Garand- consider trying a pair of tennishoeboots for your conditioning hikes. Just consider it. Why not? It was the single best change I made to my “gear” when I started getting back into this stuff. I promise you, this is, in fact, what the vast, vast majority of the “power users” who are actually out banking big miles, are wearing. And it’s not for vanity, or to be part of the herd. It’s because it’s the better mousetrap. Just…. try it. I was resistant. I bet Brad and Mike were too. We all used to wear “boots” and justified it the same way you are. Then we tried this newfangled stuff and went…. huh!
One aspect of it I love is just the joyful feeling of having full freedom for my legs to do what evolution, or if you prefer God, intended them to do. It made me feel way younger. Lighter. More free. More of a capable, all-terrain vehicle. And we can delve into the biomechanics of it as much as you want, but here’s a simple truth: if your ankles aren’t doing what they are meant to do, then something else in your leg is taking up those loads, and that something else wasn’t designed for it. Your ankles are there for a reason. Set them free!
Brad & Mike… Cyn is going to get back on the trail and attempt a calendar-year CDT; I’m going to hold down the fort here (ugh). Anyway she just got the shoes she’s going to try for the next leg- Topos (spelling?). I’ll let you know how they work out. They look just like Altra’s and are zero-drop. At least these companies are backing away from the “clown shoe” look a little bit, cosmetically.
Those tennisbootsthings are like specialty, competition footwear, like track or wrestling shoes, or ballerina slippers.
My boots take a lot of abuse in the field.
Try a pair of these polyurethane soled field boots, if they are still available.
Then hike five miles a day in them, over varied terrain, running a couple of those miles.
That will get you in shape.
To me, "ultra-light" is a marketing cult.
Wouldn't choose logger's boots, but a light weight field boot works fine.
Ankles don't grow back, so protecting them is important, especially miles from nowhere.
