Footwear

The Vasque Wasatch GTX, a combat boot replacement?

“A journey into the wilderness is the freest, cheapest, most nonprivileged of pleasures. Anyone with two legs and the price of a pair of army surplus combat boots may enter.”- Edward Abbey

What we put on our feet can make the all the difference when we hit the trail. Support, comfort, stability all factor in to how our feet hold up, and how our feet hold up is THE determining factor of what kind of shape we are in when we get off the trail. For many years my absolute go to for a trail boot was none other then Edward Abbeys recommendation, a solid, cheap pair of US Army surplus combat boots. Yes they were hard to break in but once they where, where unrivaled in comfort and stability. My combat boots stood up to everything I could throw at them, up mountains and through alpine meadows in Alaska, over sandstone and washes in Utah, rainforests in British Columbia, swampy cedar stands in Wisconsin, and almost everything in between.

It was sadly and reluctantly that I was forced to retire my combat boots from hiking duty this fall. After spending the day in a recently flooded out Paria canyon in Utah that I found my boots in shape beyond repair. I can’t say if it was trekking in the sticky mud of a canyon that had recently been flash flooded or just time but the soles of my boots were becoming completely separated from the boots themselves.

In desperation for something I picked up a pair of cheap low top trail runner/hikers to finish the trip off in. They worked well enough at first but the low top style left my ankles feeling unsupported and exposed. The final straw came on one of my last days in Colorado where a simple misplacement of one of my steps left the bottom of my right foot feeling strained. Hiking the next day I found even stepping onto midsized stones with my right foot caused me to cringe in pain. This was something I’d never had happen in my sturdier combat boots. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I had to find something as reliable to replace surplus combat boots.

Read more – Max Venom

(featured image courtesy of maxvenom.com)

THE MR IS SHORT FOR MUD RUN | VIBRAM SPYRIDON MR

The Vibram FiveFingers Spyridon MR (the MR is short for mud run) is not your typical running shoe. It doesn’t look or act like a typical running shoe, and it turns out that’s not such a bad thing. With aggressive all-terrain tread and a glove like fit, this “shoe” is more like a mud glove for your feet. The unique combination of traction, responsiveness, feather weight, and unparalleled water drainage, this shoe is perfect for speeding through your next mud or trail run. And best of all, it will make you feel like a kid again doing it.

For foot protection, Vibram utilizes what they call their 3D cocoon material, which is embedded into the outsole. It is designed to disperse the force of impact across the foot; so if you’re hitting the edge of a rock, you don’t feel the sharpness of it. That being said, this doesn’t mean that you won’t feel it, and it can lead to your foot taking a beating.

Vibram shoes are designed to keep you in touch with the running surface in a way that most of us are completely unused to. The average trail shoe is designed specifically to make it so you don’t feel the rocks and tree roots you’re running on. Vibram wants you to stay in touch with all of these things, but take out the risk of injury associated with barefoot running.

I won’t beat around the bush; it takes some getting used to. The first time I used them on a hard packed trail with stones, my feet were swollen and painful for the rest of the day. But if you give yourself enough time in them, your feet toughen up enough to negate this drawback.

Read more – Spotter Up

(featured image courtesy of spotterup.com)

SHIFT GEARS, GET STRONG, TRANSITION FROM RUNNING SHOES TO LUNA SANDALS

The Luna Sandals are mentioned here because my buddy Don Tamm began using them for an ultra-marathon. I was curious. Sandals are great to have for a variety of uses; beach wear, shower shoes, or walking around town. No one wants to be in shoes all the time and the open and freeing-feeling they give is good when the feet need time away from confining boots and shoes.

Don had been running in the Brooks line of shoes for almost 2 decades. Finally he switched over to the Altra line of minimal shoes last year out of desperation. He had a nagging IT band problem that stayed with him for years and he wanted to find a solution. He tried doing long-term physical therapy, he tried going back to distance biking (something that he’s really amazing at) to exercise his legs differently, he even took time off but none of it worked.

He first went with the minimal feel of the Altras. I asked him how they were. He said it took him about a month to get into the feel of the shoes. You end up feeling the ground more with every foot fall. For those who like to understand how their feet strike the ground, a minimal shoe is optimal, as it allows you to correct your gait. Don, was running 15 miles a day and his calves were blowing up to the size of hot air balloons because his gait was changing. Once his connective tissue and muscles got used to the added strain, he began to build up the strength to withstand the daily stresses on the various terrain he was climbing.

But the Lunas were an interesting idea for him. He wanted to get a barefoot, minimal feel, because he thought they’d really get him back to zero (basically a reset); before the IT pain all started. I called him today and asked about the Luna sandals. He said, other than in winter, he won’t go back to regular shoes ever again when he runs. He said it’s because they feel free on his feet and he likes that for running. All the IT pain is gone. To think he put up with that for 3 years and didn’t see a solution in sight. Now, he puts up to 6 hour days in the Lunas.

