Just wanted to share a word of warning about trying to get 500 miles from the shoe. In my pre-minimalist days, I’d always swap out my Brooks Adrenaline GTS at about 375 miles. I’d start to get achy, I’d buy new shoes, and the ache would go away.

In this case, I figured there’s so little foam, and the Abound material is supposed to last longer, I could push it farther. In fact, I tweeted @AltraZeroDrop and they said if I was still getting traction, it was fine.

Turns out it wasn’t, for me anyway. After putting 450 miles on the shoes, I’ve been away from running for nearly three weeks now with a case of peroneal tendinitis. I think it’s because the rubber has worn away in the outer back of the shoe (see photo). I land midfoot, then drop back to my heel. Presumably because of the worn away rubber, I’m dropping back and out, putting extra stress my peroneals. That’s my theory anyway. To be fair, it is just one pair of shoes in my rotation, but it gets more than half my weekly 50-ish miles, and it’s the only pair with over 150 miles on it.

Don’t get me wrong – I love them! I tried on the Newton MV3 (pushes my big toe over) and the 3-SUM (upper too restrictive, lacing too finicky) to see if they’d work better, but The One is just perfect, with just the right amount of cushion – despite the fact that all my socks are green.

This time I’ll be extra cautious, and won’t go past 400 miles.

http://www.altrazerodrop.com/w…

http://www.altrazerodrop.com/w…

ah, yes.

Thanks Robert and Pete! That makes a lot of sense.

I feel like I land midfoot, but I know a high percentage of self-reported midfoot strikers are in fact heel strikers, so I don’t put much faith in my perceptions. One quick video I did showed a consistent midfoot landing, but that was in Vapor Gloves, which would be much less forgiving of a heel strike.

That said, the rubber under the metatarsal heads is also worn away on my old The One’s, versus the new pair I just got (see pic – left=new, right=old). I’ve been very conscious of my gait the past few months, and have certainly been “mixing things up” a bit!

Hi Brian,

Wear on outsoles tends to be due to friction rather than loading, so where you see wear is where you are likely to be landing with the foot still moving forward slightly. So rather than mid-foot landing all the time I think it’s likely you are landing with a very mild heel strike at least some of the time, with the foot almost flat to the ground but still moving forward on landing. It’s the moving forward part that will be doing all the wear as you’ll be skidding just a little bit on each landing (almost all of us do it.)

If you can tweak your gate so you foot is nearer tp stationary relative to the ground then you should be able to reduce the wear. I have found running without socks helped me get a better appreciation of horizontal speed of my feet on landing so would recommend going sockless when you want to work on your form.

On the injury front, it could well be combination of wear on the outsole, midsole and insole that is resulting in a shoe that loads your foot differently during stance. It could be compression of the foam elsewhere in the shoe is responsible, or perhaps it’s nothing to do with the shoe at all…

If it is the shoe causing the injury then it’s certainly time to swap them out.

Good stuff! Okay, I’m definitely breaking out the video camera. I mean, iPad. :)

Looks like you’ve worn away the inner, not outer back part of the shoe.

That’s my right shoe. Just double-checked :). I’m referring to the lower-left area in the photo. You can see the area with the Altra logo is much higher on the right side than the left.

Just keep in mind that contact wear does not necessarily equate to loading – it’s due to scuffing/friction and full loading of the foot could be occurring elsewhere. So you may scuff the heel first but load mostly under the midfoot.

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For reference, here’s the same area on a new 3-Sum (about to be sent back).

I would agree here, wear like that is due to friction and is most likely caused by scuffing the heel first on landing. My shoes tend to wear similarly. I typically make initial contact on the heel, but load mostly through the mid and forefoot, or so the fancy treadmill at Saucony told me :)
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