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| Newtons, Saucony, and Cloudtec |
I have fallen out of love for my Newton running shoes
(Gravity)… After running 560 miles in my
first pair and 515 in my second, I just wasn’t feeling the love anymore for the
Newton's. Perhaps my gait has changed, but something is different. At 500 miles it
is obviously time to consider new running shoes, and as I readied myself to do
so, I have to admit that the cost of the Newton’s was also a consideration in my choice of a new pair.
And so, after trying a myriad of different running shoes, I
opted for Saucony Triumphs – and so far they feel good. They are a little bit
heavier than the Newton Gravity’s (306g vs 252g) with an 8mm heel-toe offset. To
be honest, I can’t really feel the difference between the weights of the shoes.
The important part, of course, is that they just feel right when running. The odd thing that I've noticed while running with the Saucony's though, is
that I’m not as focused as I was with the Newtons with regards to landing on my
midfoot/forefoot, although I know that I am still doing it. I do notice that my
steps are quieter. For some reason I was unable to land as softly as I would
have liked with the Newtons and I tended to hear a “plop” sound with every
step. Odd. It may have been my gait.
When I took up running with the Newton Gravity shoes I noticed that I was a tad faster, probably because I became more focused on my form and doing the
midfoot/forefoot thing, and so I have been curious what the effect, if any, would be
with the new Saucony’s. The answer is still TBD… It has been so hot and humid,
that any real evaluation or analysis is going to have to wait until the weather
gets a little more cooperative. I’m still running in this humidity, but not
with a tremendous amount of gusto. My running mojo is sucking…
But then entered a wild card… I fell into a pair of CloudTec Cloudracers
(230g, 5mm heel/toe offset) (website: www.on-running.com)
the night of a 5K. I immediately felt the lightness
of these shoes. Wow, so this is what lightweight shoes feel like! But they are a little weird in that the soles of the shoe have
these rubber “eyelets”, or bumps (see the picture...) that are kind of little bouncy, spongy things… My
initial reaction when I saw the shoe was “yeah, right… forget about it”, but
then I tried them on and ran the 5K race with them. And I PR’ed it… on an incredibly hot and
humid night (it was
a midnight 4th of July run…) I ran the fastest 5K I have ever run. It must have been the shoes...! (uh-huh...) But yes, they really, really
felt good. I felt a little extra spring that was very dynamic. Maybe that is what those rubber eyelets thingy's do.
I’m a little skeptical with regards to how many miles I can
get out of the Cloudtec shoes, because I am sure that the rubber eyelets will
either fatigue and collapse, or will rip out. We’ll see. I may just use them
for events. But they do feel real good!
Next up: I'm hoping to run in one of the Ragnar series relays, the New Hampshire Reach the Bay (or is it Beach?) in September. Never done one, hope to see what it's like!
After that its a Half Marathon on Honeymoon Island in November.
