com/c/mens-trail-running-shoes

Back in my cross country days I was always partial to Saucony, but that was 30 years ago.

Those seem reasonable. That's not something I had considered.

yes, trail shoes are what you want.

In high school, college, and shortly after I always quit distance running after about a week or two of trying. I did sprints (ran the 100 and 200 in HS) and just assumed I was subject to shin splints and couldn't do distance running. Note, this was just doing one or two miles a few times a week.

After awhile I got fitted and got actual running shoes. Haven't had shin splints since, going on like 8 years, 3 marathons, an Ironman, and several half marathons.

So, for some people, the right shoes can be really important.