Now that I am back to daily off-road running I've been experimenting with my sock collection and my insoles.
Insoles - I have two types, Sorbothane's, softish and to do with cushioning and Superfeet, mainly, as I understand it to do with stability. I also have a pair of Happy Feet, again to do with stability. I have interchanged them in my running shoes and from my experience to date, I like the Happy Feet and the Superfeet best of all. The ground is hard at the moment and I run along a footpath which is uneven due to cows being let loose in the field earlier in the year, their footprints have left all sorts of hard edges to navigate. The Happy Feet and the Superfeet are much better at dealing with the hard ground than my Sorbothane's are.
Socks - I own three different pairs of Bridgestone socks, one pair works really well when I wear my Superfeet and Happy Feet, as my foot bends and flexes as each foot lands on the uneven ground there is no sliding inside my shoes. The other two, however, are not comfortable because they both allow my feet to slide with either type of insoles in place, not good if I want to keep my ankles and ligaments safe from over flexing injuries. My problem is that I have no idea when I buy some new Bridgestone socks, which are the models that slide and which are the ones that don't? All I can think of at the moment is to wait until I can take my 'good' Bridgestone socks into a shop and then try to decide what to buy by 'feel?' That could mean a long time wait?
When it rains next I going to experiment in a similar way with my hiking boots, insoles, and socks. Until now I've always felt that for hiking the Sorbothane's are better (I'm going to check this again) and I'm going to apply myself to see if the socks matter as much when I walk as they do when I run?