Love my Altra Escalantes. They are so comfortable and light, it’s as if I’m not wearing any shoes. Can’t comment about the NIke’s. I’ve never been good running at speed.
I did a half back in May in them.
Was tired going into the race, bike power was down, but the run was almost a joy.
I also did a 20 mile into work during IM training.
First 10 in the VF, second 10 in the 4%
Second 10 was more undulating and on tired legs, but was faster and felt easier
2 Likes
1:25:xx in them in Nice on Sunday. I do feel I’m in good shape, but on a straight, fast, flat course like this, I think the 4% come into their own. That was 2mins faster than my best 70.3 run ever (which was possibly a bit short, whilst Nice was accurate), and off the back of a bike leg where I really pushed (>95% IF for the first 1hr40)
2 Likes
Does anyone else find your soleus works really hard in them and is tight for days after?
I’ve had this a few times, not sure if I’ve got them too loose and the fit feels good, but my heel does move around a lot.
Are the next% any more stable on the heel?
Jeff
My legs feels amazing. I honestly don’t feel like I’ve raced. I can only put that down to the shoes
I know i only ran in mine a couple of times, but i definitely had tighter calves than usual after wearing them Jeff.
The Zoom Fly Fly Knit have reappeared on the Nike Run Club app at £70. Half tempted to get a second pair.
1 Like
Yeah, I spotted that last night as well. Sadly no discount codes currently also working. I’m in the same boat. The pair I bought are basically what I’ve been using for everything, bar racing.
Maybe an obvious takeaway, but i just tried the ZFs out on a hill session. They’re weren’t great. Lots of time spent up on my toes, short stride pretty much renders the carbon plate useless, and so i just end up with a slightly too stiff trainer. Hill was 800m with 120m elevation gain.
They were good on the descents though, as the heel is nice and spongy so i can lazily stride down the hill, landing on my heel quite hard, and they just suck up the impact. so they are quite appealing from that sense.
1 Like
I do tend to heel strike and roll through so probably a bit more work for my soleus to stabilise given how soft the fly’s are on the heel area.
The fly’s are still on the way back from Nice, there’s been a hold-up with my bike and bag for a week. But, I did the local parkrun earlier today and used my flyknit’s, breezy day but I think I took a few seconds off my PB that I did using the fly’s, they certainly feel more stable but without the bounce. Given a lack of training and intervals I’m not sure where that came from, I think they helped a bit, maybe the fact it was quite cool as well, ~12c, actually had long sleeves on and my hands were cold.
Jeff
1 Like
I’ve stopped using the ZFs for anything over 10km and noticed my hamstrings are nowhere near as tight.
Whether that’s me finally recovering, or they do generally knacker my hammies, I don’t know?
Going to see if Nike Outlet have any Zoom Structure 21/22 in stock, as mine have done 400km and are nearly bald on the sole. But they were only £37.50 at the outlet.
I am a moderate over pronator and run with the Aasics Gel Kayanos. I’m tempted to get a pair of the NEXT% as I got a Nike voucher from work, but should I avoid them due to my over pronation?
For those of you that have trainers specifically for racing, do you still race in trainers that support you if you have a pronation problem, or are racing shoes typically neutral?
I generally train in the shoes for my pronation and running style, then just use the 4% for racing on the basis they should save me time and even a marathon in different shoes shouldn’t cause any major damage.
Jeff
how did you determine that?
Thanks Jeff.
re. pronation, my physio told me
The other week I ran city2surf in Sydney, which is basically 80% of up and down and 20% flat in my VF’s.
I was slightly holding back because of my hamstring but I am not sure the VF’s gave any benefit to me.
I climb on my toes and therefore, there was not much gain from using them
Some of the downs were pretty steep and the lack of heal stability made descending pretty dicey in places and again there was no need for the extra bounce really.
I am planning to run it again next year fully fit, but I may well leave the VF’s at home…
The ZF’s are a fair bit more stable in the heel. Their not as ‘fast’ as the VF’s, but are a more robust and stiff trainer.
I have shoes with around 2000km on them and there’s still tread there! I did just order some ZF as there was nothing that met my normal spec for buying. Not tried them yet, but I fear the drop will be noticeable and annoying. I will however go much faster, as my sub-max runs are always faster in new shoes - just not my max ones.
erm…anyone else just got ALL of their Nike invoices emailed to them?
Along with a load of refund notes?
1 Like
Multiple grammar warning. No wonder you never made Oxbridge and the City 
2 Likes