Where Can I Buy Altra Running Shoes
In addition, Altra shoes feature Zero Drop technology, which helps keep your feet grounded during the entire running motion. This reduces the impact on your legs and lower body, helping to prevent injuries.
where can i buy altra running shoes
The heel of the shoe sits flush with the forefoot, so there is no difference in height from heel to toe. You may not even be aware that your current traditional running shoes are raised slightly higher at the heel than at the toes.
Studies show that the traditional running shoe has changed the way humans run. Now, more than ever, people tend to run with a heel strike, likely due to the rise in the heel of traditional running shoes.
In just over ten years since its inception in 2011, Altra has evolved from an entrepreneurial start-up to one of the top-selling trail shoe brands, with a loyal following on the roads as well. Denouncing traditional shoe design from the outset, the upstart company has earned its place by building running shoes that look, feel and ride differently. Here are 10 facts you might not know about the brand.
The founders chose the name Altra to denote the idea of alternative, and from the beginning they have delivered just that: a different way of thinking about running shoe design. Prior to Altra, most running shoes were built with narrow toe boxes and a 10 to 12 millimeter drop sloping from the heel to the forefoot. Altra created shoes that had the same stack height under the heel as they have under the toes. This zero-drop concept (a term the Altra founders created and popularized), provides a level platform underfoot, encouraging a naturally-balanced stride.
Hawk passed his love of running and running shoes to his son Golden, who started working at the family store as a 9-year-old. At age 10, Golden ran his first marathon in an eye-popping 3:08. A true running prodigy, he went on to set the world-best marathon time for a 12-year-old of 2:45:34 in 1994. He won two Utah high school cross-country championships (in all, Golden, his mom, and his siblings won 25 high school state championships), and became an All-American collegiate runner for Brigham Young University. He and Beckstead, the latter of which ran collegiately at Utah Valley University, both found success in ultra-distance trail races in their 20s and 30s.
A sufficiently wide toe box to accommodate natural toe splay is one of the most important of these key design features built into Altra shoes. Most conventional running shoes have a tapering toe box, or a toe box that gets narrower from the ball of the foot to the ends of the toes. But the toe box of Altra shoes is widest at the ends of the toes, where you need the width the most. I really love this feature of Altra shoes because it allows me to wear my Correct Toes toe spacers inside my running shoes, which keeps my toes aligned properly and foot free of injuries.
What I find really great about Altra running and walking shoes is that they can be used with other beneficial natural footgear to encourage lasting foot and toe health. Products that work great with Altra shoes include Correct Toes, Injinji toe socks, and Pedag metatarsal pads. Using this combination with Altra shoes can help you achieve optimal foot health, prevent common athletic injuries, and allow you to perform at the top of your game.
I think that Altra athletic shoes are among the first of their kind to truly respect normal and natural foot and toe anatomy and help prevent lower extremity joint and soft tissue problems. Altra shoes have the classic look of a conventional running shoe, but they also have a lot of new features that set them apart from other brands and companies, including that incredible toe box and completely flat support platform. Wearing Altra running and walking shoes is a comfortable and constructive way restore or preserve your foot and toe health, and I definitely recommend these shoes to anyone looking to combine athletic performance with foot comfort and health.
