A shoe is a shoe right? For the once a week jogger or the occasional 5k race this might hold true, but when you combine intense training with highly competitive races the need for proper footwear becomes critical. My background is in basketball and if someone were to tell me that all basketball shoes are the same I would laugh them out of the gym. After years of spending a tremendous amount of time on the basketball court wearing the right basketball shoe was a necessity. I tried every brand you could think of and then even within a certain brand I tried several different models before I decided what worked best for me. So it should come as a surprise that when I started training and competing in triathlons I thought that a running shoe was a running shoe. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
When I first started training I made several mistakes in preparing for the run portions of a race. First on that list was over training and not listening to my body. The second mistake was running in a $150 pair of Nike’s that must have been designed for looking good in a music video and not for putting 30-40 miles a week on. After several painful months that completely drained my will from wanting to run I went into Up and Running, a local running store, for some help. After speaking with them about what I was doing and what I wanted to do I was guided toward a pair of New Balance 1225s. I use this shoe to both train and race in and since purchase have put roughly 650 miles on them. I have since replaced them with the newer version the 1226s and couldn’t be happier. Both shoes weigh 12.7oz and have great stability. I wear a size 13 and have a narrow foot with long orangutan toes. I have always had trouble finding a pair of shoes that would fit length wise and not allow my foot to shift from side to side. The New Balance have been great, but after watching more and more top performers I started to believe that I needed not only great training shoes, but a separate pair of racing shoes. How I came to this conclusion was simple….experience.
After competing in a full season of triathlons and reading everything from magazines to blogs it became apparent that a lighter pair of race shoes could dramatically make a difference in how fast I could run on race day. Race day shoes are typically light weight with limited cushion and stability and usually don’t last for more than a couple hundred miles if you are lucky. (For those of you out there that are just starting out a good pair of high mileage running shoes can be used for both training and racing no problem. But if you have reached a fitness level that has you looking to shave seconds instead of minutes off your race time, it is probably time to get that pair of race day shoes.) I did my due diligence and purchased a pair of KSWISS Kwickey Blade-Lights. They weigh 9ozs and I can really tell the difference between them and my training shoes. I have used them for several runs and have seen a 15-20 second improvement on my mile splits, but have to admit that they are too wide. I haven’t used them in a race yet, but look for that to change in the next couple weeks.
So that brings me to my next shoe that I’m super excited about trying on and using for races, the Spira Stinger XLT. Spira is the revolutionary shoe company from El Paso that developed Wave Spring technology and has made incredible shoes for over a decade. The Stinger XLT comes in at 9.2ozs and is supposed to have the durability to last a couple hundred miles. I have worn Spira shoes before and I’m always amazed at how comfortable they are and can’t wait to use the Stinger XLT for competition. You can find more information about Spira and the Stinger XLT at http://www.spirafootwear.com/index.php
Well that’s all I have for today, but let me know what shoes you race and train in. Also, as soon as I get my new Stinger XLT’s I’ll let you know how they perform.
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