Having recently treated myself to Inov-8’s new fell running shoes the Oroc 280 complete with ice-spikes I thought today would be the perfect opportunity to test them out fell running in the snow in the Peak District! So I headed out to Fox House with the aim of running about 10k.
Those of you who have run with me will know I spend more time falling over than on my feet. This was recently confirmed when someone spotted this video and instantly sent it to me saying how alike we were…
Anyways new shoes on and filled with confidence I was so excited at the amount of traction I now had – it was awesome! The shoes were great, I had been worried that the metal spikes would be slippery on the rock when it was not icy, but I didn’t have this problem at all. Aside from the better grip I also found this style of shoe encouraged me to be lighter-footed and run more on my toes, something that is beneficial but slightly alien to my calf muscles – ouch I could certainly feel them at the end of a hill!
All in all, it was a very successful outing, I would like to say I didn’t fall over once… However, there was one slight slip up, which was down to a slight lack of judgment on how deep the snow was..!
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Just a quick additional note – I have worn these shoes a lot more since writing this, in a range of conditions from really muddy tracks to drier stonier paths) and I have to say to people considering these shoes. I have also found them great on other terrains too, I don’t find the spikes a hindrance, if anything they have helped.
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