My List

by John Schrup

Pretty soon in this space you’ll see a list of the Best Rogue Shoes of 2012.  We probably should have named it something with a better hook, but we’re doing our lunge matrix right now, so time is limited.  It seems to me that every year about this time, shortly after the high temperatures drop to double digits and the Starbucks puts up its Christmas tree, we get lists of all the things that the past year has broughten us.  I blame David Letterman.

So my list isn’t really a list, rather just a space to tell you what shoes I wear regularly in my rotation.  I have, I don’t know, maybe a dozen or so pair that I wear.  Some more than others.  Some rarely, kinda like when you’re going through your high school yearbook and you go, Hm, wonder what she’s been doing.  But there are, like, five pair that I rotate pretty regularly.  I’m going to give them to you here and now because, you know, I’ve had coffee.   A quick glance in the back seat of the Yaris gives us this:

 Saucony A5:  Technically, Saucony’s race flat.  They should call it the Kinvara Racer because it would make more sense in terms of branding and, you know, sounding better.  These bad girls are tight!  Not fit wise, but you know what I’m talking about.  If I were talking about tight fit, I’d talk about the Gloria Vanderbilt jeans Jill Strelsky wore when we went to see The Devil and Max Devlin back in the day.  I’m not going to tell you how old I was when that happened, but I will tell you I remember being pretty excited because that year in school we got to use the lined paper that didn’t have the little training wheel dashes between the big lines.  So, um, yeah.   Not only was she hot, but girl was ****ing awesome in the four square tournaments at lunch.  Anyway, Sauncony A5 because it is light, low and feels like Jill’s jeans look.

adidas Adios 2:  Even though it would appear that the A2 goes against     everything I look for in a shoe–it ain’t particularly low, nor flexible, it’s got all kinds of shit in the midsole–when I put these things on to run I can vote retroactively and the TSA people get in line to frisk me.  They are the most beautifully firm shoe I’ve ever worn.  I’ve got two or three other pair with similar offsets, but none feel as fast as these do.  If you were to chart the awesomeness of these shoes, I’d let you, and then I’d do venn diagram of it.   I’ve got my fingers crossed that the bottle lands on the original Adios, since they’re way sexier, but these are worthy of a shared visit to the closet, totally.  I bet though that when the Takumi Sen comes out, my A2′s become that kid at the party who fiddles around with all the stereo equipment because no one picks them to make out.

 

Ok, so it appears that I’m stuck somewhere back in the early 80′s, if we go by the content of the first two on the list.  Let’s fast forward to the mid-to late-80′s, if your brain cells go there.

Saucony Kinvara 3:  This shoe, at one point, was like that older girl you met in summer school who was really cool because she listened to PE when you were still singing “Abracadabra.”  She was ahead of her time, super sexy and you had to keep your shirt untucked when you ran/saw her in the hall.  Yeah, I’d make it a little firmer, but this shoe disappears on your foot, and that’s pretty much what a shoe is supposed to do, so I’m not complaining.  If the K3 had the firmness of the A2, holy crap, I’d totally get arrested for the things I’m thinking right now.  Or maybe applauded, I don’t know your background.

New Balance 1600:  Not too long ago, this would have been the 1400.  But then the 1600 came out, and so you drop the first one for the roommate, and the first one starts driving by your place when the roommate is there, even though you live like nine miles from campus and then the first one comes up to you in front of the administration building when you’re on your way to the sorority thing in the Pub and she gets all in your face and you can tell she’s had a drink or two and then she grabs your tie and tries to throw you to the ground but you do one of those Matrix moves and get out of it and then have to file a police report and then you stick with the 1600, because it is sexier, anyway.

Wow.  I’m reliving the glory days, it would seem.  Since there are only four pair of shoes in the Yaris right now, the fifth one would have to be:

adidas Rocket:  You thought I was going to say the Hagio, dintcha?  Nope.   I’ve got a stash of the Rocket in the living room closet.  It is pretty old school, especially when compared to the Hagio, which is all dépêche mode and shit, but it is smoother, doesn’t make that slappy sound when you’re breaking it in, and the upper is way more better.  The Rocket is like that guy you knew who was pretty much everything you ever wanted in a boyfriend, but just couldn’t pull the trigger because he looked like an Alfred E. Newman/arachnid hybrid.  Performs at the highest level, is everything you want, super awesome on all fronts, except that you just don’t completely dig it on a count of the whole, you know, ugly thing.  I’m going to say it again:  When the Takumi Sen arrives, even the Rocket is gonna be all, Why don’t you return my messages anymore?

