The Pursuit Of Fit: ASICS

Showing posts with label ASICS. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Shoe Review - Asics GT-2160 / Update on runningwarehouse.com

By: Brent

Like father, like son....

As I entered the running lifestyle, the first REAL pair of shoes I bought were the Asics GT-2140. I had had other "running shoes". The gimmicky Adidas and Nike, and even a couple random generic Asics. This was a real running shoe though. I slipped this on and angels sung, everything seemed brighter and I was know in understanding of what a good running shoe was. You slid into the GT-2140 and it fit like a glove. You felt the gel. The support was seamless and you didn't feel it pushing on you, and you never had any pain, so you knew it worked. It wasn't the lightest shoe you have read about, but I wasn't entering the next Olympics or even high school meet so it was going to be fine for my training. The shoe was going to function for many miles and not need to be replaced in 200 miles.

Sadly, even the finest shoe will wear down and break down over time. 210 pounds of constant pounding. 100...200...300...400 miles getting tacked on, you start noticing the end is near.

Starting back into running, one perk is getting new shoes and I made my attempt with Mizuno. It didn't go well and you can read about it here. Not that it was a bad shoe, but it wasn't for my foot.

I filled out my exchange paperwork and information to runningwarehouse.com. The easiest part was that both shoes were the same price so I did not have to get into the whole charging the card again process. In about 5 days I had a brand new, different, and what would turn out to be better shoe for my liking.

The Asics GT-2160. This years version compared to the well used GT-2140 was very similar. design was perhaps a bit nicer. I can't begin to tell you the difference in the technology. I'm sure it involves letters like "X arc" and "HI Flow this and that" and "ZX Q Form" and more crap that means "We didn't know when to stop with the fancy talk but you'll be fine." The one thing that I seem to read every year on Runner World is "...they added more memory foam...." Well when I put on the new GT-2160, I thought, hmm, "must have added too much memory foam!?!"

The GT-2140 hooked onto your foot, especially in the heel section. The GT-2160 sat up against your foot. I took off for my mileage in the 2160 and after my warm up walk and started into my jogging motion I never again thought about the heel section and the feeling of not being snugged into the shoe. Even after all the extra mileage to date, I don't feel that instant "love" feeling I did with the 2140, but it doesn't stop me from putting them on and heading out for a run.

All in all, I like the GT-2160 but I do like his dad a bit better. After 2 miles it is the same shoe as its dad. Same weight, same build and the same feeling of durability. The son is a little more finicky. Sonny might be a little more worried about the tech than the functionality of itself but all in all, he's a good kid.

As for runningwarehouse.com, I will continue to send them my business. I have now bought 5 pairs of shoes, shorts and some random gear, all flawlessly. Now having just dealt with my first exchange of a shoe I had no issues and I have had a clothing return in the past that also went without a headline, I dare you to find another source that has the selection, pricing, and customer service that runningwarehouse.com can offer you. Did I mention free 2nd day shipping and every shipment already comes with a prepaid return label? Good luck beating that.

Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 - Year In Review

Image by Lel4nd (be back soon in Dec) via FlickrBy: Jeff

Brent and I have come a long way since starting this blog on January 6, 2010 [see original post], we have ran/biked 1,812.45 miles to be exact! With our original goals of this blog being to document our pursuits in becoming more fit, reviewing products, and reviewing races; I would say that this year has provided us with a great start to pursuing those goals.

