You may remember my post from back in May where I was on the hunt for my next pair of running shoes. At that point, I thought I was going to be choosing between the Nike Pegasus 37 and the Brooks Ghost 12. Then, I started digging deeper into the daily trainer category and came across the Reebok Floatride Forever Energy 2.0 at a nice price. I have to say, I’ve been very surprised by its performance.

The first thing I noticed is its bounciness. It was my first experience with the Floatride Energy Foam, and the “pop” caught me offguard, in a good way. The upper isn’t super plush, but the ride is really good. One thing to consider with this shoe is that it runs a little long for some people. I typically wear a size 9.5, and I ordered both a 9 and a 9.5 to try. The 9 was pretty tight on my left foot, but felt fine on my right. The 9.5 felt good on my left, but just slightly large on my right. Ultimately, I went with the 9.5, and I just have to be sure to tighten the right shoe enough before heading out. A size 9.25 would have been perfect.

Another Option Emerges

Just when I thought I had my daily trainer situation squared away I came across another good deal. This time it was on the Asics Novablast. The tall stack height, 37mm in the heel and 27mm in forefoot, appealed to me for use on longer runs, and so far it’s seemed to keep me from feeling too beat up as I increase my base mileage. I will say, that stack height can feel ever so slightly unstable at first. After I put about 30 miles on the shoes it felt like they compressed just slightly and that my foot was sitting more “in” the insole rather than “on top” of it. If that makes any sense. The Novablast also has a nice “pop” or “push” that makes running in them quite fun. It’s a different shoe, but in a good way.

Rookie Running Mistake

With the running shoe updates out of the way, it’s time to talk about my Trials of Miles 5K time trial mistake. First off, huge thanks to that entire team for putting on such a cool event. I had a blast putting up a time even though I was nowhere near race shape, and it’s motivated me to put together a serious training plan. Now, about that rookie mistake. I went out way too fast. I figured that to advance in the Masters bracket I would have to run sub-20:00, and I was right. My first mile should’ve been around 6:25-6:30 pace. Instead, I was closer to 6:15 and the wheels ended up coming off. What can I say, the adrenaline got the best of me. That combined with no interval or tempo training to get used to “feeling” what that pace felt like doomed me. No worries though, I’m looking forward to building out my base, throwing in some speedwork and seeing how much I improve in the next eight weeks.