Check it:  For those of you who fancy yourself a dedicated runner, a dedicated marathoner, who wants to find out what you’re made of, John coaches Team Rogue on T, Th mornings at 5:30.

The List

by John Schrup

My eldest son, Isaac (three and a half/almost four/46 months/1395 days, give or take a few) has a solid understanding of gift giving.  As long as he’s the one on the receiving end, anyway.  Giving?  Not so much.  “You could get it for me for my birthday,” is a relatively common suggestion.  One day we practiced unwrapping presents, much, I suppose, in the same way we would practice running in progression or some shit.  We spent about an hour, me giving him things that he already owned—light sabers, plastic food, puzzle pieces—and he unwrapping the newspaper over and over and over, always with a well played display of surprise.  “Thanks, Papa!  Just what I’ve always wanted!”

At some point in these one-act plays, he’ll ask when, exactly, is his birthday again?  Can it be tomorrow?  He loves his presents, that kid.  There is an imaginary list that is updated regularly which contains all the things that he’s ever asked for.  “Just put it on the list.”  The other boy, Sam, has not a concept for gifts whatsoever, other than that things go in his mouth.

I tell you all this not to impress upon you in any way that my children are any different from any other children you have or know, because they are not.  It is not important that Isaac was, actually, the first child ever in the history of the planet to say, “Papa, look at me!” and then to fall down dramatically in a heap.

I tell you all this because I am making my very own list of things I want, and I need to share it with you.  What can I say?  I’m a giver.

My list is shoes.  Go figure.  There are several that I’m salivating over, and they aren’t even on the wall yet.   In January, some new models are due to arrive, and I’m pretty much so excited I’m in danger of wetting myself.  In public.  So don’t ask me about the new shoes if you see me in the Central Market.   This list I’m creating could end up being pretty extensive, but I’m only gonna give you a handful of them.  I’m doing this for your benefit, you know.  I’ve had a quad Americano and I’m afraid it’s gonna get wordy up in here.

Zero drop hits the masses.  When this whole “minimalist” thing began, Vibram was pretty much it as far as zero drop.  Now we’ve got almost everyone in the game and the result is some really nice stuff for you to run in.  These are really cushioned shoes with a zero offset, which means that the foot is essentially parallel to the ground.  Until now, most zero drop shoes were pretty thin and while they offered some really nice road feel, after several miles…ow ow ow!

 

Brooks Puredrift 

I know, right?  Brooks, best known for the Beast and the Adrenaline, gets real and introduces the fourth model in the Pure lineup.  The Drift fits snug through the midfoot and has a fairly roomy toe box so your tootsies can splay.  It will be superduper soft—in that ol’ familiar Brooks way—and will have the flexibility of a gymnast.  It will be kinda barefootish, but the softeness and the upwards curve of the forefoot (how the shoe is sprung) is a nod toward the mass market.  It’ll be like a house slipper made of cotton candy.

 

Saucony Virrata

You knew this bad girl was coming.  G’on, you knew.  Saucony has done wonderfully well with the Kinvara, creating one of the very best shoes on the wall.  Light, flexible, good fit.  Pretty much all you need in a shoe.  Our friends at Saucony already had a zero drop shoe, the Hattori, but the first version was a slip on, which is generally avoided by the masses, and it is pretty thin overall, so it bottoms out after about 50 miles.  The second incarnation has laces, but still it is going to work only as a supplementary option due to the lack of material underfoot.  Never fear, Virrata is here!  The Virrata is, in essence, a zero drop Kinvara.  It even looks like the K3.  It runs a bit softer, but with more than ample cushioning underfoot, so the zero drop will be more palatable for those of you willing to try.  If you are a FOK, you could be a FOV.

