Rebecca.

The mud was awful* but it alternates with lengthy sections of harder tracks, lanes and minor roads. Because of this, I doubt if there is simple answer to the traction / comfort equation. I managed OK with a good quality pair of trail trainers, with had reasonably well cushioned insoles. They were not waterproof. I accept that my feet will get wet and had plenty of changes of socks + foot cream to keep the trench foot away. I agree with Elton that if you think that the supplied insoles are not good enough. it is worth considering upgrading to better ones. However, don't over do it. Avoid excessively thick, spongy and cushioned insoles - these can cause more problems.

I think that if I had used a specialised, grippy fell shoe, they would have been much too hard. I had another pair of good on / off road trainers in the breakfast bag, which I used for the last 38 miles. It was nice to have clean dry trainers.... for about half a mile after leaving Belmont School... I couldn't have worn boots...

I did notice that the slippery, steep and uneven surfaces caused more twisting and turning of my legs than usual and it put a lot more strain on my joints and muscles. I was quite sore afterwards

* the mud was really, really horrible.

It was a great walk, and overall, no worse than some others I can remember

Not at all - it was very useful and gave me another option - make my cross country trainers more cushioned or increase grip on the road trainers!!
I'll give it food for thought and some experimentation!

Thanks

Sorry, Rebecca: a long involved post answering a question you didn’t ask. Blame post Hundred fatigue.

You were asking about traction rather than bruising. I don't know of any grippers as you describe. What about using cushioned insoles in you trail shoes?

Thanks for that Elton and well done on your success on the Marshalls 100.
I will look into the insoles and see if I can make my cross country trainers more bouncy. I like you get bruised soles at the best of times after 70mls and have to stop frequently to massage the undersoles of my feet.
The other option is to try and tie my cross country trainers onto my rucksack, but I'll have to experiment with this as I don't want them swinging around and annoying me for 100mls!

Yea thought of the same problem myself. In the the end I decided sod it! It's the 100 go with the flow.

Hi Rebecca

You are right to be worried, in my experience. On the Marshals’ Walk, my pace slowed right down in the last 20 – 25 miles, due largely to bruised soles. And we had mud (lots and lots of mud!) which, for all its negative qualities, is at least soft. If you have Wessex Hundred type conditions, hot and dry, the route will take its toll on your feet.

I used two sets of insoles, one pair nearly new normal insoles (nearly new means the area under the ball of the foot hasn’t compressed too much yet), and one new pair of Svartz anatomic footbeds by Altberg, a specialist bootmaker in Richmond, Yorkshire (no connection with Altberg other than as a satisfied customer.) I used a pair of Altberg insoles on my previous Hundreds and they always worked well. I would have used the Svartz footbeds for the whole walk, but they make my toes overheat if I walk fast. So I used the Svartz insoles from the start to 8 miles, then switched to the normal insoles, then switched back to the Svartz at 75 miles. By that stage my walking pace had slowed so that my toes didn't overheat. Probably I should have switched back earlier, but it was only at that stage that the bruising became too painful. The additional cushioning was really helpful.

If you do go for Svartz or any other high cushion insole, give them a trial run or hike of at least 25 miles before the main event to check they are compatible with your shoes and feet. I found that, due the slight additional thickness of the footbed, my toes were pushed up onto the underside of the top of the shoe. I remedied this by marking out the relevant area on the insole, then reducing the thickness by sandpapering the underside to one third of the original thickness.

So impact and hard surfaces can be a problem, but remediable by carrying additional insoles rather than additional shoes.

I can’t decide what to wear on my feet for the 100. I am worried that my normal cross country trainers won’t be cushioned enough for the asphalt, but if the mud continues, road trainers will be useless too. No use swapping at breakfast time as the mud will start about 25miles in…..and walking boots a definite no for me.
I’ve heard of yak traks that you can put over your shoes to give extra grip in the snow / ice, but is there anything on the market that can be added to road trainers to afford more grip and then removed when its not needed?