Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Now with Ironman Killing Capabilities!




As a Clydesdale triathlete pursuing Ironman distance dreams, shoe replacement is a critical issue. At 215 pounds (or more most days) shoes break down quickly. For the past couple of years I've been in the latest incarnation of the Brooks Adrenaline GTS. I survived the introduction of the GTS 8 so I thought nothing of it when it was time for new shoes and the GTS 9's were introduced.

What the literature didn't include:

"Now with added Ironman Killing Capabilities" what it said was:

* Engineered Heel Geometry: We altered the “crumple zone configuration” (the lateral/outsole heel where the foot strikes the ground — or, the “colored heel” portion of the shoe) through a separate mold piece that helps to better control motion at impact.

Apparently altering the "crumple zone configuration" was the equivalent of altering the biomechanics to a sufficient extent to push your weary ironman training tendons over the edge.

We'll get this verified when I have a full gait analysis next week but the current suspect is in the words of Spike Lee "Money, it's gotta be the shoes!"



I have already found and ordered a couple of pairs of the GTS 8's so hopefully I'll get the quad tendon calmed down, loosen up the IT band and get back out there. For now I'm headed to the pool!

This post is in no way to be interpreted as a slight against Brooks, its shoes or employees. I'm sure the improved crumple zone works great for most other people. (No tortious interference or commercial slander here folks - corporate drones move along)

2 comments:

Brian K. Ramsey said...

Now I truely have heard them all. Blue light special those gts-9's my way.

Anonymous said...

Oi. Parabéns pelo excelente blog. Gostaria de lhe convidar para visitar o meu blog e conhecer um pouco sobre nossa luta contra o comunismo no Brasil. Abração