 

Mizuno Evo Levitas/Cursoris

Mizuno is, like ASICS, based in Japan, which means that adapting to market change takes a little longer.  You’ve got to go across the oceans to get an ok on something, after all.  And so Mizuno, like ASICS, has been a little late in keeping up with the trend toward lighter and lower.  Not that Mizuno hasn’t had those options—the Universe is a favorite in the Pose crowd—they just haven’t marketed them as such.  Do you find it a little strange, then, that Mizuno introduces two zero drop shoes concurrently before introducing anything else less polarizing?  A 4mm maybe?  I have to give them credit though, they’re also bringing over from Japan the Ekiden, a very popular racer that can be seen as a beefier Universe.   I might be more excited about that one!  And, forgive me for being a little picky, but the name Cursoris makes me feel a little nervous, a little dirty.  I don’t know why.   The Levitas is the more “minimal” of the two, which leads me to believe that the Cursoris will have a broader reach in the market.  Though at $120, compared to $110 for the Levitas, maybe not.

 

adidas Takumi Sen 

The Takumi Sen is not a zero drop shoe, but it doesn’t matter:  This shoe will make you change your political views.  Think of it as a finely constructed, lighter, lower, faster Adios.   With a 6mm offset, you’ll feel the ground but it won’t matter because you’ll be flying over it.  Designed by the godfather of Japanese shoe design, Mimura, who has designed shoes for just about everyone, including Olympic Gold Medalist Mizuki Noguchi, the Takumi Sen is the real deal all around racing flat—fast, light (4.6 oz. men’s 9) fast!  This shoe will make you faster.  It will clear up your skin.  You will have command over your native language.  It will give you confidence in front of a crowd. This shoe will melt your face off.

Put these on the list.

Check it:  For those of you who fancy yourself a dedicated runner, a dedicated marathoner, who wants to find out what you’re made of, John coaches Team Rogue on T, Th mornings at 5:30.

Review: adidas adiPure

by John Schrup

One of the best things about working at Rogue—aside from the lake parties with Chancellor Merkel and Jay Z—is all the cool new shoes we get to run in before they hit the market.  Well, some are cool, and some are not.  I’m not going to name names, but a while back we got seeded some ASICS Gel Nimbus (I forgot which version; it doesn’t really matter anyway).  I got a tibial compound fracture just looking at them.  For those of you who care, the most recent incarnation of the Nimbus, the 14, was awarded the highly coveted Runner’s World Editor’s Choice in the June issue.  You know immediately that this shoe is to be avoided entirely, and you should try to get your hands on whatever the staff at RW is smoking, cuz you know that shit is crizazy!

But many of the seeds we get are really nice.  I’m still in lust with my Kinvara .  I regularly love on my Adios, in public, and my 233’s get a booty call once a week or so.  The most recent seeds were from adidas, who, in full disclosure, sponsor the Rogue Athletic Club and also threw the parties where Merkel was in rare form (here’s a hint:  leather under wool).  Silly Germans.  Anyway, adidas sent several of us fortunate Rogues three pair of shoes each that will make up the new adipure line of shoes, due out in August.  Also, because of our relationship with adidas, Rogue will be the only store with a door to carry the line.  At least initially.  Or something.  I can’t remember exactly all the details because I’m still suffering from the Episcopalian Flu, after doing absinthe shots off Merkel’s cankles.  At least I hope that was Merkel.

So, the adipure line:  Three shoes designed to allow the foot a more natural motion, in varying degrees of naturalness.  (Did you know that adidas was the first to do the low-profile thing in an attempt to mimic barefoot running, back in the ‘90’s?  Remember Feet You Wear? The Equipment line?  It’s true.) adidas are a little late to the natural/minimal/barefoot party, but the effort is welcome, and the application is, overall, pretty good.

The three models—the Motion, the Gazelle and the Adapt—are three of the most comfortable things I’ve ever put on my feet.  Each is slipperesque and lightweight, thanks mostly to the stretchy, socklike upper.  If memory serves, they’re calling in Tech-Fit, or something equally as important sounding.  Whatever we’re calling it, the first feel is almost shockingly snug.  Like, real, real snug.   Here at Rogue we believe that a shoe should disappear on your foot; a shoe functions better if you don’t notice it.  Once these are on your feet, they’re pretty much gone, which is a good thing.

