- 425
- 245
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2018
There is another factor in shoe performance that I feel the Epic React nails and many other "running shoes" do not. It is important for the shoe to flex sufficiently in mid/outsole and upper that you can do a full heel lift in them without binding.
The lower leg and foot forms a lever system that stores and releases much more energy than the latest energy return shoes (50% versus 4%, respectively!). A shoe should not interfere with that mechanism.
During the beginning and ending of the running stride, at both forefoot landing and toe-off, the foot and calf are in a heel up position. Here are two screen grabs from Jamie's review of ER2.
Note the foot, calf, leg position. Also note the ER does not interfere with this natural motion. If I look at the slowmo video of shoes Kofuzi has reviewed, most of them prevent this natural motion. You might not feel it during the run, but it is costing you efficiency and may eventually lead to injury.
Fortunately, there is a very easy way to test for this. Just put the shoes on in a store and do a standing heel lift. Did you feel any binding? Did the instep flex enough? I strongly believe the complex weave structure of the flyknit upper in the ER and Phantom is unmatched in instep flexibility.
The built-in toe rocker in the new IR tries to force this heel up motion, much like the stiff ZoomFly, which Nike says the toe rocker was copied from. Both are bad ideas. Worse yet are the new "high performance" running shoes with a rigid curved rocker plate. Fortunately, the Vaporfly has plenty of flex in both mid/outsole and upper and allows a great natural leg motion, which is why it is also a great running shoe.
The lower leg and foot forms a lever system that stores and releases much more energy than the latest energy return shoes (50% versus 4%, respectively!). A shoe should not interfere with that mechanism.
During the beginning and ending of the running stride, at both forefoot landing and toe-off, the foot and calf are in a heel up position. Here are two screen grabs from Jamie's review of ER2.
Note the foot, calf, leg position. Also note the ER does not interfere with this natural motion. If I look at the slowmo video of shoes Kofuzi has reviewed, most of them prevent this natural motion. You might not feel it during the run, but it is costing you efficiency and may eventually lead to injury.
Fortunately, there is a very easy way to test for this. Just put the shoes on in a store and do a standing heel lift. Did you feel any binding? Did the instep flex enough? I strongly believe the complex weave structure of the flyknit upper in the ER and Phantom is unmatched in instep flexibility.
The built-in toe rocker in the new IR tries to force this heel up motion, much like the stiff ZoomFly, which Nike says the toe rocker was copied from. Both are bad ideas. Worse yet are the new "high performance" running shoes with a rigid curved rocker plate. Fortunately, the Vaporfly has plenty of flex in both mid/outsole and upper and allows a great natural leg motion, which is why it is also a great running shoe.