Next%- the ongoing debate

Treviso wrote: »

I've ordered a pair of those shoes. Can't wait to go sub 15.....

i will be following your progress.

On the new Asics shoes Kawauchi also broke his marathon PR with them.
They have two styles Metaspeed Edge = for cadence runners (vary cadence AND stride lenght while going faster), metaspeed Sky = for runners who increase stride lenght only.

It seems to me that fast twitch runners for an event would be able to increase their force development per stride late in a race so it may be a fast twitch versus slow twitch argument. That said in events of extreme strenght endurance having runners that help you turnover late in the race may be beneficial (increased cadence to compensate for stride lenght loss).

At the moment I would categorize Saucony endorphin range (speedroll) as cadence and Nike% as stride lenght. I would have thought that the Nike% helping stride lenght would suit runners who don't need help with cadence and the Sauconeys might suit those who already apply good strenght to each stride but have relatively low turnover. I'll be back with more ramblings after I've tested my Nike% arriving today as my cadence is circa 190 so hoping for great things!
Asics looks promising though.

https://runningmagazine.ca/sections/gear/asics-metaspeed-sky-and-edge-add-to-companys-carbon-plated-lineup/

"On the men’s side of the sport, Japanese running star and 2018 Boston Marathon champion Yuki Kawauchi ran to a 47-second PB earlier in 2021 at the Lake Biwa Marathon, where he posted a time of 2:07:27. Like Hall, Kawauchi wore Metaspeeds to help him to that huge result. The Metaspeed Sky and Edge haven’t been around for too long, but they’re already making an impact in the world of running."

Interesting comparison

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Interesting comparison

Great so I don't need to go buy a pair of carbon plates for the boards TT. Phew.

https://youtu.be/c-XUT0ynA3o

Endorphin Speed 2 wonder shoe??

Got a pair of the Endorphin Pro 2 recently (they day they arrived in the store!). It's my first experience of a shoe with a carbon plate.

The store owner (who I know and trust) told me that he had run in them and his experience was that he had to focus on strengthening his calves. He described it as running on your toes due to the forward roll - fine for shorter distances but tough over 18+ miles. He also told me that he had got 250 miles and counting on his first pair. He strongly recommended getting a few long runs in with them before attempting a marathon (sound advice - so I actually bought a v1 pair on sale to get more training miles in. I'd say the v2 are a bit more responsive).

I usually take a wide shoe so I tried out a half size up. ( This has been the reason I've never tried any of the Nikes.) The box is flexible and pretty forgiving so it was much more comfortable than I had feared.

My impression - I have done a couple of short races and a couple of 14-16 mile runs. At slow speeds they feel a bit unstable - you are aware of the stacked heel - at faster speeds I found I was not really thinking of the show - good or bad - but I was surprised to find that I was moving quite a bit faster than I expected for my perceived effort. Also my legs were a lot less beat up when done.

I'm a believer.

I returned my Next% tempos too - slightly different reasons -

I never get blisters from new shoes, but the tempos gave me toe and heel blisters on both feel - and the need to tighten the toe box laces more than usual caused a fold in the mesh which dug a hole in the top of my left foot between my metatarsals on the first few runs! The mesh was red from blood.

Final straw was the rubber started to split across the shoe, in that flex point just behind the AirPods - seems a common enough issue according to the Nike.com reviews.

I loved the feel of the ZoomX foam, but I just couldn’t wear them. I’d just get the vaporflys next time

Also the slapping noise takes some getting used to.

I had 120m on them when I returned them after 5-6wks, no problem