The Motion (which is perhaps not the best effort in naming this type of shoe) will feel the most familiar to most.  It has a 10mm offset, which is almost the traditional standard, but the midsole/outsole are so flexible that it feels lower.  This shoe will be the most runnable for the average wearer.  The nearest relative would be the Nike Free.  Maybe.  More substantial in some places, less in others.  The lacing is asymmetrical, to better fit the contours of the foot, and this might contribute to the overall snug fit.  This model is most likely to be used as a trainer on a regular basis.

The Gazelle is the middle of the road, so to speak, of the three.  It has a 6 or 7mm drop, depending on which paragraph of the adidas literature you read.  It, too, has the uber-snug, stretchy upper that wraps the foot like a sock and feels altogether slipper-like when on the foot.  Considerably more minimal than the Motion, the Gazelle is marketed to be a supplementary trainer—one that you’d wear for strides and drills and other General Strength work.  I like it for that, sure, but I’ve been wearing it around the shop as my work shoe and it is also the model I’ve run in the most, since it is so comfortable.  I haven’t gone more than about 35 minutes jogging, though I can see going up to maybe an hour very easy.

It has a soft yet responsive feel underfoot, and it reminds me of some late 90’s adidas flats that should belong in the Pantheon of running shoes.  (Remember the Converter?  That shoe was the shit!) That, combined with the luxurious upper, makes for a shoe that I kinda don’t want to take off.  Seriously.  Like, I need three pair:  One to wear to the farmer’s market, one to run in, and one to sleep in.  The shoe feels that good.  It’s that sexy.  Not to get all rainbows and unicorns on you, but it hugs the foot so lovingly, wraps it so perfectly that I feel a little….naughty.  Seriously thinking about going bareback in these bad girls.  No socks.  Aawww, kitty kitty.

(Good God, what is in this coffee?)

The Adapt is the third, and most minimal of the adipure series.  What you get is what looks like an aqua shoe—no laces, still stretchy—if aqua shoes had a 4mm differential.  So there is a smidge of midsole in there, but not so you’d notice.  The shoe is designed to be a pure supplemental trainer, one that is worn for drills, General Strength, “barefoot” strides, squat jumps, burpees, breakdancing, whatever.  A few of us have worn it around the shop, you know, to work in, but no one has admitted to running in them.  Yet.  I haven’t run in them, and I’m probably the most likely (read:  most stupiderest) to do so.   The inclination is that if this shoe had laces, it might be more palatable, though I did find a use for them over the weekend.  It’s my new pool shoe when I take the boys to the neighborhood swim hole.  And it is my interpretive dance shoe.

(Don’t forget! Rogue Running will be the only physical store to carry the adiPure line for the first few months after release!)

What’s in Your Quiver?

by John Schrup

Several years ago, when I was spending a winter in Taos, I got to know a few men and women for whom telemark skiing was as magical a pursuit as running is for us.  They talked about the beautiful “pow pow” and “bowls” and “baby heads” (huh?) and “corn”; they went on ad infinitum about turning.  Apparently, if you’re into that kind of thing, a perfect turn delivers a high not unlike what we get in that perfect progression run.  Their enthusiasm for the perfect turn was infectious.  They told fantastic stories that grew hyperbolically in direct proportion to the amount of beer consumed.  I couldn’t replicate their enthusiasm when I described my perfect run, mostly mumbling something about how you just had to be there.

One of the things that fascinated me about their stories is that they all seemed to have several pair of skiis.  Several.  Apparently, one needs different skis of different lengths or widths or something, depending on whether you are in pow pow or corn, I don’t know.  It was fascinating to me mostly because it was all new information, and also because it would be ridiculously expensive to have several pair of skis.  Several. Pair. Of. Skis.  For me, skiing is prohibitively expensive.  Even if I were rich, I probably still wouldn’t ski much because of the whole, you know, tree thing.  If alpine trees could only be made of EVA or chocolate mousse or something.  But when they talked about their skis, they talked about what they had in their quiver.  Quiver like, you know, bows and arrows and shit. 

