Sole-ful Facts

There are a few companies that make rubber insoles to wear inside your shoes. You'll probably see a big display of them at your local sports store. The basic ones simply provide a bit of extra shock absorption (the Sorbothane ones claim to absorb something like 93% of the shock, which sounds highly unlikely.) More expensive models provide arch support. The heavy-duty ones have a hard plastic strip on the bottom, which acts like an artificial arch. It's handy to have some of these on hand if you experience arch issues during a race. They're a lot cheaper than custom made orthotics, though some feet need the latter.

In the 2003 and 2004 3100-Mile Races, I wore shock-absorbing insoles, and sometimes arch-support insoles. In the 2005 race I hardly wore them at all. I just stuck with the factory ones the shoes came with, and experienced no ill effects. A drawback of the rubber soles is that they can lead to blisters caused by the edges rubbing your feet. Trimming them with scissors can fix this problem. As for arch support, I finally discovered that it wasn't my main arch that causes me problems- it's the small one at the front of the foot (Smarana knows all the technical names!) Apparently, there are three arches in the foot, but I'll be darned if I can tell you where the third one is. Anyway, I fixed my problem by taping a wad of paper towel to the sole of my foot- a small, thick square, just behind the forefoot. This simple solution saved me a lot of tears, and was more appropriate than the arch-support insoles I had (though you can get insoles that specifically address this problem.)

So, in conclusion, you just have to experiment, and see what works for you! It can be nice to try new things during a race, just to have something else to think about. And talk about. Good luck!

My ultra-running friend Tsvetan has this to say on the subject:

there are many types of special insoles some are softer and some harder, thiner or thiker... I use them all the time during a race because my feet become very sensitive after a while and they help also for the knees... on the other hand Asprihanal never uses any of those insoles, the only thing is that they add some more weight to your shoes. So there is a choice to make a little heavier or more hard shoes. Tsvetan

Nick from New Zealand says:

Dear Mark, so nice to see you are so into the "soles world" My own little experiences of inner soles is that I wouldn't run without a pair of the green Spenco brand, either with arch support or not. They turn hard surfaces into soft by thier excellent cushioning. Another advantage is that they last for about two years and make the shoes inbuilt cushioning last longer before compressing as they take out a lot of the equal opposite reactions of road to feet by obsorbing a lot of the impact. Even more so for a heavier runner like me! This means over three pair of shoes, the insoles pay for themselves and much less injury problems if you are getting into higher milages. Nicholas