Things No One Tells You About New Running Shoes

I’ve been running for about 6 years now, and I’m on my 4^th pair of new running shoes. The first three pairs have all been a newer version of the original model. My most recent pair, I changed models. Not only models, I changed brands. And let me tell you, I’ve never felt anything like it. So, for any new runners, or people like me who have never changed shoes before, here are some things people don’t tell you when you change running shoes and things you should know before you change your running shoes. At least things I think you should know/ wish I’d known.  

Before I start my list, I just want to go over a few basics. I’ve been running a while, I know what normal feels like for me. I also know my running style, and bought shoes that are supposed to offer the support that style requires, so none of my issues are from having the wrong shoes. And I was healthy and without injury at the start of this new shoe journey. I feel like that sentence alone is quite telling of what’s to come.  

Prior to getting new shoes 

Prior to my new shoes, I was running roughly 20 miles a week over 5 runs. Two speed workouts, 2 recovery runs, one of which was shorter, the other a more mid distance. And then one long run. I was working my way through a half marathon training plan, and I’d reached the point where the long run was 8/9 miles. Just for reference, speed runs were done at roughly 6:20 a mile for intervals over 1 minute, 6 minutes for less than that. Steady paced runs 5km or less were done somewhere around the 7:55-8 minutes mark, and longer runs were about 8:15 a mile. Again, I feel this is indicative of what’s to come here.  

Things I wish I knew about getting new running shoes  

It’s PAINFUL 

And by painful, I mean PAINFUL. I don’t want to go into too much detail about this, but when I was 13, I started to experience hip pain. It got to the point I couldn’t walk for more than a couple of minutes, had to sit down after doing a flight of stairs. After two years of appointments, I finally found out that my hips were full of stress fractures (they were too small to show up on x-rays so my doctors didn’t believe me – it was a fun time). But when I finally had an MRI, they established I had very low bone density in my hips, which resulted in hardly had any solid bone in either hip as the fractures had been developing for so long.  

The pain I experienced running in my shoes was the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to that pain in the 13 years since. The first mile or so of each run was so painful it felt like my bones were breaking. Some days it was the ankle, the next the knee, some days the hip, some beautiful days it was all three. After my first mile, it would ease and I’d settle in. But it’s excruciating. And it took 3-4 weeks of 4-5 runs a week for this not to happen. I’m currently 6 weeks in, and it’s only in the last 10 days or so that I can say there’s been no pain at all.  

UPDATE: I’m now nearly 3 months in and there hasn’t been any pain since the 6 week update.

You won’t recognise yourself 

Whether you’re dealing with high pain levels or not, you won’t feel the same. The support underfoot is different, your shoes haven’t adapted to your weight/ running style yet. Your legs are probably going to feel incredible heavy. And as a result of all of this, your form will probably suffer.  

You’ll have to cut back 

Nothing feels comfortable, your form is out of the window, you’re going to have to cut back and slow down.  

I had to go from a roughly 8 minute mile for a steady paced run back down to 8:20 ish. I’m sure some people still think that’s fast, and while it’s a respectable pace, I was doing 10 mile runs at a roughly 8:10-8:15 pace last summer, so for a 5km run or less, that felt SLOW. I had to run a 5km in two intervals for the first three weeks or so because the pain and discomfort was too much for one go. 5 runs a week became 4 because I needed longer between them to recover. It was a real reality check. Obviously, I’d been running longer/ faster than that just a few weeks before, so knowing that it had nothing to do with my physical health or capabilities was infuriating.  

It’s mentally hard 

So, you were running x amount of miles in x amount of minutes, it was easy. Fast forward two weeks and you can only run half the distance and your mile pace is much slower. It’s a hard pill to swallow. You’re annoyed, frustrated, the runs you used to look forward to are suddenly really hard. It’s painful and you’re achieving less. And being mentally out of the game only makes it harder for your body to physically deliver.  

You need to push through and remind yourself that the person from two weeks ago is still walking on your feet. Or in my case, I needed someone else to tell me that because I was about ready to give up and buy my old shoes again (more on that in a minute). 

Speed runs become your best friend 

I mentioned in my post about becoming  better runner that speed runs were important, but I really started to love them when I was wearing in my new shoes. Why? It’s easier. I know that sounds dumb, we all know that speed runs are harder. But if you’re doing intervals, and the longest you have to run is 5 minutes or so then you get a little rest, that’s a lot easier, right? It’s also one of the only distances you can probably run at your normal pace without experiencing too much pain, so it’s a little boost of reassurance that you’re still capable. 

It does get better 

And it definitely feels like it won’t get better for a long time. I spent weeks sending messages to Sahara, complaining about how uncomfortable everything felt, and how much I was dreading my runs. The result was her constantly telling me she had very similar experiences and I’ll get through it soon. The longer it went on, the less I believed her. And one night I was on the Nike website looking at buying the newer version of my old shoes, fully ready to give up. And my next few runs were the first ones where I felt real improvement. Still not fast enough, still not totally pain free, but better and a lot more comfortable.  P.S. She definitely was right.

One final update, it’s May 22^nd. I just ran my first 10km run in my new shoes. It took a slow (for me) 50 minutes. And I ran 35 minutes, shook my muscles off as they started to feel tight, then ran my final 15. But I felt fine when I was done, I wasn’t totally winded and wasn’t in pain the next day. And a month ago I could barely run 15 minutes without needing to hake my muscles off. It does get easier. I’ve seen some websites claiming that it only takes 2-3 weeks to feel comfortable in new shoes. If that’s your experience, I think you’re very lucky. And if it is taking you longer and you’ve stumbled across this post trying to figure out if you’re the only person in the world who has to work harder at this, you’re not. Have faith. It will be fine. Unless you’ve bought the wrong shoes for your running style, then you really need to stop before you injure yourself… 

Have you ever gone through running hell trying to wear your new shoes in? Or do you have anything else to add to my list?  

Until next time, 

Sophie 

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