Skora's Latest, the Tempos

Spring/Summer Running Season is Coming!

Even though there's Mega-Tons of snow out there, I'm planning ahead.   Although I am 'Mr Minimal Footwear", I am also 'Mr Variety of Footwear.'  In a given week, I will cycle through 2-3 pairs of shoes. This practice:

• Spreads the 'love' of tiny differences in muscle activation that occurs from differing footwear
• Spreads out time that I need to make a (read: another!) shoe investment

In my rotation I will keep higher stack-height shoes.  They are a tool in my shoe-tool-box that I most often pull out when fatigued but need to hit it again, or in a drop bag of an ultra and need extra stack height to go on.  

 Typically, my back to back long runs on a Saturday/Sunday.  The Sunday run I will enter fatigued but I want to hit the larger muscle groups more aggressively.  Therefore, the more supportive shoe comes out!  Saves foot muscle activation when feet are tired. 

The Tempos are now my go to shoe for this purpose.  Holy cow, comfy.  The first two hours I owned them I ran 14miles at a decent clip.  The breathable upper will be heaven-sent in hotter weather, especially hitting the pavement.  On trails, I'll be bombing down a little more aggressively than normal - which will give me a good training benefit there! (22mm stack height, medium EVA cushion).  

Things I really dig: 

• Grooves in sole.  Even though it's a tall shoe for me, grooves make it flexible.  I'm getting good foot mobility in there!
• Breathable upper.  This mesh will be VERY refreshing.  I plan to wear them for my 100 km Road Ultra coming in mid March
• Smart Lug Placement.  Great traction even on pea-gravel, sand collected on road shoulders.  
• Zero drop. This should go without saying for me... We all have these amazing springs that return ground force reactions.  An elevated heel reduces those springs' effectiveness.  Zero-drop is a prerequisite for me (and should be for you.) 
• Subtle little curve in the sole. When I am running long miles on unchanging surfaces (like road running). I find I will consciously adjust toe emphasis.  Force toes to relax, or curve them up, or press them down.  Varies over long runs.  The sole in the Tempos have a subtle upward toe curvature. This *may* weaken toe extensors over time, but my first impression is it feels NICE.  I last longer!  This is another reason why it will work for my road ultra! 
• Color = visibility on the roads.  I'm normally shy, but I want cars, bikes to see me coming!

Things I dig less:

• Can't wear in winter, can't add microspikes.  The elastic from my kahtoolas crush my toes. With thick boiled wool socks they can be a good winter shoe.  But I needs' my spikes'!  
• Will I rely on them too much? Will that weaken foot muscles due to thick(er) cushioning than what I'm used to?  Can't wait to find out :).  

They're really good looking.

Skora Fit Review

SKORA FIT (Men's) Review

Being relatively new to running (started in 2009), I noticed that lowering stack height, lowering heel-height, and increasing ground feel added up to injury free running.  I took that to the extreme and ran barefoot, wafer thin sandals, Vibram five fingers, etc.  After dialing in my form, and increasing running economy, I added a little more foot protection to increase my speed and run more confidently on technical trails.  The SKORA FITs are just thick enough to protect my soles from the fist sized rocks scattered on the trails I run.   

My favorite feature is the upper material.  If you focus in on the material, it reminds me of a sweatshirt material with the addition of rubber dots all over.  (Protip: these rubber dots are VERY helpful on rope climbs in a Crossfit WOD). 

The build quality of these shoes is 'top-drawer, the seam between sole and upper appears bulletproof.  

The flexibility of the sole is pretty uniform the mid foot and forefoot give equally.  I always recommend matching the flexible points of a shoe to the hinge points of your foot.  This is easy to do in the FITs.  

They look good in casual dress as well ;).  Wear your flexible shoes around to grow your foot muscles especially if you're transitioning from overly supportive footwear.  

Road and Trails

A growing contingent of minimalistic runners (me included) are not too concerned with 'knobby tread' to have trail-performance.  

I can refer you to millions of years of human trail-running performance that occurred in bare feet, or moccasins.  

For a trail race in the mud, or sheets of ice I will use Katoolas or Yaktraxs.  For a training runs, or exploring, the tread on any SKORA shoes are sufficient if your form is sound.  