Read more – Spotter Up

(featured image courtesy of spotterup.com)

PRODUCT REVIEW: COMBAT FLIP FLOPS TUCK TUCK

First Impressions: These look great and if you take a closer look they actually tell a story with all the small details they’ve got etched into them. These aren’t cheap, flimsy, rubber beach-wear, pimped out on the boardwalk, by store owners looking to make a buck on tourists who forgot to pack footwear. Just one look and you realize these guys are on to something. Birkenstock and Aeropostale these ain’t. Combat Flip Flops look like they’re made to kick someone’s ass before you head into a bar in Texas and tell your listeners the backstory.

Surely these sandals are conversation starters and a lot of thought went into this brand. The tag line is ”Bad for running, worse for fighting” but wearing their sturdy footwear certainly makes you feel like telling everyone you’re the boss. When somebody disagrees with you just lift up your foot and show them why.

Okay, let’s be real. Combat Flips Flops might not help you throw a punch better but let the sandals do all the talking. By night’s end it’s likely that you’ve got some new friends and sold them on getting their own pair. So, let’s set the record straight. Combat Flip-Flops aren’t designed for covert beach and bar ops. But they look like they should be.

The Details: Each of their sandals (or flops) is well made and the brilliance is in the details. The AK-47’s are decorated with the butt ends of AK-47 shell casings. The Tuck Tucks that I’m reviewing are brilliant red and symbolize the energy of every industrious Afghan citizen who taxis around cities in their loud, three wheeled ride the sandal is known by.

It took me a few days to notice every feature in them. From the poppy hood ornament to the quality stitching, to the Afghan flag colors, they tell a great story. As advertised, they’re louder than most flip-flops and are definitely conversation starters.

Read more – Spotter Up

(featured image courtesy of spotterup.com)

These Boots Are Made For Hiking (And Your Feet Will Thank You)

We’ve heard it for years: Don’t scrimp on your hiking boots.

We’ll start with the facts. Each human foot has a whopping 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, and 19 muscles and tendons. Knowing this, it’s no surprise that a quality shoe is a vital piece of gear in any hiker’s closet. After all, our footwear protects 25 percent of the total bones in our body!

But how does a well-crafted hiking shoe anatomically help our performance on the trail? It all boils down to the support of the shoe. As a board-certified Orthopedic Physical Therapy Specialist, Joe Bryant deals with a highly active sports-based population through his work at Next Level Sports Performance in Golden, Colorado. According to Bryant, the benefits of hiking shoes stem back to our everyday footwear—or lack thereof.

“Simplistically, pronation means increased mobility in our joints and includes a flattening of the inner arch,” Bryant explains. Some pronation is natural and is inherent in the act of walking. However, excessive pronation leads to excessive mobility, and this is when injuries can occur.

“People at home often walk and function without shoes or with unsupportive shoes like flip-flops or worn-out sneakers,” Bryant says. This lack of support enables the excessive mobility referenced above. When these same individuals decide to hit the trails, their joints are more mobile than they should be on the uneven terrain. Should they choose to tackle the rocky singletrack without a supportive shoe, they are much more susceptible to injury than they would be while wearing the proper footwear.

For long-distance hikers or backpackers, the effects of pronation do not end there. If you’ve heard the children’s song “Dem Bones,” then you already understand:

Read more – Gore-Tex

(featured image courtesy of gore-tex.com)

5 Reasons Why I Stopped Hiking in Tennis Shoes

Meet GORE-TEX® Products fan Tyler Norris. For those who know him personally, the mountains are more often his home than the residence he pays rent for. We asked him to walk through his experience with tennis shoes, and why he made the switch to hiking boots.

A couple weeks ago I read an article titled “5 Reasons To Ditch Your Hiking Boots” by CleverHiker. The writer talked about thru-hikers using tennis shoes (mostly trail running shoes) on longer hikes because they couldn’t handle the weight and bulkiness of hiking boots.

Let me be clear, I’m not saying Dave Collins of CleverHiker is wrong in his assessment, as much as I’m saying not everyone can or should ditch hiking boots outright. To do so, I’m going to walk through my personal decision to stop hiking in tennis shoes, only use hiking boots, and why I haven’t gone back.

1. Hiking boots traction action

I attribute one of my most embarrassing hiking moments to a pair of tennis shoes. I was walking around in my tennis shoes at Fossil Springs and slipped backward on some rocks. Lucky for me, the fall hurt my pride more than my body. But imagine that misfortune on a serious section of a hike. Embarrassment is nothing compared to a fall from perilous heights.

Tennis shoes may excel on concrete or groomed trails, but they’re often too flexible to give you uncompromised traction in the wild. Many hiking boots feature Vibram soles and heel brakes that deliver optimal control on the trail. I’ve learned that a lack of traction is a step in the wrong direction.

Read more – Gore-Tex

(featured image courtesy of gore-tex.com)