The Running Thread - 2019

[jmasgat]

ATTQOTD: I'm pretty boring with shoes. I run in Nike Pegasus and just stick with them. I ran once in a NB model (Little Mermaid version) which was fine, but in the end it's sort of "if it aint broke...."

Also, April mileage: 28.4 pretty painful ones consisting of a 2 mile shake out and one marathon.

Tomorrow I go to the doctor to see what's wrong with my lingering hip issue. And as Murphy would have it, it is finally beginning to feel better/ less painful to even walk than it has been. I figure at this point the appointment will go something like this...."no bone issue, bad overuse/strain, rest for 6-8 weeks, start back slowly." I'm okay with that, although not running during May seems like a waste of one of the best times of year to run.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

ATTQOTD: The very first shoes I ran in (in college) were Adias. Not my wisest choice... but all you need are shoes to run, right? That and cotton tshirts I then got fitted for shoes at a running store and ended up in Mizunos (2x). I never loved those. After that, I was fitted for Asics at a different running store and haven't looked back... I think I'm on my 5th or 6th pair now.

 

[Jules76126]

Portland 10 Miler Race Report

Yesterday I ran the Portland 10 Miler in Maine. It was the first of 3 in a series - next up is Newport, RI in June and Stowe, VT in November.

I didn’t train to race this, just to finish happy. Nailed that goal - felt great, perfect weather (sunny, light breeze, 50), beautiful coastal course, and well organized/ supported. Bonus - excellent food to fuel with (including my favorite lobster roll in the world).

Course was mostly flat, with a few rollers and one big hill. Not much crowd support, but 4 water stops, and free beer at the end. This was also the longest I’ve run continuously. I walked briefly at the water stations, but otherwise just ran. I like my Galloway intervals - but this felt surprisingly good! Felt like I could have kept going. I’m hoping to “race” Newport for my POT in June, so this was a nice training race.

It was also the first time I’ve ever run a race with a friend the whole way. I’m an introvert who sometimes has mixed feelings about running with others. But, this was perfect - we didn’t talk, just ran, it really felt like we fed off each other’s energy. Plus, it always feels good to set an example for our girls (1st graders and 4 year olds).

Anyone in the northeast, this race is highly recommended!

I also ran this race this year but decided to do a spring half instead. Glad to hear it’s a great race and will definitely add it to my list.

ATTQOTD: so I never had a shoe problem. I always ran in Nike Pegasus. Never had an issue. I liked that they came in a variety of colors and went on sale frequently. End of March, I bought a new pair. It was the model up from the ones I had. Didn’t think much of it and then I ended up having major patella tendinitis. Not sure if it is an overuse injury or due to the shoes as they do feel different than the previous version. I took some time off and my knee feels better so I am in a wait and see mode. Need to run in then a little more and see if they are the cause. I now feel everyone’s frustration when a shoe you like is changed. Why can’t they just leave them alone? Why do we need to change stuff?

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

ATTQOTD: I'm lucky in that Brooks Ghost has worked for me for at least 20 pair with no issues.

No inserts for me.

Usually, I can take the Ghosts out of the box and do a long run with no issues.

I'm in my first pair of 11s and they don't feel quite the same. It's my first pair with knit uppers and they seem a little loose. I switched to wide a while ago and I'm thinking with the knit maybe I don't need wide.

Having said that, even though they feel different, they have not caused any issues with 160 miles on them.

Sometimes I think I should try something else just to see if there is something better but I know that is a mistake.

 

[huskies90]

QOTD: We've had a few questions related to shoes lately so I figured today would be a good day to make a topic about them. What works for you and what has not worked for you? Do you add inserts or do something different with the laces? Explain if you can?

ATTQOTD: I am very neutral runner. In the past, I would just go to running shoe store and buy whatever was on sale and have never had an issue with any shoes I have worn. I always try to get either a top line or next level down shoe and have run in NB, Saucony and Asics over the years with Asics being the brand I would go to most. The last 5 years or so have been a mix of Asics Nimbus, Cumulus and GT shoes. Last year, since I knew I would be training for a marathon, I decided to lock in on the Nimbus and I bought 6 pairs of the Nimbus 19 on clearance just before they were gone. Because I am a neutral runner, I am easily getting over 500 miles on each pair. I have retired 2 pairs and pair 3 is over 500+ miles but still in good shape. I will be retiring that pair soon. I have run in the other three pairs - usually for races but they are all low mileage and will take me through the Summer and Fall. Since the 19's are no longer for sale, I just purchased 3 pairs of the 20's which are pretty much exactly the same as the 19's. I will transition to them late Fall as I train for Dopey in January. I am not sure about the 21's as they look to be very different. I have not tried them yet. Hopefully, I like them as much as I like the 19/20's. But I may buy a few more pairs of the 20's before they are gone, just in case...

