Saucony Kinvara Review
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Last week I got a surprise in the mail, the latest sweet pair of running shoes from Saucony, the Kinvara.
These things are super sweet and I was pumped to get to review them out before the went on sale to the rest of the world.
Ultimately, what makes the Kinvara more than “just another running shoe” is that it is super minimalist but can still be worn for longer road races. It looks like a futuristic version of an ordinary training shoe, but are only .7 oz heavier than my racing shoes.
My Experiments With Minimalist Running Shoes
Before I get into the shoe itself, It probably makes sense to talk a little about my adventures with running shoes over the past year. For the last two seasons I rocked a few pairs of Asics GT-2140′s. It is one of the best selling running shoes out there, I never had any major problems with them. My main irk that I eventually noticed with the 2140′s is that it was physically hard making the transition away from them to any other shoe. During triathlons I also noticed that they can take on a TON of water if I am water over my head (which is the cast in most races). Running with five pound sponges strapped to each foot for 13.1 miles is NOT fun.
The 2140′s were essentially like two big comfy couches for my feet. They felt great, but soaked up so much of the impact from each foot strike that they dumbed down my foot/ankle/calf strength. Hence the difficulty in switching away from them to any other shoe. I’m definitely not a fan of having my fitness dependent on my gear. It is like the equivalent of training all winter on a spin bike, but having just a fraction of that fitness translate into bike speed out on the road.
Since I started to have some issues with my Asics, I did some experimenting with Vibram Five Fingers (which is just about as minimal as you can get), race shoes and trainers with a little less support and have been slowly building back my foot/ankle/calf strength and am noticing huge gains in my running.
So when the Kinvara came out, it wasn’t just a sweet new piece of running gear to test out, but another step for me on my minimal(er) running journey.
Kinvara Review
The first impression is that these things look freaking awesome. Sam even loved the futuristic styling.
While they don’t look super light and “minimal” as soon as you put them on you can tell just how light and smooth these things are. The upper has just enough material to keep my feet centered and is super breathable. There are no stiff plastic pieces anywhere in the shoe and they feel like comfy slippers when you put them on.
The main thing that isn’t obvious at first glance is that the thickness of the sole in the forefoot is really close to the thickness of the sole in the heel. (This is a similar construction philosophy to that other heel-striking preventing shoe, the Newton). Most traditional shoes have a lot more heel cushioning. Keeping the sole thickness more even promotes mid/fore-foot strike, which is more efficient and quicker than heel striking, but that is an entirely different conversation. Google it.
Test Runs. They feel just as quick as my Fastwitch race shoes, just with practically zero stability. I noticed the lower heel height right away, mainly because my calf was a little more sore than usual after the first run, but probably because it was stretched out a little further with each foot strike. Just a little bit of growing aches I guess, but it wasn’t anything bad enough to still be lingering the next morning. After that first run, my calfs weren’t any more sore than usual after a run.
Conclusion. I’ve brought ‘em out for the run of my half iron race simulation last weekend, hill repeats and a tempo run and they’ve performed great for all of it. Since the sole is thinner than my other shoes, I can feel every rock that I step on. They definitely won’t be hitting the trail any time soon, but that isn’t what they are made for.
To cut down on weight, they reduced the hard rubber sole and it is extra thin, so I’ll be tracking my mileage in them to see how long they hold up and see if they wear out any faster than my other shoes.
My initial hopes were to wear them for the marathon of my ironman in September. I’m not sure if the benefits of a lighter shoe will outweigh the risk of going with something with such little stability, but they will definitely play a big role in my training. I’m guessing that their sweet spot will probably be around the half marathon distance, but I’ll reevaluate that as I get used to this whole minimalist running thing. Unlike my race flats that I only use in training for track and hill workouts, I’ll probably end up spreading my Kinvara use across all of my workouts.
Overall Saucony did a really good job with these shoes. Most importantly, they didn’t just make a minimalist running shoe for the sake of being minimalist. They designed it so that it is still a usable shoe that doesn’t require you to completely re-learn to run. I can definitely see why Runner’s World gave it their “Best Debut” award this year. If you are looking for a “pseudo-barefoot” shoe that has a little cushioning and encourages you to keep that efficient mid-foot stride, I’d definitely try this out.
My old super supportive and cushion-y shoes simply ALLOWED me to be a faster runner as a result of my training. My hope is that the Kinvaras will HELP me to be a faster runner (or at least that is what the theory is). Only (race) times will tell…
If you’ve made the jump and tried out the Kinvaras, let me know what you think.
Disclaimer: Saucony provided me with these shoes for free, but did not contribute to the content of this review. My triathlon team, Trakkers GPS, is also sponsored by Saucony, but if I didn’t honestly love these shoes, I wouldn’t be writing this post.
Tags: foot strike, kinvara, minimalist running shoe, product review, Saucony | Posted in Reviews, Running | 3 Comments »