And this is one of the main reasons I love running:  The simplicity, the  inexpensiveness of it.  I mean, relative to skiing or polo or yachting for chissakes, running is ghetto.  All you really need is a good pair of shoes.  Well, back in the day, all you really needed was a good pair of shoes.  These days, you pretty much need a quiver of shoes if you are serious about taking care of yourself or setting PR’s, or getting a BQ.  I’ve seen pictures posted on Facecrack of closets full of running shoes, three dimensional Jackson Pollack looking things.  So if you are one of those, and I think you are, let me save you some jack and tell you what you need in your quiver.  I’m not necessarily talking brands, makes or models.  That all is up to you, up to what feels and fits best for you.  These are the four types of shoes you need to achieve your own personal street cred.

The Zero Drop

With this whole barefoot/minimalist thing came our standard polarized argument:  For or against.  The discussion really hasn’t gone that, sadly, and we’ve missed out on what I think is the greatest benefit—it makes you stronger!  Yeah, nay sayers, spending time barefoot or in shoes that closely mimic being barefoot will make your feet and lower legs stronger!  It just does.  Think of all the justifications you want.  It does.  All your science shit don’t scare me none. 

Aaaaand you don’t have to run in them.  Get something comparable.  Get a zero drop shoe, one that resembles a standard running shoe, and wear it to the park, to the new Trader Joe’s, to the farmers market.  The Hattori LC, the Minimus Zero, the Blade Foot Run are all super duper comfortable and you won’t look all douchey and shit!  They even make zero drop shoes in styles for casual wear, you know, so you could wear them to the Junior League Ball.  But wear them.  They’ll make your feet and legs stronger and in turn make you a better runner.   You know what they say about the other 23 hours.

The Daily

Ok, so you don’t wear it every day, but you know what I’m talking about.  The shoe you slip on for your obligatory easy runs or recovery runs, maybe for the first couple of long runs when you’re just putting time on your feet.  The Daily is maybe the heaviest of your shoes, there’s more stuff under your foot, more foam.  But they’re still pretty light and flexible and when you put them on, they disappear as if by magic.  You can mash out miles and miles, run a double in them sometimes if they didn’t get soaked in the morning run, and if you get caught up in an extemporaneous tempo run with your head banger friends, you won’t feel like you’re wearing KISS boots.  Perhaps the greatest thing about that whole minimalist “trend” that you bitch about has delivered us super lightweight shoes like the Kinvara 3, and the Adios 2.  One is a racer weight trainer, and one is a…trainer…weight…racer.

The Racer

Ok, so one of the downsides to the minimalism thing is that the lines between trainer and racer have blurred.  Maybe that isn’t a downside, I don’t know.  Personally, I don’t think it is, particularly when you remember the trainers from, oh, 2009 that were overflowing with these beautiful, wonderful technologies that did, um, nothing.  What used to be called marathon racers, we like to call the Daily.  You know, the 1400 and the Adios 2 (again!).  So here I’m going to use Racer to describe what used to be called a 5K or 10K racer—something on the more minimal side of minimal.  More minimaler.  These bad girls are good for those days when you’re doing your GS circuits, rewiring your motor patterns on with some 200’s, even shuffling through the four mile loop on Town Lake as your weekly recovery run.  (One of the things we’ve found to keep you glacial on your recovery days is to wear a little less shoe than normal.  Seriously.  It works.)  I like the Hagio and the INOV-8 195.  They’re both quite nice and neither will beat you up too much if you, you know, forget and wear them in place of your daily.  It could happen.

 

The Backseat

 

The backseat is historically a Daily or a (marathon) Racer that you leave in the backseat of your car, so that if you leave any one of the other three at home, you’ve got backup.  Often it has some Greenbelt on it, from that time when your friend texted you last minute to meet at the 360 trailhead and you had to run in jorts.  But you had your shoes!  Because they only see the inside of your car and your sweaty-ass feet, they have achieved a ripeness that can only be described as “dead for some time.”  Upon entering your car, non-runner friends will convulsively dry heave but your runner friends are rendered stoned and drooling by the familiar funk and stench.  This is probably your most important, most vital pair of shoes.  They will tell you who your real friends are.  They could save your life.  And you never know when a run might break out. 

You might have noticed that I haven’t listed trail shoes here.   If I were writing this from, oh, northern New Mexico, or Oregon or something, I’d drop a trail shoe in here.  Most of you aren’t on the Greenbelt every single day, so you’re better off buying a backseat shoe.