Altra Running, commonly known as Altra, is an American manufacturing company engaged in the design, development, marketing, and sales of athletic shoes for road running, trail running, and general footwear.[7] Since 2018 Altra is owned by VF Corporation, an American global apparel and footwear company with other brands like Icebreaker, The North Face, Vans, JanSport, Eastpak and Timberland.[8]
Golden Harper cut up and altered different brands of running shoes to design a better performing shoe, which was later named "Zero Drop." The name refers to the lack of height differential between the shoe's heel and toe area.[11]
Golden Harper, founder of the company, noticed that the stride and gait of barefoot runners changed when the runners wore traditional running shoes.[14] He suspected that the heel height of most running shoes was too high as compared to the height of the mid-foot or toe.At this time, Harper was working at his father's shoe store called "Runner's Corner", in Orem, Utah and he began modifying traditional running shoes by cutting them open, removing padding from the heel, and then using a toaster oven and glue to put the shoes back together.[15]
Harper recruited local runners and store employees to test out prototype shoes where the heel and forefoot were the same distance from the ground. The design proved to allow a more natural running experience where footfalls are in the mid to forefoot area instead of the more typical heel strike. Harper called this design "Zero Drop".[14]
Word spread about these hacked shoes among the local running community, and Harper began selling them from his father's store. He commissioned a local cobbler to make 1,000 pairs, but soon sold out.[10] After failing to interest established footwear companies, Harper took the idea for the shoe to venture capitalists and former Nike designers. The shoe quickly went from a back room operation to an established brand with international production. Altra first entered the North American market in 2011, and won the Runner's World Magazine's 2012 Editor's Choice Best Debut award.[16] By September 2013, Altra Footwear was at 300 percent annual growth rate and opening in 25 to 30 new markets.[11]
Unlike running shoes that position the heel above the foot, Altra shoes employ balanced cushioning, which aligns the heel and forefoot. Altra is the only shoe to have total Zero Drop cushioning, promoting high impact and natural anatomical movement as opposed to a strained heel-landing gait. Another study in the Journal of Sport and Health Science shows a lower risk of injury reported for "forefoot strikers" (runners who strike the ground with the front of their foot first) as opposed to "rear-foot strikers." The Zero Drop running shoe technology facilitates forefront striking guidance--improving running technique--and thereby preventing injury. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services suggests that increased toe room is an essential feature for fitness shoes--for people of all ages.
Altra may very well make the best running shoes for men as well, but since Altra shoes for women include a host of gender-specific technology, they're naturally serious contenders in any "best in class" list. Altra's FIT4HER initiative resulted in the first running shoe designed specifically for female anatomy. Altra women's shoes include narrow heels and mid-foot, higher steeps, and extended arches. Altra separates their line of women and mens running shoes, making shoes such as their women's trail running shoes, easy to find and understand. Studies suggest that women might have increased risk factors while running, compared to men, because of comparatively weak peak breaking force (PBF) and anatomical differences. Since Altra's womens shoes are designed to fit female feet, they reduce these risk factors, promoting a healthy gait.
Rock plates line the sole of the shoe, providing stability, comfort, and protection when rocks, sticks, and other debris might be underfoot. Altra has the shoes for every running adventure, including Altra trail shoes, such as Altra Lone Peak. But if you're looking for a road running shoe, Altra Escalante may be the perfect choice. Pair these shoes with running apparel--such as running jackets, running shorts, and running shirts--from your favorite brands.
Altra has two distinctive features which are they zero-drop and the foot shaped toe box. The foot shaped toe box is wider than traditional running shoes, which allows for a natural toe splay. The zero-drop is something that is distinctive to Altra, which means the shoes are the same height under the heel as the toe. Both of these innovations are designed to mimic the natural movement of the feet, so the body learns how it is supposed to work, which helps to prevent injuries.
For a triathlete, finding the perfect running shoes for both events and training can be an overwhelming task. With so many options and variations of shoes, how do you know which is most suitable for you?
Altra calls their lug design "Trailclaw." They attempt to align the lugs in the front with the metatarsals to create responsive traction under your forefoot. This design is quite effective on loose dirt and mud, digging in right where we wanted, especially while running uphill. On rock, this shoe felt very slippery and paled in comparison to more aggressive shoes like the Salomon Speedcross 5. Often, softer rubber grips smooth rock relatively well, but this shoe's Maxtrac rubber doesn't feel very grippy, and we thought twice before tackling short, scrambly sections of trail at full speed.
Again if they fit, these shoes are very comfortable. Even if they don't fit that well, they still feel very comfortable when standing or walking around. The combination of a cushioned midsole and the factory insoles feels remarkably soft underfoot. Altra is all about the foot-splay, and the forefoot of the Lone Peak 5 has loads of room for expansion. But, if they are too wide for your foot, they won't feel comfortable to run in at all, as the torsional forces experienced by your feet while running will have these shoes moving and rubbing in multiple problem areas, including the Achilles. 041b061a72