Winter running spiked shoes Inov-8 v's Ice Bug

In reality, I have no idea how good/bad  Inov-8 shoes are. However given the design seems very similar to the IceBug I bet they perform similarly.

I have noticed in the shocking muddy wet weather we are having here they are superb. About the first thing I needed to do yesterday was run through a puddle (actually a small lake) and was surprised I did not have the flash of cold water over my feet. I found out later that was due to the semi-waterproof nature of the shoe. Of course they are not waterproof, they have a bloody great hole in them where you put your foot, but it does stop the initial cold shock.

There are actually a tonne of things I could say about running in the shoe, but the two most important ones are:

1. They give an unbelievable amount of traction going downhill. I would estimate it doubled my speed yesterday. I could not have run down many parts of my run with my Brooks Cascadias (which I love and will not say a word against). I would have been gingerly walking/sliding down. It was a river of mud in places.
   
2. They clip clop just outside my house with exactly the same resonance as when I was a kid in rugby boots on the tarmac leading to changing room. Almost worth buying for the memories they brought back!

Interestingly, they are not terrible on tarmac, but you do feel very self aware of the noise. I have probably only ran a few hundred meters on road, but when I did, I was actively seeking out the snow/grassy/muddy verge. That in itself was a funny thing. As normally on the little road sections downhill I normally seek out the speed of the road. Although not terrible on the road, I would not chose to ware them there.

On my slippy limestone they are really good too. Of course on the wet rock slab they are useless - but then so is just about any shoe I have ever worn. On the weathered broken up stuff they worked really well normally I slide about on this stuff when wet.

I seemed to feel the larger stones on the decent a bit more than when I am in other shoes, I am not sure what is the cause of that, but it seems to add to the stability. I only did 10km yesterday so am not sure if a longer run would have caused any discomfort.

The shoes are great very wet/ice/snow, they may well be good in the dry, but I will probably go back to the Cascadia for the feel of the shoe and because I do have to cross the occasional road :)

They cost a fair packet, but when you consider a lift ticket at E30-50 it does not take long to convince myself they where a good buy. They have got me out on 3 days I would normally not have poked my nose into and I have enjoyed the runs like a kid at school.

My only concern is when I switch back to normal shoes, will I have problem through lack of traction.

--   Colin Wilson    Tel.   (France 33) (0)474426309  Mobile (France 33) (0)616166213