 

Change Happens

by John Schrup  

The other day, or October, I wrote about the soon-to-be-discontinued adidas Rocket.  I wrote about how I loved the shoe for all that it was and wasn’t—that it, like all the other Rogue favorites, was simple, functional, and…simple.  And when I say that I loved the shoes, I mean, like, really loved them.  If it were socially acceptable, I would have taken them to Uchi and shared the foie nigiri with them.  I would have picked up some lilies from the Central Market for my Rockets when I was buying some prepared dinners for us to eat while watching LMN.  I would have blindfolded them and fed them various fruit and chocolate as foreplay.  It was probably a little inappropriate, that relationship.

I also mentioned that my beloved Rocket soon would be replaced by the flashy Hagio, and that I was a bit worried about what might happen with that relationship.  Katie at adidas was, as usual, totally rad and seeded a few of us lucky Rogues with the new model in the hope that we would spread the Hagio love.

My boss, Chris, instantly fell in love with his new kicks, though what I know about Chris tells me that it was more of a philial love.  My initial experience with them was more like the first couple dates you go on after a long term relationship has ended and you know you like the new person, but keep comparing everything about them to your last partner and then go home and listen to Jeff Buckley on repeat.  Kinda like that, except shoes.  Honestly, I just wasn’t sure.  In a conversation with other Rocket-lovers, Adam flat out said he wasn’t into them and was going to call off the relationship in a text as soon as his closet was emptied of back up Rockets, and Katie was in search of something familiar, but different.  I was on the fence, but I trusted what Chris said so I kept on with the Hagio.  We’d go for little jogs around the new neighborhood—casual dating—or I’d wear them to the playground with my sons, which is kinda like going on a group date, except shoes.

I think the change that bugged me the most was that the upper, which was contemporarily flashy and lacking the cool retro thing, looked really baggy on my foot.  (The shoe’s aesthetic, it should be noted, was taken from a very popular current adidas futbol shoe.  That in itself is a form of blasphemy, because we all know that the only futbol shoe is the Copa Mundial.  And it futbol and not soccer, because that’s what, you know, assholes call it.)   The new welded overlays, which is a little bit like an iron-on, adidas calls Sprint Web, are much lighter and more flexible than the old fabric overlays.  They function well, which is to say that the foot is held to the midsole in a snug and comfortable way.  But those new overlays do make the upper appear not to fit well.  They do, fortunately, and when all is said and done, form must follow function.

The other obvious difference between the new Hagio and the extinct Rocket was the outsole.  The midsole is still the wonderfully responsive, low profile, 6mm heel to toe offset, but the new outsole took a bit to get used to.  Whereas my old love sported a full rubber outsole, protective and responsive, the Hagio have a lighter weight outsole not unlike another Japanese designed shoe, the almost-perfect ASICS Tarther, which were discontinued in the US by ASICS in a fit of dickheadedness.  The outsole is lighter, and traction is better, but it is a harder rubber, and the nubs under the forefoot make a distinct slapping sound when they hit the pavement.  But after a few weeks, as the shoe begins to soften up a bit, the slap diminishes and I really only notice it now when I moving at slower speeds.

adidas was one of the first, if not the first to introduce the midfoot support trusses that became the norm—and still are—for more than 20 years.  The Hagio have it too, and it is completely unnecessary.  I cut it out of most of my shoes, if they have one, and the ride is instantly smoother.  It might be one of those cases in which if it ain’t necessary to have, then it is necessary not to have it.

But now, after having spent some time together, I see that Hagio and I will get on well.  It seems that some of the folk at the Thunderbird on Koenig dig the looks, because a couple obviously stoned high school kids asked me about them.   Hagio and me, well, we’ve been spending more time together, and we are really enjoying each other.  We’re gonna go on a run here in a bit, and if it goes well, we might go again later in the day.  Our first double.  It’s kinda like when you are really good friends with someone for a long time and then discover after a while that you totally can’t live without each other, except shoes.

