Invisible Shoes - Barefoot Running Sandals

Sunday, December 28, 2008

New shoes for recovery

I ran the Recovery Run this morning. 10km at an average pace of 6:10 /km.

What was interesting about today's run is that I tried out a new pair of shoes. A relative who heard I am training for a marathon sent me a pair of Spira shoes and said I have to try them.

The Spira shoe is unique in the technology they developed - there are springs, literally, in the heels and soles of the shoes. They are supposed to return energy to the runner during the run, and allow the runner to run faster. This is the shoe the Kenyan marathon runners generally wear, and they are the fastest guys running.

The Spira shoe has a unique look, with the bright yellow shoe and black trim contrast.When I took them out of the box the other day after I received them, my five year old daughter said "Now you are a bumblebee!"

So, I decided to try running in them today. Test them out and see if they are comfortable for using in the marathon. While they are confortable, they are not stability protection shoes. That means my pronation is more pronounced, and I was able to feel it in my knees. Over a long run, it would probably mean a lot of knee pain.

Also, being that I am not a fast runner, I probably would gain nothing by the extra speed the shoes supposedly give. The benefit is really for runners running near the front. Someone running at those speeds, the extra few seconds could make a big difference to him.

Maybe I will try to use them at the next race, if I run it, which is the Jerusalem Half-Marathon. But I will not use these shoes in the Tiberias Marathon. I will use the shoes I have been training in until now. I know how my feet and knees react in long runs to these shoes, and I think it is safer to stick with the known.

The definitely look real cool though.

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