Shoes for Winter - Snow and Ice (Read 1006 times)

I'm with Mikey here. I used to be a wuss and skip days when it was snowy. Now I just go out. I just wear my regular running shoes, too. My development doesn't have any through streets, and has a one mile loop, so when it's real bad out I can stay close to home and not worry about traffic. The only thing I really worry about is black ice, either from snow melt or a quick freeze after a rain storm. It's tough to see in the dark .... took a couple of spills last year.

Yeah, last winter I wore my regular shoes shoes and socks but it was a pretty mild winter and not a lot of snow. I actually like running in the snow. In a way, it helps my running form - if you overstride or excessively heel-strike, you're asking to wipe out. It forces you land softly. I hate my reflective vest but gotta wear it.

Well, I've heard stories of them breaking after a few runs on pavement, or only lasting a couple of weeks.

That's what happened to mine. The coils break into smaller coils. They keep on working as traction aides until the pieces breaking become too small and fall off the elastic wire. A broken coil that stuck out of one of my shoes is what got caught to my other foot and sent me flying in the air. How long it takes for them to break. I don't exactly remember, it was the first winter I used them and I used them only occasionally and all my runs I used them in involved some ice and snow and some pavement. Note that if you have long stretches of clear pavement, it's easy to take them off and put them back when the terrain gets difficult again. I usually didn't because I ran with them mostly in the streets and it was a mix of clear, ice and snow.

Well, I've heard stories of them breaking after a few runs on pavement, or only lasting a couple of weeks.

Well, it says right on the package NOT to use them on pavement. I got a few months out of mine last Winter, no signs of wear or breakage, But I also was running on solid snow and ice with very few clear spots until closer to Spring, so by that time I wasn't wearing them any longer. My weekly long runs all last Winter were 10-11 miles and I maintained 25-30 miles/week pretty much all season. I don't think I could claim that without the YakTrax. Running on snow and ice without them really increases the level of effort (not to mention the risk of falling), so my mileage would surely have suffered without them.

Well, it says right on the package NOT to use them on pavement.

Really? Are you sure about that? It says right on the box that I have here,"NOT FOR INDOOR USE", but nothing about pavement. Anyways, it's kind of obvious that running on pavement will shorten their life.

I probably have around 200 miles on my pair and they show no wear. But I also only wore them on snow and ice...no pavement or gravel.

That's good news to me, because I do the same and I only bought mine towards the end of last Winter.