I should start by apologizing for the length of this post. After my run today I discovered something I thought was very interesting and wanted to spell it out in detail. For those not interested in the differences between types of running shoes feel free to stop reading. For those wondering if you should buy some Altra's, keep reading. It's amazing what a difference 3.2 ounces makes. I've owned a pair of Asics GT 2160's for almost a year now but I have never worn them, until yesterday. My plantar fasciitis (PF) issues made it so that it was getting hard to run. As I said yesterday, I'm almost certain they were caused by ramping up my miles too fast after my injury. I went from zero miles a week to 50 miles a week pretty quick, and I did almost all of it in my Zero Drop Altra Instincts. In order to remedy the problem I started running in the Asics because the PF issues seemed to go away when I wore these shoes. That was yesterday. Today I discovered, or more accurately perhaps rediscovered, why I no longer wear traditional running shoes. Before I went on my run I felt great. I full of energy and ready to get out there. 30 seconds into my run I felt fatigued and wondered if I would be able to push through the miles I needed. I decided when I finished I would run a comparison of my shoes and see if that had something to do with it. As it turns out, the differences in these shoes are amazing and almost certainly the reason my run was so difficult. To begin with lets talk about the weight of my shoes. My Altra Instincts weigh in at 8.8 ounces. My Saucony Kinvara's are 7.7 ounces. Even my Altra Lone Peak trail shoes and my Saucony Peregrine trail shoes weigh in at 9.9 ounces, and these have a rock reflection plate built in to the sole. By contrast, the Asics weigh 12 ounces. 12 OUNCES!!!! That is ridiculous! The added weight makes it feel like I'm running with bricks tied to my feet, even though it is only 3.2 ounces. On top of that, the weight makes it harder to maintain proper form and results in pain in places that I have not experienced pain in a long time, like my knees for example. I'm convinced that most of the 12 ounces comes from the absurd amount of rubber on the sole. This, in turn, has another detrimental effect. In my Instincts or even my Kinvara's I feel the road beneath my feet. It's not a painful thing, it's more of a connected thing. I feel like I'm actually part of the run, like its a dance that requires skill, precision, and some level of involvement. I feel like I'm interacting with the road rather than just moving over the top of it. The same is true with my trail shoes when I am on the dirt. But in the Asics I can't feel any of that. Aside from all zen of running experience, this also has a detrimental effect on my physical well being. Without being able to feel the road I am much less able to control my form. The inevitable result of running like this is sloppiness which will, in turn, lead to injury. Finally, there is the heal-to-toe drop of these shoes. My Instincts have zero, which is what I prefer. It feels more natural and absent injury I think I could run all day in these shoes. My Kinvara's have a 4 millimeter drop, which is pretty minimal. My trail running shoes break down the same way, zero for the Lone Peak and 4 mm for the Peregrine's. The Asics, on the other hand, have a 12 mm drop, which is the standard drop for running shoes. This is the reason, or at least one of the reasons, my PF doesn't hurt when I wear these shoes. There is so much support that my feet are hardly doing anything. But that is also the negative aspect of these shoes. My feet aren't doing anything, which is good while my PF is injured, but will end up hurting my training in the long run should I continue to wear these shoes. I did the first 5.39 miles today in the Asics with an average pace of 9:15 per mile and total elevation gain of 454 feet. Almost all of that elevation gain came in the last .3 when I ran up state street to my house. I then switched to my Instincts, because my PF wasn't hurting, and ran up the canyon. In the first 1.5 miles there is 500 feet of elevation gain and then a pounding downhill run back to the start. I managed this in 9:55 per mile. So, on a relatively flat course in the Asics I was only 40 seconds a mile faster than in my Instincts running up and down steep hills. The moral of the story, if running is always a grueling task that you have to continually force yourself to slog through, maybe the problem is your shoes. | 