Dear Schrup…

I got only two questions, one of which was from Gundi, and was way too hifalutin for the masses, so the default question is this:

What’s the deal with using multiple pairs of shoes? Should one have multiple pairs of the same shoe or buy a couple different types of shoes?–Waylon Calabrese

That’s a great question, and strangely enough it is asked often, but rarely by people who are named Waylon.  I suspect Waylon is bored.

First, training in multiple pairs of shoes is good for the economy.  If you aren’t up on your Twitter, we, as a general planet are having some financial issues.  The more shoes you buy, the more likely we are to get back to the roaring 80′s/90′s, when Porsches were plentiful and Luby’s served a prix fixe.

We look at training in different shoes from the same perspective as we prescribe training:  You have to work all the systems in order to become a better slash stronger slash faster slash healthier athlete slash runner.  We want to build you from head to toe, and not just focus on your aerobic system.  We know that your aerobic system will only grow to the point that your structure (your body–the musculo-skeletal body) will allow it.  It is why we do foot drills, dynamic stretching and General Strength exercises.  For the most part, gone are the days when we would just go out and run and run and run and run and run and call it Base Phase.  Sure, that does work to a degree, but we know that you increase your chances of success when you work all the systems in the midst of the running and running and running and running.

So let’s say you put on your, oh, adidas Adios, which is a fine, fine shoe by any standard.  This is your trainer.  You wear it each of the six running days per week.  Awesome.  Cool.  All good.  And as you get closer to race day, you wear your adidas Rocket for a couple of track workouts or tempo runs so you can get more familiarer with them before you race in them and thrash your legs.  You are running 40 miles per week in a shoe that is worth, I don’t know, 300 miles.  So, let’s call it two months.  As you wear your Adios every day, they begin to break down.  The midsole foam compresses but it doesn’t compress symmetrically.  That is to say that the shoe begins to get a bit lop sided, listing to the one side where you mostly load your foot.  And so every day your foot goes through the increasingly acute angle in the range of motion, every time you take a step.  Your foot becomes familiar with that and that stress increases, so too does your chance for injury.

But that’s not really what we’re looking for, is it?

We want different motions, different stresses, different responses.

The same way we run some on the roads, some on the trail, some on the grass and some on the track, all to stimulate different muscles so that our bodies produce different responses.  The same way we don’t do only hills, or only progression runs or only long runs.  Our bodies need different movements, different speeds, different efforts each day in order to improve.

And so we wear different shoes on different days.  Traditionally, we wore our standard trainers on our easy or long days, and our lightweight trainers or racers on days which required us to put in a bit of effort.  But now that shoes are becoming lighter and more flexible, much more racer-like than in the past, we can wear just about anything we want on any given day.  One friend wears the Adios and the New Balance 1400.  They are similar shoes in many ways–lightweight and flexible racers designed for the marathon–and subtly different–the Adios drops 11mm from heel to forefoot, and the 1400 drops only 8.  Both feel fast and protective, while the Adios is a bit firmer and stiffer all around.  I haven’t found a pattern in how this friend wears the shoes; likely they are chosen by which one is closest to the door when leaving for a run or workout.  But it doesn’t matter, either one works well for just about anything.

I still do recommend practicing race specific workouts with the shoes that you are likely to wear on race day.  You want familiarity in a few things, when it comes to racing, so that you don’t have any surprises in store for you.

I don’t know if that answers the question, Waylon; or even if I wrote something entirely understandable.  Maybe in the future, bring me an Americano and I’ll do my best to overexplain everything.

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We call him our Gear Savant for a reason. If you want to know the lineage of every aspect of a shoe, he knows it. If you want to know exactly how the Nike Pegasus 11 is different from the Nike Pegasus 28, he knows it. If you are the person who can never find the right shoe, then you haven’t met our very own Mr. John Schrup. We now offer a new, weekly blog series – Dear Schrup – where John will answer your tech questions about running shoes, apparel, and other gear. Any question is fair game. We will choose from the questions weekly, and John will respond via the blog on Wednesdays. Submit your questions via email to John (john@roguequipment.com) or post them on our Facebook wall.

Going, going…awesome.

The adidas Rocket shoe review, by John Schrup

One of the biggest pet peeves we hear from you is that once you determine a shoe to be your very favorite, the shoe company changes it in such a way as to be unrecognizable as your favorite shoe, or better yet, sends it to the shoe graveyard, leaving you hunting far and wide a replacement that might be as comfortable, forgiving and familiar.

