Sunday's run was pushing it a bit..I felt good, but I could tell I was still a bit fagged out from the race. There's always a risk in pushing yourself but in this case I really wanted to give it a go because:
- Sunday is my day to run long, and I hate missing it.
- Rain is coming and it's going to last a full week (or more). So the running will be wet or on a treadmill.
- I had new shoes to try!
I've been looking for a pair of shoes like my Nike Free's that are minimalist-tending, almost zero drop, light and able to be used on gravelly trails (the Free's catch gravel in the soles really badly).
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| Saucony Kinvara |
I saw some very positive reviews, including this well written one for the Saucony Kinvara, and so I bought a pair on Saturday.
I liked the look of these shoes right away..the uppers are like the Frees: very flexible, no plastic heel cup, nothing to dig into the heel at all. They are not quite zero drop, but have less lift than the Pegasus (the photo makes the heel look much bigger than the forefoot which is not true). They have a nice broad toe box so that you don't feel cramped and your toes can do their job.
They are light: 7.7 oz for size 10. I'm hoping these can take over from the Nike Pegasus and become my marathon race shoe as well as long run shoe.
I bought them at my local Zombie Runner store (so close to my house..support the small businesses!) and they have a treadmill there that they let me use to try the shoe...wow, what a great idea! I gave it a spin for 4-5 minutes and didn't find any bumps or bothers.
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| Mercury |
So.I bought 'em and took them for the 8.75 mile run..ready to abort and head back at any time...but no problems...did some *slightly* faster running (9:00)..yes not a good idea yet, but couldn't help it and they were wonderful. I felt like Winged Mercury 8)
It's not as flexible a shoe as the Free, but it's got better fore/mid-foot cushioning, which is why I hope it can be my long run shoe. We'll see...
(Yes, I know cushioning is a bad word in the minimalist shoe camp, but this is a 'transition shoe'..i.e. a shoe that gets you closer to the way your body was meant to run, i.e barefoot, but lets you survive on the way..especially if you are 55 and not quite ready to go barefoot 8)
I hope to use this shoes at LA on 3/20....we shall see!
(Yes, I know cushioning is a bad word in the minimalist shoe camp, but this is a 'transition shoe'..i.e. a shoe that gets you closer to the way your body was meant to run, i.e barefoot, but lets you survive on the way..especially if you are 55 and not quite ready to go barefoot 8)
I hope to use this shoes at LA on 3/20....we shall see!
Now, if I could only find a trail shoe (one with good waffles like my Inov8 RocLites) that was light and had light flexible uppers! Anybody got any suggestions?
I look forward to hearing how you like the Kinvara's; I have had a pair for awhile now but only wear them for speed workouts or shorter races. I think the toebox is a little too roomy for me...but everything I have read says that this is actually a GOOD thing. Hum...
ReplyDeleteI tried on these New Balance trail shoes...MT101, oh my, sheer uber lightness. Not much cushioning, though, but may be worth a try on at least.
Thankfully, we DO have 8 weeks left. Well, 7.5 now!! :)
@jill:
ReplyDeleteI *think* I'm going to like them a lot. We'll see how the body weighs
in on this subsequently ;)
I love a big toebox and I love loose fitting shoes
(In fact I always
tie my running shoes so I can slip them off and on without messing
with the laces. I wear very thin REI slippery silk sock liners rather
than socks too)
If they work well over the coming 10 days or so I'll probably get a
pair of Saucony Peregrine's which is
basically the same shoe but with a very nice grippy sole with lots of
knobbies.
>
> I tried on these New Balance trail shoes...MT101, oh my, sheer uber
> lightness. Not much cushioning, though, but may be worth a try on at least.
I saw those..they look nice. ....IMHO, cushioning not so needed on
trails...the dirt is already pretty soft.
What you need is lightness so your feet can go all over the place as
you bomb downhill on a lumpy trail ;)
Glad to read your review on the shoes - my friend got a pair this weekend. Looking forward to seeing what suggestions you get for trail shoes.
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