I am ordering the takumis today, boost+180g is a very hard to beat combination.
nice!!
i still have yet to get a shoe with a boost sole. i know you love it.
yeah lighter shoes, like cross country racing flats, tend to be cheaper. you can get a good pair for ~$50, and if you dig around a bit probably for $35 on sale. they're worth saving up for even if that's a stretch for you. i think i speak for a lot of members of the forum when i say that shoes really do make a difference.
some examples:
-nike zoom waffle racer (preferred shoe of adarqui himself for many years)
-adidas adizero takumi
-mizuno wave musha (i have had several pairs of these, love them, ran in them last night)
-saucony kilkenny
-new balance xc700
yup... when I put on my XC flats, I immediately feel bouncy, ready to sprint/jump etc.. If I were to put on basketball shoes, dress shoes, heavy running shoes and such -> I don't get that feeling.
my saucony shay xc4's feel best when sprinting .. these shoes feel more like a short sprint shoe than a long distance shoe. They also feel pretty awesome when doing reactive stuff & SLRVJ's.
my new balance 5000v2's are crazy light (~3.4 oz), but, they have some small heel elevation.. so I dont feel like sprinting/jumping in them. When I run in them, I tend to want to run more heel->toe, so i've stopped wearing them & default to my saucony shay xc4's (since im trying to get better with midfoot running).
my nb xc900v2's are in between. you can run midfoot in them fine, sprint, heel->toe, jump, etc.
but bottom line, if i want to sprint as fast as possible and/or just make more use of my forefoot, my saucony shay xc4's are the shoes I go with.. so I guess that's why they've slowly become my #1 shoe.
I'm waiting on my brooks mach 17's to arrive because they look similar to my saucony's and are ~1.2 oz lighter - which makes a significant difference when distance running. We'll see.
so ya shoes matter.. I can't imagine sprinting in the shoes seifullaah is wearing.
finally as far as cost goes, flats are waaaay cheaper than other shoes. I get my saucony shay xc4's for $25.
the pocket standard:just think about it though.. I can basically put one of my flats in my pocket................ that's important. Think about how light and minimal that is.. yet still strong enough to withstand the forces of sprinting etc.
If you can't put your shoe in your pocket, it's probably not great for sprinting.
We want just enough support to protect our feet and allow us to produce maximal force.. I'd sprint/jump/run barefoot if it was safe to do so at maximal effort.