And so I became a bit worried when I heard that my beloved Rocket—the adidas low-pro, Japanese designed racer—was going buh bye!  Three pairs (and well over the recommend mileage recommendation on each) of this gem and I had become convinced that, with a few slight changes, this could be the ONE shoe I use, day-to-day.  When the crew from adidas was in to discuss various and sundry with Team Rogue Elite, I went so far as to beg, order, direct and plead to them to build a series of shoes around the Rocket, a few tweaks here and there, so that all of us on the running spectrum could share the Rocket experience.

First, I love that the shoe is $80.  I am a cheap sumbitch, and visible hives manifest when I wear-test shoes north of the $100 barrier.  Sure, $100 is average these days, but my brain is, in many ways, stuck back in the, oh, late 80’s, early 90’s.  And that means that if you are blowing through shoes on a monthly basis, you’ll have fresh shoes AND enough money left over for the luxurious Chameleon Cold Brew.

Second, and this could be the topic sentence, the Rocket fits my ideal of what a running shoe is supposed to be.  A running shoe, in my very humble opinion, is supposed to protect the foot from the ground and all the attendant niggles that asphalt and concrete can so generously provide.  But because we all have different histories and DNA and attention spans and such, we all don’t want a shoe to be a really protective house slipper with some reflective doo dads.  Most of us want a bit of the soft stuff here and there to make us feel safe.    The Rocket gives you that, too.

It is maybe a bit narrower in the toe box than it could be.  The asymmetrical lacing overlays can be irritating, both to your tender toes and to your contemporary aesthetic, but it does leave you with a clean, snug fit from heel through the metatarsals.  When the shoe is laced up, it disappears on the foot, as it should.  Only toward the end of some 2.5 hour runs did I begin to notice my toes feeling slightly pinched, though nothing that really detracted from the run.

Underneath the foot, the midsole and outsole combination provide a firm and responsive ride that makes you feel fast, whether you are jogging through 6:30 kilometers or sailing through 6:30 miles.  The heel to toe offset is at a claimed 6mm, but because of the relatively low heel stack and firm ride, the shoe feels much, much lower.  The combination of snug fit and firm ride deliver one of the most performance oriented feels of any shoe I’ve worn in a long, long time.  I love this shoe so much (I wouldn’t marry it, but you get the idea) that I don’t select it for any particular run or workout, I wear it to run in, period.

The thing that I find most appealing about the shoe perhaps is the broad spectrum of people who wear it.  Not restricted to the Light and Fast Club, the Rocket appears on the feet of mostly people who prefer some simplicity in their footwear, regardless of the pace or volume of their training.  It is a minimalist (biomechanically appropriate) yet very protective shoe that doesn’t really feel minimalist.

Aesthetically, the Rocket leans a bit retro.  Other than the asymmetrical toe piece, the Rocket looks like something Mr. Shorter might have worn back in the day.   But for the subtly cool color accents, the look is mostly unremarkable, though I do get comments and questions about them when standing in line at the Ho Foo juice bar.  So, maybe not so unremarkable.

Alas, after this year, the Rocket is going through a slight, but dramatic metamorphosis.  The midsole will be all that remains—upper, outsole and name all get refashioned into a more contemporary, more competition focused package.

The new Hagio (named after the guy who designed it, as I understand the story) will sport the new adidas badge, rather than the traditional three stripes, a lighter, cleaner upper and a lighter, more flexible outsole.  All of which leads me to believe that this new incarnation will find its way onto my feet and into my heart.

Saturday Schwag

Are you an Adidas fan? Then make sure that you stop by Rogue Equipment this Saturday, October 3 for an Adidas event!

Representative Katie Howard will be here to show off all of her new products, distribute wear-test shoes to training group members who wish to give the shoes a try and of course hand out plenty of schwag. In the store, not only will the Adidas Boston and Adizero XT be discounted 20%, but everyone will receive a gift with purchase!

Most of you will be here anyways, so there is no excuse not to check out these great new shoes and give a pair a run. Who knows – you may be an Adidas fan without even knowing it.