Downhill Race - Shoes? (Read 53 times)

What sort of downhill training have you been doing so far? My one and only marathon was also point to point and downhill, but less than half of the drop of yours. I ran mine in Asics Piranha's with a Sole insert for arch support; about a 6oz shoe setup. This was perfect for my feet on the unpaved trail that I raced on.

The course looks like it's smooth, steady downhill on asphalt with some gentle rollers near the HM start area. IOW, you don't have to worry about technical downhill or pointy-side up rocks.   And there does appear to be some minor relief.

You may have to see what shoes work for you. I've noticed many people like Hokas for the cushioning, but get their feet chewed up. Drop is about 4mm on many models. For others, they work fine. Altras are another with some models with cushioning and 0 drop. Not sure what you're used to for drop in your Mizunos. I was using Montrail Badrock one year and they seemed to do well (cushioned, but not as much as hokas), until I hit an extended downhill toward the end of a 6hr training run.

I've done races with 3000-5000 ft of downhill and same amount of uphill (some trail, some road, some rough asphalt road), but longest pitch is usually around 1500ft or so. After killing my feet a year ago on the downhill, I looked for different shoes this year, including Hokas and Altras, but neither worked for me. (marshmallow cushioning in HOkas is energy sapper on uphills.) I tried different insoles, although they had plastic in the heel making them too controlling.  I ended up using the same shoes I used last year (Saucony Xodus 3) with little problem. Probably mostly because it was about 40deg and hard rain, so a lot of soft mud to run on vs 20deg with some snow on very frozen ground making all footing hard. BUT I also did a lot more downhill training on asphalt - and deliberately ran hard on some of it. (had done it mostly on trail in the past)

My feet are hard to fit with wide toebox so that limits what works for me. I may try taking the plastic off the insoles or just plain neoprene insole to help next year.

For me, the duration of the downhill sometimes is more important than the steepness. Core strength can help. If I'm dropping 3000ft over 3 hr is harder than dropping 3000ft over about 1 hr - at least for me.

Thanks for the input. My heel to toe drop is in the 6-9 range depending on the shoe. I'm going to try some different shoes to see what works once the downhill training starts in full force. Thanks again.

Steve