A gentle christening for my new trail shoes

[Maddee_6333]

Roclite 295. Women's standard fit.

Popped them on to walk to my friend's house as we were starting our canicross run from there.

They feel like trainers when I put them on. Not baggy but... more padded and comfortable than I am used to in a trail shoe. I had to consciously try to avoid lacing them up really tight to compensate.

They did not feel slippery on the road or the pavement - not even when both dogs saw a cat and wanted to chase it. Pavement and road were both dry, not wet, but this is still a definite improvement over my beloved Salomon Fellraisers.

I don't bother buying waterproof shoes, as my winter runs generally see me running through puddles that come over the tops of any shoes I wear anyway, so my toes got wet walking across the damp grass of the local park.

I did opt to put a blister plaster on my right little toe when I got to my friend's as a preventative measure (I could just feel the tiniest rub).

Left house and walk through the farm - more tarmac - and started our run, up the chalk path to the hill proper. They did slip a bit on the chalk, but not too badly.

They were great on the turf, uphill and down 👍

They were also good on the muddy path along the side of the - now harvested - field, which is not exactly the flattest thing to run on. I felt very secure in them, and forgot to even worry about turning my ankle (which is a thing I do sometimes as I think I under pronate just a little on my left foot). Unfortunately friend, who is recovering from twisting her ankle a while ago, did go over on hers so I ended up attaching her pointer to me alongside my beagle and ran them round the rest of the field while she took the footpath through the middle. Path round the edge is stony and uneven and shoes performed really well.

We did a really slow jog/walk along the top of the hill, and then I ran both dogs down the chalk path we'd run up at the start. There was a bit of slipping, less than on the uphill though! but I never felt like I was in trouble, not even with 2 dogs pulling me.

In total I only ran about 3.5k, though I covered about 6k wearing them in all. My achilles and calves all feel fine so far, and I think the blister plaster was a good idea so I'll probably do that the next few times I wear them.

Things I have learned about Inov8 whilst shopping for new trail shoes:

Their trail shoes are either Precision (Narrow) or Standard (wide) fit.

It's not like buying trousers where you can choose the waist size and then the length. You can't choose a style and then a fit: the fit goes with the style.

Not all Innov8s are the same. Mine have a standard soft mesh over the foot. The pair I was lusting after had a much tougher mesh that, unfortunately, caught me right across my toes when it creased as I ran.

It really is worth trying to find somewhere you can try a whole load of them on before you buy.

[skysue16 Graduate10]

The shoes sound really good. It is very difficult choosing shoes and running on the shop treadmill doesn't really equate to a run up a slippery track! Shame about your friend hope the ankle is ok

[Maddee_6333 Graduate10 in reply to skysue16]

It really doesn't. I was pleasantly surprised about how good they were. I think the test will be running through the woods in them.

I did leave her RICEing it, so I think it should be fine (if she actually managed to rest it for longer than 5 minutes after I'd left her!)