Of Mice and Marathons

I asked Joe the same question after noticing the shoes in his inventory. I'm kind of thinking I need a lighter pair of shoes. My current light shoes are Mirages. I've been kind of wondering about A5 vs Fastwitch. I'm not a small runner..

The Fastwitch isn't super light (~7.5 oz), but it is very responsive (I will sometimes use it as a MP tempo shoe). The A5 is a great shoe, but there's not much to it, which is the point. My racing shoe is the Newton MV2 (a shoe I would not recommend going out and buying unless you are used to the Newton system and used to low profile shoes). The A5 and MV2 are about the same weight, but the Mv2 is a 0 drop shoe and more responsive and the A5 is a 4mm drop.

If you went with the A5 you would want to do a lot of short easy runs (I mean easy). The first thing you will want to do is run fast because they feel fast.

The Fastwitch is a stability shoe, while the A5 is neutral. I know Jake races the marathon in the Fastwitch and I have seen some others use it as well.

The Kinvara is great because it's very light while providing cushioning, but it's not a racing shoe in my mind. The cushioning causes too much interference with proprioception (your ability to sense what's going on on the ground and react to it).

Weight is usually listed as a factor for shoes (racing flats in particular), but it's more about efficiency, foot strike, history of injury, and so on. I'm just under 6 feet and 164 lbs in decent training form and 175 when I'm in between cycles.

I'm kind of thinking that I can't go wrong with purchasing the A5. The only bummer is that I don't have a lot of races left this year that I think I'd be able to use them in. Regardless, it'd probably be good to get a pair sooner than later. Since I'm 6'3" and weigh about 174 in the middle of a training cycle I've always been hesitant to steer away from any sort of cushioning.

Thanks for all the info (again). Especially the warning on not putting any real runs on the A5's for a bit if I get a pair.

174 at 6'3" ain't bad! Just adjust to them slowly. Do just a few miles and work up to workouts, and progress with your races. You'll likely be fine, it's just precautionary. When I moved to flats I did 5k, 10k 15k, half marathon (you wouldn't need to go that consecutively). There's still a decent amount of cushioning in the A5, but they are less forgiving, say, during a long run when form gets sloppy, etc.

I bought my A5s because they were on sale for about $50. I don't race in them (I could), but they have become my track shoe because they are super grippy.

$50!? That's cheap! One of the reasons i'd like a pair of flats is for the track. From what i read it seems like a good shoe, and i've been sure liking the Saucony lineup so far.

I think i'll probably go with a pair. The concept of running in many different shoes has been growing on me, and i don't think you can much more different than going to a flat.

Jason did a great job w/ the Saucony rundown here.

I like both the FT and A5. As he said, I've worn the FT for my last 4 marathons. It does have a light stability post but its hardly a stability shoe. That post is mainly there b/c form tends to breakdown late in the marathon, and even if you would never overpronate under any other circumstances, things change in the last 10K of the marathon.

I'm loving the A5 for everything from the track to the half-marathon, and I plan on going back to them for my fall marathon... although I'm going to try to have some prototype A6s in my hands by that point :-)

I was wondering if you'd be able to sniff this post out before I had a chance to pick your brain.. ;) I appreciate the input!

The stability thing makes sense. The way I understand it the Fastwitch may be a better marathon racing shoe for someone like myself than the A5 (especially since I'm so new to the distance)? And the A5 might be better for me for the shorter distances?

I'd say so, especially considering you're much taller than the "average" runner. I'd make sure I could run a half-marathon in the A5s w/ no problem before using them for 26.2

Sounds good. It looks to me like that one shoe isn't a perfect substitute for the other and I'll need to end up buying both. I think it'll probably take quite some time before I'm even able to pound out a half in the A5's. From what Jason said you really need to ease into the flats.

Yes. Agreed. When you start running the half faster you'll also increase your warmup and cool down (or maybe you wont), but I like to get at least 17-19 total. It's not the same as a long run (I might walk a bit, squirrel away some goodies for post-cooldown, then cool down). But you work into it (as most things in running).

When I moved to flats I only ran 1 mile the first day. I was sore (0 drop shoe), then 2, 3, 5 7 before I raced even a 5k in them. It was probably 7 months before I raced a half in them and I did a 5k, 10k, and 15k before that. The other shoes you are wearing have a bigger heel in them other than maybe your Mirages. Something to think about when transitioning (slowly). The achilles need time to strengthen and lengthen.

I'll let you know when I am lean and mean enough to run 26.2 in them :) Maybe Boston 2014 if my weight is reasonable and I'm fast enough to run what I want to run.

But I think the A5 could be a good shoe to run 5k-10k.

Jason, this is great advice and a really good understanding of how to make the transition.

So many people switch to zero-drop / flats with no or little transition time... then wonder why they end up w/ achilles tendinitis!

I'm going to need that extra 0.1% this fall that I'll get from racing in the As instead of the FT. But for most people, there's no point in rushing it... esp if it increased injury risk at all.

This kind of reminds me of the transition I made into the Mirages from the Kayanos (10mm drop to 4mm). Luckily Rachelle didn't let me jump right into them. It has taken a lot of time, and I really noticed my calves changing. The Mirage has really turned into a great shoe for me since.

Thank you both for the advice!