 

[camaker]

ATTQOTD: I envy all you guys who can run in anything! Shoes are either a non-issue or a nightmare for me, depending on what is going on at any given time. I seem to have princess feet, or maybe it's Goldilocks feet, as my shoes have to be "just right". I ran in Brooks Glycerins from the 5s through the 13s with no issues. They were great. And then, starting with the 14s, they weren't. I'm a neutral, medium arch runner, but my feet seem to be very sensitive. Once the Glycerins stopped working, I had a heck of a time finding a shoe that would. I tried just about every neutral shoe out there during fittings by at least 3 separate running stores and nothing felt right. ASICS, Mizuno, Altra, Hoka, On Cloud, Nike, New Balance, all nope, nope, nope! I finally settled into the Brooks Ghost 10s as an acceptable solution and proceeded to buy as many pairs as I could afford off of the clearance rack in order to stave off potential disaster when the 11s and 12s came out. I dread the next time I have to look for new shoes!

Along the way, I met up with a PT specializing in running issues and found out that some of my problems were due to an atypical curvature to one of my tibias. That was causing my posterior tibialis to work overtime to compensate for the structural defect in the tibia and it finally got tired of it and flared up on me. The tibialis was having to work so much harder than normal that my body actually laid down additional bone at the muscle attachment point to shore it up! The PT took the insoles for the Ghosts and added a small wedge of TPU under the forefoot so that the affected foot no longer had quite as far to travel for the push off and it seems to have solved the issue for now. Unfortunately, I have no idea how long those inserts are going to last, so it may be back to the PT on a moment's notice if the tibialis starts to get upset again.

 

[canglim52]

ATTQOTD: I love anything on sale! I grew up in cleats and flip flops, so I can wear just about anything. Though currently I’ve been running high volume and I’ve fallen in love with HOKA Clifton 1’s! It’s not a perfect shoe, but it’s a darn good mileage eater. Currently my lineup is:
New Balance Zante V3: I liked the V2 better and I can’t wait to kill these and try the V4.

Merrell Vapor Glove 3s: best 0 drop minimalist shoe I’ve found. Love these for my easy days to help strengthen my feet.

HOKA Clifton 1: as previously mentioned I love these for long runs and long easy days. Super light and legs don’t get as beat up after.

HOKA Mach 1: these shoes have killed my feet! I’ve never had a shoe give me so many blisters lol. These are being moved to 4 miles and less.

Mizuno Hitogami 4: I wish they didn’t retired these... both version 3 and 4 and the mileage eaters of speed shoes. Crazy responsive and lovely for uptempo miles... yet comfy for 16-18 mile workouts!

Sketchers goMeb4s: I loved these so much I bought 4 pair, and these are my last ones. I used race in these, but I got 4% for Christmas. These were like 49 bucks too, these are in my shoe HOF.

Sketchers GoRun 6: not my favorites, but they have a sock like upper similar to the 4%, so I use them for my 4 mile days.

No special laces or inserts, but I do use the heal lock.

Great question, loving the responses!!

 

[steph0808]

I run in New Balance.

I started in New Balance W890s.

Worked for years.

Accidentally bought W980s - couldn't figure out why my legs hurt all the time! Wrong shoe! Shout out to Running Warehouse for exchanging them for my correct shoe even though I used them for like 100 miles!

Ventured into Asics something or other. Yikes!

New Balance discontinued my shoe. Nooooooooo.

Went to Mizuno Wave Inspire - worked but didn't feel as good as I knew I could.

New Balance brought my shoe back! Now I'm in them exclusively again!

 

[LdyStormy76]

AATTQOTD: Brooks Ghost 10. Getting ready to retire my 3rd pair.

However, I do not lace in the same pattern as the shoes come laced for my right foot, but instead use the ‘high arch’ lacing pattern. Ended up switching the lacing after the Disneyland Paris 5k in September as the pain I had been dealing with in the last training runs - and had blamed on the ship deck track surface - was a problem. The new lacing was so successful that when I wore my other pair of shoes in training once I got home, and the pain came back, I immediately replaced them as well.

@TheHamm, I simply googled running shoe lacing. There seems to be 5 different lacing patterns that are prevalent for runners.

 

[KSellers88]

ATTQOTD: Brooks Launch have been my go to for the last two years, but I have tried almost every brand. I also really like the Nike Zoom Flys and Brooks Ghost. I used to use inserts but have gotten away from using them and seem to be doing alright without them so far. I lace mine normally and just use the lace lock (I had to google this because I had no idea what it was called, but it's that extra hole on your shoe). I then double knot mine and just slip in and out of them rather than tying and untying.

 

[gjramsey]

ATTQOTD: I am currently running in Brooks Glycerin 15 and Levitate v1 (and have one of each in the closet waiting). For Speed work and races I use NB Zante (v2 I think). I have gone through many different brands over the years, and some worked ok, and some not so much. My oldest usually inherits the shoes that don't work so well. Asics are ones that probably were the worst for me (hot spots after 3-4 miles), and the NB 1080s were also not well liked by my feet.

