I'm not convinced.... Help Simon...

Posted by baselbutt on 5/30/2007 on baselbutt's blog

OK - so I've tried the Newtons.. Maybe it's my flat-footed/borderline heal striker running style or maybe it's the fact that I went from an extended vacation from running straight in to a new pair of shoes (very different shoes, I might add)..

I just don't see how these things are supposed to help!

Rather than trash the shoe in a public forum, what I'm going to do is put them back in their box and stash them in the back of my closet. THEN.. after I've regained my "fleet-footedness" in a couple of weeks, I'll give them another go. Trying to work out a new shoe when my body is feeling on the heavy side probably wasn't the best of plans.

Last night I put together an Excel spreadsheet. Normally that wouldn't be news, because I tend to put together quite a few Excel spreadsheets - to plan a trip, to plan a day cleaning the house, etc... In this case, it's a good sign because I reserve Excel spreadsheets for things that I'm psyched up as all else for.. In this case the running-related reason for celebration is that the title of the spreadsheet is "Hawaii Ironman Training Plan".. First a good run the other day (Monday morning), and now an honest-to-god Excel spreadsheet.

So far it's empty aside from the run the other day, a mention of my visit to the gym yesterday and my trip to L.A. for work today (no running so far today - maybe tonight).. I also have a four-day Ironman training camp penciled in for the beginning of September.. The plan there is to head back to Lone Pine (near Death Valley) and spend four days riding and running in the heat. Those perfect days of cycling I had leading up to the North Pole marathon a few months ago were enough to convince me that outside of Boulder, Lone Pine is probably the best kept secret when it comes to "Off the beaten path training Meccas"...

So that's all for today.. The motivation is oozing back, the physical side will be there eventually.. and a cheap public service ad for the city of Lone Pine. I'll let you know when I decide to pull the Newtons out of the closet.

Cheers!
Bobby

email | report | digg this

Tags:

Newton
Shoes

1 comment

simon says:

No, well, if you are a heel-striker, I'm not surprised you don't see how the Newtons will help you -- they won't.

That's because they are designed for forefoot striking.

This message obviously got lost somewhere :).

If you are not a forefoot striker and don't intend to change your form so that you are, then seriously, the best thing you can do with the shoes is to send 'em back to Danny. (They were a free pair, right?)

Otherwise, it's just a waste of the technology (10 years in development, 7 patents) -- which is under the ball of the foot. If you're not landing on it, you're not getting the benefit of a) the superior impact protection (rated many g's more effective than conventional shoes) nor b) the "energy return" system, which bounces you back from the road.

Forefoot strikers who use the shoes are reporting these two elements help them do more miles with less suffering -- and run faster. But -- and it's a big but -- the shoes do not work for everybody. They are not designed to.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit, but I was in the Newton store for about 5 hours the day before the Bolder Boulder, and talked to a lot of people about the shoes. It's quite clear from talking to people whether Newtons are going to suit them or not. The general experience was that the only athletes who can adapt to the shoes if they are not already natural forefooters are triathletes. That's because they are already accept the need for technique training for their swimming and cycling, so don't think it odd they might need form and gait work to improve their running. The runner's mind-set seems to be "I don't need to learn how to run".

And finally...I think if the Newtons are going to work for you, you'll know from the first strides in them. But having said that, Danny and Co do say that they take a few runs -- say 20-30 miles in total -- to break the shoes in and get used to them.

My advice? Send 'em back!

PS: If they are 10.5s, I'll have them.

by simon on Thu, 2007-05-31 01:14