Friday, September 03, 2010

What to do about the shoes?

Oh boy.  I need new shoes.  Again.  To be honest, this is a bit shocking because I've been wearing my current shoes for less than 2 months.  2 months!  Last year, 1 pair of shoes lasted me from the start of marathon training all the way through the marathon.  I picked up my current pair halfway through training, and they're not even going to get me to the end!  But, I guess that happens when I'm doing things like running 200 miles in August alone.

Maybe I'm a bit melodramatic.  I don't need shoes right now.  They have about 300 miles on them.  I tend to replace my shoes somewhere between 350 and 400 miles.  In all honesty, though, I don't go by miles so much as I can just tell when the shoes have met their end.  I can feel that the shoes are worn out.  My shoes aren't there yet, but with over 100 miles of training planned for the month, I don't want to go into the marathon with either worn out shoes, or brand new shoes.  So, I need to do something about my shoe situation now.  The way I'm looking at things right now, I see 2 options.

Option 1
My first option is to go and buy another pair of my trusty Brooks Adrenaline GTS shoes and break them in now so they'll be ready for the big race.  This is a straightforward option, and the least risky.  My shoes work for me.  I'm not getting any shoe-related injuries (knock on wood), so there is very little chance that I'll hurt myself by doing this.

Option 2
I've been toying with the idea of switching to a lightweight training shoe.  I love my Adrenalines, but they are heavy.  I'm not ready to go to the minimalist shoes just yet (Nike Free, Vibrams, etc.), but I think it would be beneficial to go to a lighter shoe.  One pair of shoes that I've been looking at are the Brooks Launch.  See they look cool:


These have a much thinner construction and the heel rise is very minimal.  In essence, this is a flatter shoe.  I'm worried a bit about the loss of heel cushioning, but the accepted wisdom behind this is shifting.   I'm also more of a midfoot striker, so the is quite as important as it would be for a heel striker.  Quite possibly, though, the lighter shoe would be great because I'm carrying less mass with each stride.

If I were to get the Launch, I'd slowly mix it in with my current training shoes.  Depending on how things are going, I may even restrict the Launch to shorter runs, and continue using my Adrenalines for my LSDs.

Would I wear these on race day?  I'm not sure.  26.2 miles means a lot of footstrikes, and I may not have enough time to make the transition to a lighter shoe by race day.

Another note about the Brooks Launch—does anybody know where I can find a pair in the Twin Cities? Checking the websites of the usual culprits (Running Room, Marathon Sports, Run 'n Fun), no one seems to carry these shoes around here.  Am I stuck buying these online?


So, if anyone has any suggestions about my shoe dilemma, leave me a comment.

4 comments:

Hannah said...

Hey Matt! Don't know where you can find the Launch but I just got a pair of Brooks Ghost and I like them. They're lighter than my Mizunos and I haven't decided if I'll run the marathon in them (probably not) but if you do go with a new shoe, definitely try to get some miles on them. The marathon course isn't the time to figure out that something's not working!

As far as buying online, that would freak me out. I'm a try-before-I-buy girl. Unless you don't care about return shipping charges.

Andrew Opala said...

Great mileage man! Just found your site and it's great. I'm please to follow you along your training and victory path!

Matt said...

@Hannah: I'll check out the Ghosts, but according to the spec sheets, the Ghosts and the Adrenalines weigh the same. (We're your Mizunos filled with lead? ;-) ) I'm guessing that if I get something other than the Adrenalines, I'd like to get something flatter. Maybe not quite a racing flat (although those Green Silences are really tempting), but something that's just a bit faster than my current shoes.

@Andrew: Thanks for hopping aboard!

Johann said...

Good luck with the whole shoe thing. I won't buy online. I fit various pairs of the same shoe and pick the two shoes from all the pairs that feel the best. I like to train and race in the same shoes, but I'm slow so it might be different.

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