One of the first big mile markers of the year was Brent's training for a marathon. This training culminated with him running the Glass City Marathon in Toledo [read about Brent's race here ]. What a great feat and a sense of accomplishment for him. Then in June we both ran in the Sunburst races in South Bend. This is one of the several races that Brent has done on mulitple occasions. I imagine it will be one that is on our calander every year, as it is practically in our backyard. Brent did the 10k version while I did my first 5k race ever [read about my 5k race ][read Brent's 10k race here ]. After that we had a bit of down time until we made two important purchases. In July I purchased my Cannondale Synapse 6 bike [Read about Synapse purchase ]. About a month later Brent purchased his new ride, a Cannondale Six Carbon 5 [Read about Brent's purchase here ]. These purchases allowed us to do some serious road bike training and allowed us to participate in our first organized riding event. At the end of September we participated in a huge annual cycling event know as the Apple Cider Century. We decided on riding the 50 mile version of this event [rear about our ACC ride here ]. After that we again had nothing scheduled so we didn't train as much, however we did start riding with the Elkhart Bike Shop's group ride. In Novemember we decided that we would break out our mountain bikes and do some trail riding. Our first adventure was to Dr. T.K. Lawless park, this provided for some nice single track [read about TK here ]. With that adventure we wanted to capitalize on our momentum, which led us to try out another park, Rum Village [read about Rum adventure here ]. We really liked this park, but it led to my meta-carpel mishap [read about my broken hand ]. So as we went into December my training would have to wait until the end of the month, and I have been able to get back on the trainer. Christmas was good to both of us, we both got some new gear, that we will be reviewing in 2011. Also in early December Brent realized that he had a real chance to end the year with over 1,000 miles of movement. I am happy to announce that with his bike ride this morning Brent now has 1,002.55 miles for 2010; that breaks down to 388.02 miles of running and 614.53 miles of cycling!!! I'm sure that we will both do even more miles next year!

With all of that I will say that it has been a pretty succesful year. As we still try to figure out and utilize this blog we would like to ask all of our readers to post a comment about what they would like to see us do and write about next year. Also to all you cycling and running companies out there we would love to review your products, do you hear me Cannondale, Trek, Specialized, Asics, Nike, Garmin, Fizik, Saris, Pearl Izumi, Sugoi, Louis Garneau, Giro, and any others!!! We wish everyone a very happy new year!!! Look for our 2011 preview post soon.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Shoe Reveiw: Brooks Ravenna

By: Brent

I must admit I did the unthinkable. When it comes to RUNNING shoe shopping, it would be best if the manufacturer's would only show you a picture of the box. When you go to try on a shoe, it should be covered in black peel away plastic. You the consumer shouldn't be able to see the shoe for 2 weeks after the purchase of a new pair of running shoes. However...that is NOT the case. I have issues. I have size 15 issues. I don't often get the option to walk into a store, point at a shoe, and them skip out from the back room and try one one. So I have to rely on Runners World and Running Warehouse and other reviews to tell me how I will feel in a shoe. The problem is, I only KIND OF did that. I saw this dazzler of a shoe and thought, "i shall have you". Then as it became available and the pricing was released and it hit the shelves and was able to be purchased, I did it.

WHY I DID IT?:

I have had many a pair of Asics and I really wanted to try a pair of Brooks. check!
I need a mild support shoe. check!
I need something that is made AND available in a size 15. check!
I mentally wanted a lighter shoe (mind you in a size 15, nothing is light). check!
I wanted to keep my purchase under $100. check!
but most importantly, I thought the Brooks Ravenna looked amazing. So I bought it.

When the shoe arrived, I got on the treadmill (huh!) and walked 1.5 miles to get a feeling for how I liked the shoe. I had no feelings. Zero. It was a shoe. I didn't think that it was super soft, amazing fit, great balance or even that it was amazingly light. I wasn't amazed, but it wasn't that I didn't like it. The problem is, I think i liked it best because of how it looked. So the next day, I brought them into work and wore them around to break them in more. Not bad. Not amazing, just fine.

So the first day comes around that I can get outside with them. I did a 2 mile out and back and they felt hard. Not painful but they just didn't have the give that my previous shoes have had. I will say other shoes before this have also been heavier shoe's so it makes sense that some of the extra foam in the bottom of the shoe has been pulled out to save weight.

Now since I purchased this shoe, not counting walking around at work, I have logged 46.2 miles. The best thing I did was pulled out the stock insole and replaced it with the thinnest Spenco insole available. This made any minor knee pain go away and I logged a 12 mile run this past weekend.

I want to add that my hope was that this shoe would be my marathon day shoe. It won't be. I have now also purchased an Asics DS Trainer 14. Very similar shoe characteristics but just feels better to me. I may even put insoles in that shoe but that has yet to be determined. The main reason I bought another shoe was to split the training distance but I think this may be my go to race day shoe. I need to log more miles before that gets determined.