Inov-8 F-Lite 195s
I mentioned these last week, and Zappos did eventually come through with them, although not without one annoying blunder. And I still haven’t been able to return the wrongly-received shoes to them, due to a blunder that wasn’t their fault. However, I do have the pair of F-Lite 195 trail running shoes, and like them quite a lot so far.
The thin sole, and especially the thin heel, make them a significant departure from any of my usual sneakers. Walking in them started off feeling quite strange, and is still a little weird. Running was less of a change because I tend to run on the balls of my feet anyway, so the heel makes less of a difference.
I got to run properly with them for the first time in today’s WOD, and have now done enough with them to decide that they were a good purchase.
They’re really light. I know that’s part of the point, but still, I didn’t realize quite what a difference that would make. Even though I was only running four hundred meters at a time today, it still felt like they improved my time by some significant factor just because of that lightness. Probably my imagination, but still, a nice feeling.
They’re better for weightlifting. I should still get proper weightlifting shoes, but the flatter heel means a more stable position for me, and that seems to help.
They seem to have excellent grip. I was surprised by this; somehow I thought that the thinner sole would bring with it less sticking power, but this was completely wrong. This really shouldn’t be news—they are designed for trail running, after all. Still, I’ve already noticed a big difference just going down wet steps and running on wet hills—the grip feels better than any of my other sneakers, and the thin sole improves my proprioception around my feet, which also improves stability.
I can’t think of too many downsides. Not a lot of cushioning, I suppose, but the science around how much of that we need is unclear to me at best. Not much ankle support, so I don’t think I’ll be trying them out for squash or tennis… although maybe I should.
27 Oct 2010 at 13:32
ran the Dublin Marathon in the inov-8 flite 230′s. No complaints but it does take time to adjust to running in these shoes if you are doing distance greater than about 5 -6 miles or at least that was my experience anyway. great shoes.