I switched my OTF shoes and suddenly my base on treads is much faster than before
I used to be a Hoka Clifton girly 4 life when it came to good cross trainers for OTF. They’ve served me well, my first pair lasted my first 9 months at OTF and I’ve been on my current pair since this past November. I go to OTF M/T/TH/F. I also run outside of OTF (medium runs on Wednesdays and long runs on Sundays) — and for that I’m mainly an Asics fan!
I found a GREAT deal for New Balance FuelCell Super Comp v3s earlier this year and wanted to use them in my outdoor running rotation after hearing how great of outdoor shoes these are. And needless to say…I hated them lol. They didn’t feel as good as my Asics on the pavement, so for the longest time they just lived in the back of my closet and I wasn't sure of a purpose for them.
Until this past week. I work from home, so usually by the time my afternoon OTF class rolls around I’m ready to go for class and darting out the door immediately after ending the day. But last Monday, I was running hella late and hastily got ready — and instead of slipping on my Hokas, I somehow grab the FuelCells. I kid you not I didn’t even notice until I was sitting in the lobby of the studio 5 minutes before the start of class, lol. Immediately I was like ohhh this is going to suck LOL
However…y’all. I genuinely don’t know what happened but I feel like switching up my shoes just leveled me up, lol. While the Fuelcells are a *bit* high for floor, they were amazing on the treads. I was kicking at about a 5.5-5.8 base the past few months, with my push being 6.5-6.8 and all out being 8-9. These were speeds that I felt really made sense to me and what I felt physically able to sustain. But that day’s tread block, I hop onto the tread and try to get it going with my usual base. It definitely took a minute or two of getting used to running on the tread with a new pair of shoes on that I’m not used to for OTF, but almost immediately I locked in once I got into a rhythm. My usual base of 5.5 just felt a bit slow frankly, so I picked up the speed to a 6 and was shocked at how easily I was able to sustain that and not feel any fatigue in my legs or feet. Even today with the strength block and running at 5-7%, usually my feet and legs kill me on these blocks but I feel like it isn’t as bad lately.
I feel like we’ve had a handful of endurance based blocks these past few days, so I was able to really experiment with new speeds and I honestly think these new paces are here to stay. I wonder how much of this is a mental thing but also maybe shows how important it is to find gear that works for you lol! I've been keeping my new speeds for a week now, so I think I can say this isn't a fluke 🤣
Anyway long story short lmao — anyone experience something similar? Changing up a piece of your routine and finding that helps push you to that next level?
Or, anyone have some similar shoe stories? Lol! Here to advocate that Fuel Cells are pretty solid OTF shoes!