So, it’s going to be a scorcher in the midwest for races this weekend. Looking at my HIM this weekend and thinking about the last 90+ deg race and how heavy my shoes get from dumping water and ice on myself.
I’m sure it’s been covered before, but I couldn’t find anything. Anybody drill holes in the bottom of their shoes for draining water? Is this something that would work in theory but in reality really doesn’t work that well? I know some show manufacturers have shoes that drain but I’m not going out to buy new shoes.
Maybe not worth the effort, but just thought I’d check.
I still have a pair of Asics Gel Hyperspeed shoes with holes. I’ve dumped water on my head many times but I lean over a bit at the waist before pouring so it doesn’t go down my legs and into my shoes. Running with wet, spongey shoes sucks.
Heavy sweater here…I tried drilling a couple pair of road shoes years ago. Didn’t seem to help much honestly.
**My Skechers Go Trail 3’s have the best damn drainage of any shoe I’ve ever worn. Plus they’re light enough for road races & all over amazon/online for $50-60.
CC
If I have shoes that don’t have holes in them already I will drill them near the balls of my feet where the shoes bend.
3 1/16" holes work well for me.
I know many people don’t have any problem with this but I do and I don’t like to run with my shoes sloshing.
I did it the other way around. I have Sauconys with holes, but I did not use them anymore because the holes fill up with little stones which actually stick in my feet. Since the shoes are very light and since I was looking for racing shoes, I took them again and filled the holes with silicone. Worked great. Of course it does not solve your problem!
Question for you: do you wear socks? I ask that because I’ m wondering for myself when doing a hot IM with dumping ice and water the socks will turn out to be drained and heavy.
Had the exact same issue and tried Saucony Fastwitch (they have drainage holes) in my last IM 70.3 . Much less soggy feet than previous races.
I got to ask a shoe designer for one of the big triathlon apparel companies why they stopped putting drainage holes on their shoes. They said that there are no longer holes on the bottom of the shoe because when they modeled the way water moves on impact, they found it disperses laterally along the footbed, but doesn’t really access the holes in the bottom. So they incorporate more mesh on the upper so the dispersed water can reach that and dry quickly.