So far my FITs only have 200 miles on them, but that includes >40,000 of elevation gain.  The elasticity of the uppers keep my feet from sliding around in the shoes during steep downhills or sharp cornering.  They allow my feet to splay upon foot landing.  There is enough ground-feel to give me the necessary proprioception to shift weight appropriately. 

Summary

Pros

• Durable and sticky soles
• Comfortably elastic uppers 
• High quality materials and construction
• Sufficient ground feel with 'padding' for foot protection

Cons

• Minimalist runners will think the stack height is too high - I will slip on thinner shoes to make sure certain foot muscles don't atrophy 
• I wish the heel-cup fit the heel more snuggly
• Won't make it into my business casual wardrobe I wear at work

-----------

I will keep these shoes in my rotation and I can tell they will last for >1,000miles but they may make my feet lazy.  They are great for Crossfit work outs, road running and trail running.  I would recommend this shoe to 

• Minimalist runners that are ramping up their mileage, add a thicker shoe to their rotation
• More supportive shoe wearers looking to transition to zero-drop/thinner shoes
• Crossfit athletes

For making it through this review.... 20% off by using discount code: skorarunning.com/user/paleorunners

Snow and Ice Running Solutions

Been playing with screws in shoes, Kahtoola Microspikes and Yaktrax Runs.  My trails look like this (click here).

Summary: they each have their place.



1. The YakTrax Runs are very lightweight (lighter than the Kahtoola Microspikes) and easy to put on.  The strap that goes over the forefoot makes them very secure.  The first warning I got about Yaktrax was they may come off the forefoot, but this velcro strap fixes that.  (using them click here)

There are six carbide steel dull spikes in the forefoot area.  Three in each of two flat pads.  The directions tell you NOT to run on roads or rocks because you will tear these spikes out.  I have about 150 miles on mine and my spikes are bent, some are pushed flush in to the hard plastic.  I did not exactly follow the directions.  In my trails, when there's snow and ice there's STILL exposed rocks.  I think it'd need to snow many feet deep to cover the rocks in my area.  I thought they would be good in mud, but this pic will show the potential issues with that: 

The mud is caked and hides the spikes immediately.  The hard plastic pads have one more issue in my experience.  Just enough snow will get caught in those pads and freeze.  I notice this right away as it feels like there's an acorn in my shoe.  The frozen acorn-sized chunks of snow caught between the pads and my sole freeze and press in to the soft midfoot area.  I have to stop running regularly to clean out this compressed snow.  This is very difficult since my fingers are typically worthless at this point.  The springs along the middle and heel of the foot work GREAT and give me the traction I need.  I score these thusly:

• six out of ten for effectiveness 
• three out of ten for longevity
• eight out of ten for ease of use

2.  Kahtoola MicroSpikes are sadly about as heavy as the thin minimalist shoes I wear.  I notice that I have them on and I am sure they weigh me down!  But the traction and ability to stay on and not need adjustment are unimproveable.  Again, only because I wear such thin shoes, the elastic on these is so strong it bends my toes up and my big toe can feel bruised after a few hours of wear.  I would not use these for an ultra race.  If your shoes are as thin as mine, be prepared to feel the spikes pushing back up into your feet.  This can take some getting used to if your feet are normally pampered.  

Stock photo:

These are a must have for frequent snow/ice runs.

• eight out of ten for effectiveness 
• eight out of ten for longevity
• four out of ten for ease of use (dinged for being heavy and elastic hurting my little feetz)

3. Screw in the shoes - is a way to turn a pair of trail shoes in to a snow/ice biting tool.  Because the screws are in the sole, they won't come out easily so this solution is most likely to see pavement or concrete en route to your trail run.  I used my B2R Trail shoes for this since the stack height is sufficient for me running 3/8" teck screws in to the foot.  

The screw heads provide the bite into the ice and snow.  Not nearly as helpful in snow as the microspikes.  But their longevity and serviceability after hitting road surfaces and rocks is attractive to the do-it-yer'selfer.  The amount of added weight is negligible and the difference in feeling for my foot is slight.  Sometimes I swear I can feel the sharp point of a screw when I hit a rock 'just righ' (wrong).  But no foot damage or discomfort.  I could double the # of screws in the foot bed for more traction on ice, but I feel it'd get too slippery on harder surfaces.  

• four out of ten for effectiveness 
• five out of ten for longevity
• nine out of ten for ease of use