what's that you say? SHOE REVIEW! horray!

as many of you know i've been a long time fan and dedicated runner to new balance.  i have had some issues with their shoes (mainly due to the narrow toe box), but haven't really been proactive in finding an alternative because i really love the shoes so much.  lately tho' i'm getting a little tired of the constant blisters on my middle toes.

sooooooo... i've switched (tentatively) to altras for trail and topo athletic for the road.

let's start with my trail shoes first and then move onto the road shoes...

 the altra superior 2.0 ~ i have had these trail shoes before and for whatever reason they are now only available on closeout. both on the altra website, as well as the secondary sites like zappos, running warehouse, and REI to name a few.

these shoes are fantastic!  they are incredibly light weight, have great tread, are zero drop, have a wide toebox, and hold up well in sloppy conditions.  they only weigh 7.5 ounces which is an additional bonus as i truly hate heavy shoes.  i've recently run in some pretty snowy conditions (4-6 inches) of what i like to call "snowsand" which is like running on a beach of dry sand or possibly imagine running through mounds of slippery sugar.  it was challenging for sure but not at any moment did i feel unsafe or like i would fall.  there is no doubt that i will add ice spikes or screws to my shoes to run once the trails are covered in lots of ice patches, but until then these are doing a great job.

i like to stick with the same companies when i find something i like so i went ahead and bought a pair of road shoes from altra too.  again, the ones i purchased, provision 2.0, were on closeout (likely because they were the 2.0s) making them a really economical purchase, and i was pretty excited to try them out.  i ran in them twice for a total of 8 miles and i was not happy.  the toebox is again nice and roomy, but for whatever reason, my left heel kept slipping no matter how i tied the shoes or how i tried to remedy it.  i returned them and tried the provision 2.5 (maybe the update made a difference?)... no such luck.  the 2.5s were no different than the 2.0s.  my left heel slipped and i didn't even bother to test these on a run.  i just returned them and started a web search for "wide toebox" shoes.

in the meantime, i continued to use my new balance 1500s for indoor runs.  

i finally found a shoe that looked promising... from a brand i've never heard of before... topo athletic. 

so i purchased the topo athletic fli-lyte.  this shoe is AWESOME! granted i've only run a short 3 miler in them but i LOVE them!  these shoes have a 3mm drop and weigh only 6.7 ounces.  i love the sea foam/tangerine color combo and as a bonus (if you like that sort of thing) they give a second set of laces to change up the look.  my heels don't slip and my toes feel great with the more anatomical shape.  

their mission statement is pretty awesome too.  i can't believe i've never heard of them before.  no matter... they're on my radar now and i'm sticking with them.  bye bye, new balance... onto newer things!

so that's what i think about that.

what are your favorite shoes and why?  have you ever heard of topo athletic?  what are your thoughts about the natural toebox vs standard toeboxes?  how do you feel about zero or low drop shoes?  

tell me your thoughts in the comments!  i'd love to hear them.

my new altras

i want to elaborate on my last post so that's what i'm about to do.

 as i mentioned last time... on friday, february 27th i switched to altras from new balance.  if you know me you know i've been running in new balance 1400's since i began running in earnest.  i've tried a couple of different shoes over the couple of years that i've been running but none that i found that suited my needs or that i liked very much.  i have been in love with the new balance 1400's since my very first run in them.  they are light as a feather and fit like a glove.  unfortunately, they are also part of the reason i've had so many ankle issues, blisters, lost toenails, and developed a lovely little bunion on my left foot last year.

altra one2

so after running consistently with a group of friends who all run in altras i decided to give them a shot.  i bought a pair for trails and a pair for roads.  when i got them in the mail on the 27th i was so excited i took the one2 for a quick couple of miles before the sun went down.  they were pretty great. the zero drop changed my gait enough that i didn't kick myself AT ALL on the run.  i usually have an issue with kicking the inside of my calves when i run.  since switching over to these shoes i have not done that at all.  the next thing i noticed is that my toes had so much room!  SO MUCH ROOM!

altra superior 1.5

the next day (saturday) i ran a long trail run in the superior 1.5s.  what i noticed when i finished the trail run is that my toes were tired and sort of sore.  like they were working a lot harder than they ever did before.  that soreness faded pretty quickly with some stretching.   when i woke up sunday morning i noticed that my soleus muscles were quite sore.  the zero drop changes the way a person runs.  i went from running in a 10mm drop road shoe and a 6mm drop trail shoe to a zero drop all around. that's a pretty significant difference and my body noticed.  i ran a road/trail niner on sunday to shake things out and keep with my training plan.  not gonna lie... this was a serious challenge.  most of the run went fine but then i hit the biggest wall ever at about 6ish miles and ended up doing a run/walk reminiscent of the galloway method.  the difference is that i wasn't TRYING to use this method... my body was FORCING me to.  sometimes that's just the way it goes.

that sunday's run was the absolute SLOWEST i've ever run that route.  EVER!  it was tough.  i'm not sure if it was so challenging due to the shoes or if it is because i am just getting back into my training.  likely a little bit of both.

by monday morning i was having trouble walking normally.  my soleus muscles in both legs were so sore and tight!  the change in my stride was more noticeable than ever!  i was so happy to have monday as a rest day!  tuesday was on the treadmill, and while sore... it felt good to run.  by wednesday's run the soreness was almost completely gone.

that's when my right calf got all weird and decided to get all crampy-like.  when i got home from lapham on wednesday night and rolled my calf it was so painful.  i could feel that there were two very distinct knots.  after i took a shower i massaged the areas as best i could (hurt like hell!) and then i relaxed.  when i got up to go to bed i was limping.

thankfully i was seeing my PT on thursday.  he dry needled the bunched up muscles and released the knots.  that too hurt like hell, but worked like magic at the same time.

today there is no pain in my soleus muscles, my calf is sore but not at all painful, and i managed a pretty successful 14 mile trail run.  i am super happy with my new shoes and expect to be running in altras for years to come.  my feet are getting stronger each run and the bunion only bothers me when i run long in loose snow which produces really uneven/unstable conditions.

i've got another 8 on deck for tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.  hopefully not a repeat of last sunday.

training for iceage is pretty exhausting but fun and necessary to meet the goals i've set for myself.