Tag: shoes

What is happening with running shoes these days? Thicccckkkkkness.

The shoes, they are getting thick.*

Perhaps they’ve been inspired by the Nike alphafly 3 proto running shoes shown below:

…but they seem to have moved far and away from the minimal sole. For example these New Balance Permafrost Fresh Foam X which are made for winter running are might think in the sole:

Same with the New Balance x district vision trail running shoe:

Nice. I have always been in favour of thick soles, so I approve of this trend. I am also a fan of running shoes made for winter running (and you’ll be too the minute you go for a run and get freezing slush in your shoe).

Need new shoes? Check these out. You’ll be faster in no time.

* I am sure there are plenty of running shoes that are being sold that are not thick. But definitely noticing a trend towards a thicker sole.

Can you run in summer? And other fitness advice you can use


Can you run in the summer? Of course. You just have to be smart about it. If you are interested and need advice, the New York Times has a whole section on summer running. Check it out.

Not that you have to run. Walking/running or simply walking is a perfectly fine way to get in some exercise on hot days. The Times also has a walking workout that may be just the thing you need to stay fit safely.

Back to running. Sometimes all you need to help with running is some better gear. Here’s six very different runners on what they consider their  essential running gear (not all of it is something you wear).

One of the runners featured there is Martinus Evans. He talks about his slow af run club here. I greatly admire him. He has a new book out: if you need inspiration, check it out. (Image above is of the book.) Running slowly in summer is especially a good idea.

Not all runners are inspirational. Here’s a story of  how embattled Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema uses campaign cash for her marathon habit. She’s a good runner, as this shows, but that is not something I would not want my representative to be doing.

Whatever her motivation is, if you need motivation, maybe running bingo can help you. Or this story on ultramarathon running from dawn dusk  over 24 hours.

It’s not all running here. This is a good piece on self described “swole woman” Casey Johnston who is an inspiration to anyone looking to get fitter using weights. Any type of weight. She publishes an e-book that looks good for beginners especially called Liftoff: couch to barbell. Check out her shop, here for more good things.

This isn’t hers, but this full body workout you can do in 20 minutes might be the thing you need to get in shape or stay fit.

I thought that this was interesting:  how to get the most out of apple watch heart rate zones. Related, here’s how analyse your health with python and apple health

Here’s something on nutrition myths. Here’s a piece in the Atlantic on ozembic.

This is how to tell the difference between being  sleepy and being fatigued differences. Maybe you need a nap: maybe you need a break.

Finally, here’s a cool shoe:  nike waffle one se (shown below). Take a walk AND be stylish doing so.

 

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The irony of the Nike’s new shoe, the NikeCraft x Tom Sachs General Purpose Shoe

If this shoe was coming out from anyone other than Nike, I would just straight-up praise it. It’s a practical shoe. It will likely wear well over the months and even years. If you are someone who likes to wear the same shoe all the time (e.g. Birkenstocks or Blundstones) then these could be perfect for you.

Coming from Nike, though, which is famous/notorious for making rare and high priced shoes intentionally, the fact that they make these and portray these shoes as typical of them is …well, something.

To step back, Nike does make shoes for different markets. The Pegasus brand and the Air Force 1 lines are for mass markets, just like these are. Just like the Jordan brands and other high end lines are for different markets. It’s all just capitalism: they have a model for whatever you value and whatever your values are. For more on the these shoes, check out Uncrate and Yanko Design.

The very fashionable New Balance 327 are perfect for spring

I think New Balance makes great shoes for lots of reasons. If you are training hard athletically, they can really help you. But not all of us are doing that. Perhaps we just want to go for nice walks in the spring.

If that’s your goal, consider the NB 327.

The cloud version above and the mushroom version below are both really stylish and look really comfortable. They could be perfect for doing that stroll you want to do. They’ll be fine if you also want to pick up the pace.

I love the tread on the back too. I had driving shoes like that and they were incredibly comfortable on long drives on the highway.

(Credit to Uncrate.com for the images)

Forget NFTs: sneakers are a better example of when culture and IT conflict

And the New York Times is on it: Can Shopify Stop Sneaker Bots? – The New York Times.

I find that story fascinating on many levels. It starts with the culture of sneakerheads. Then it shows what happens when you mix IT in. Suddenly there is a massive distortion effect that occurs. Combine that with voracious capitalism and a fun hobby morphs into something….well less than pretty.

So much of our current society is captured in that piece. Well worth taking a moment to read and digest.

P.S. I got caught up in that for a moment a few years ago when my son suddenly wanted this particular brand of Jordans. I remember him showing them to me by a guy who was selling them online, and I had to study sneakers to see if they were legitimate or knock offs before handing over hundreds of dollars to some guy who had some weird handle of a name.

Thankfully my son lost interest in becoming a sneakerhead. I couldn’t afford it anyway!

(Photo by Paul Volkmer on Unsplash )

 

The Nimbus Cloud 990v5 running shoes from New Balance

NB 990s

New Balance has been making some form of the 990s for a very long time. If you are a clydesdale runner you may have owned one of more of these.

I wanted to highlight this pair because I just love the styling of them. Long after they no longer provide you the cushioning you need to run with, you can still walk around in them and be stylish IMHO.

For more info on them, check out this Uncrate piece.

Of course, you can also go to the New Balance site. The all black ones look great too.

Forget Barefoot; New Trendsetter in Running Shoes Is Cushioning – NYTimes.com

Oy. First we had the minimalist running shoe. Now comes this: Forget Barefoot; New Trendsetter in Running Shoes Is Cushioning in the NYTimes.com. Yep, we are swinging from minimalist shoes to maximalist shoes. Should you get them? I agree with Lauren here:

Lauren Fleshman, a national champion in the 5,000 meters, likened the maximalist upswing to past footwear phenomena, now rejected as passé.

“To me, maximalist shoes fall right in the line of every other shoe trend,” she said. “There’s some good reasoning, but we don’t know enough about how it affects the body longer term, and we won’t know until everyone has been using it a while and all the other research comes out about how it destroys your body or whatever, and then there’s a lawsuit, and then there’s a campaign about how to use the technology properly, and then in the midst of all this confusion the next trend takes off. There is no shoe savior coming for us.”

A fashionable option for men who don’t want to wear leather shoes (or Tom’s shoes)


If you are a man (or someone who like to wear shoes traditionally associated with men) who doesn’t want to wear shoes from leather, don’t want to wear Converse or Toms shoes but do want to wear dress shoes, you have what I think is  a good alternative: Delli Aldo shoes. I came across them via Cool Tools (a newsletter and a section of Kevin Kelly’s website) and I think they are great for a number of reasons:

  1. they are very stylish
  2. they come in a wide range of styles
  3. they are low cost
  4. they are vegan

Beware: they run large (e.g. if you wear 8, consider getting the size 7 or 6.5) and they stink the first few days you get them (then apparently they do not).

For more information, check out the link to Cool Tools or go right to Amazon and pick up a pair.