 

[TheHamm]

I have loved NB 870s and the Brooks GTS 16 & 17s. These have resulted in no pain running but the GTS lasted about 250 miles before there was no tread under the ball of my foot. I got 100ish miles out of my NB vongos, but the insole was creased and gave me blister, the rest of the shoe was fine and I considered insoles for them, but the insoles that felt right were close to $90, so I just got the GTS 19s, which have been better than the 18's other than the top of the foot issue. I tried ladder lacing for a quick run at lunch and I couldn't tell any difference. Often the top of my foot is red, and it was still red, but maybe less so- I will give it a go for a few days.

April
40.5 miles at an average pace of 11:55
Overall, we spent 17 days with sick me or kids, and 17 nights of very poor sleep so this is better than I would have guessed. I did plot my total sleep time vs. pace for the month and was surprised to see a clear trend. May is looking busy with business trips, work deadlines, and a family trip so I am just hoping to get in a 10 miler before my June half!

 

[OldSlowGoofyGuy]

April Totals:

Running: 119 miles
Average Pace: 9:33
Total Elevation Gain: 11,884 ft
Steps: 495,724

 

[cavepig]

I lace my shoes by skipping two sets of holes and then do the loop lock at the top. I have tried a ton of lacing ways and this seems to work the best to prevent weird pains on the top of my foot. Looser laced at first but then I make sure the loop lock is tight for my ankle. I have picky feet it seems.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I get the weird pains on the top of my foot when I run longer than 6-7 miles in my New Balance shoes. Never had that problem at all with Nike.

I used Nike exclusively until knee issues and the running store got me into New Balance since no Nike in my stock. The New Balance worked great aside from that pain on the top of my foot. So I use the New Balance for shorter distances and am currently on Nike ZoomFly for the longer distances. I think it will soon be time to get another pair of running shoes since thew New Balance are near their limit, so I'll go back to exclusively Nike again.

 

[huskies90]

April miles = 115 - More speed work - less distance this month

March miles = 140
February miles = 122
January = 123

500 total miles so far in 2019.

 

[FFigawi]

Seriously, this got me through training for a 70.3 during the winter doing bike trainer sessions.

Zwift is my favorite way to survive the trainer.

QOTD: We've had a few questions related to shoes lately so I figured today would be a good day to make a topic about them. What works for you and what has not worked for you? Do you add inserts or do something different with the laces? Explain if you can?

I run predominately on Asics Kayanos. They've worked great for me ever since I gave up on Brooks Adrenalines after getting shin splints. The only downside is that they change each new model slightly and sometimes the changes don't work for me. I ended up buying 7 pairs of the Kayano-20 because the 21s were so awful. I'm on my last pair of 22s and hope like hell the 25s are ok. I also run short distances in NB Minimus to help keep my heel striking under control.

I'm alive and actually decided to race again this year, meaning one thing...

Super Long Race Recap!

Half Marathon this past weekend and spoiler, I PR'd

#humblebrag

 

[Dopey 2020]

I started with NB860s and then tried very stability shoe in the store, Hoka Aharis, Brooks Adrenilines, Saucony Guides, Mizuno Inspire 13, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a couple. That’s when I figured out stability would not work for me except the Mizunos, they were the perfect feel on both fit and comfort. Then the inspire 14 came out and it was like a completely different shoe, I couldn’t even walk around the store in it so I bought 2 more pairs of 13s and figured that was my shoe for now. Nope, as soon as I started doing half marathon and above I found the usual pain in the arch coming from the support system and figured I need to scrap support shoes and try some serious cushion to feel for any difference. I’ve since gone through Brooks Ghost 11, Saucony Rides, Saucony Freedom (loved the fit but minimal is definitely not for me) Hoka Clifton’s, Mizuno Wave Rider 22, and Mizuno Wave Sky 2. No Nike or Aisics seem to fit me right at all, and inserts seem wrong as soon as I stand up. The Mizuno Wave Sky has become the shoe that I tend to grab now even on short runs, the extra cushion is so comfortable, I just wish the overall fit was as perfect as the inspires. Nothing else seems as good right now so I’ll just keep an eye out every time there is an updated model, and try anything different that I may see. Though I have heard Mizuno is so different that you either love them or hate them so I may be one that loves them and hates everything else.

 

[IamTrike]

I'm all over the place in shoes. I started out in Vomero's, about 7 years ago but around V8 or 9 I decided I wanted something lighter. I tried a couple different brands but nothing really stuck. I loved the first version of the Energy Boosts and when the Boston Boosts came out I alternated between them. Version 3 of the energy boosts hurt my feet so I switched back to Nike's and started running in Vomero's for distance runs and used either Boston Boosts or Pegasus's for shorter faster runs. Most recently I've been using Odyssey or Epic Reacts for my primary shoes but I still have a pair of Boston Boosts in my rotation.

I use the heel lock method for lacing my shoes too.

 

[apdebord]

ATTQOTD: I’m rotating Brooks Launch, Brooks Levitate and Topo Ultrafly 2. I wear an insert in my Brooks but not my Topo’s due to its wide toe box. I feel that the Topo’s do a good job of controlling my heel pain so I can do without the inserts on shorter runs.