Yesterday was leg day at the gym. Today is payday with a training soreness in my legs. a wonderful feeling…And today it will be a blog about trail shoes due to the upcoming season…

The market of running shoes have increased significant the last year. The reason is like of all other sports, new choice of methods and new choice of possibilities of exercise. Today in the blog, I will help you to sort out how to and why choose one shoe or another. First of all we must think about where and how we are going to use the shoe. So lets start with the substrate. The choice will depend on were you mostly will run. So here follows the different types of substrate, Hard Trail, Tough Trail, Rocky Trail, Soft and Muddy, City Trail and Off Trail. Hard Trail is equal with; Electric light tracks, dirt roads or forest roads. Tough Trails means; smaller trails with many technical parts. Rocks, roots, mud and hills are no obstacle for these shoes. Rocky Trails; paths with harder ground and a lot of stone. Imagine a path in the Swedish mountain world or a trail in the Alps. Soft and Muddy; Soft, beautiful forest paths, soft meadows and the really muddy surfaces. Crazy fun, with the right shoes! City Trail; run in a park, on footpaths or light trails. There might be some asphalt and sidewalks on the way there. Off Trail; Hardcore! The shoes for you who take you straight out into the forest, and leave the road and path behind you. You want to be able to easily get over logs and rocks, through bogs, etc. And no, this is not a training program, it is how to chose the right trail shoe ha-ha.

(Merrel Agility peak 4 Men, is a good example for a combination shoe) When choosing a shoe you shall also look into the damping and drop. For a trail shoe you might not have so much use of damping due to the substrate, it will damping own itself. Drop is the difference between heel and the front of the foot. Trail running also include need of grip. The material and pattern of the outsole determine the shoe’s grip. Different rubber compounds can give different grip (just like car tires). Depending on the type of surface you will be running on, the tread depth can affect the grip. Larger tread depth of the rubber studs is better in muddy and soft areas, while stony areas and rock outcroppings often provide better grip with more contact surface with the surface, i.e. a smaller tread depth. When it comes to drop, the drop is the height difference between heel and toe. A high drop (7-12mm) means a tendency to first land on the heel when the foot is planted. A low drop (0-7mm) means you will tend to land on the toe, a more “aggressive” running style. The next step of choice will be the damping, a good damping will be more protecting but on the other side it will be less nature ”feeling” from it. Less damping means better feel of the surface. Gore-Tex or not on a trail shoe? The easy answer here will be no, it is more important that the shoe will able to drain incoming water in a fast way.

I have also a review for the Lundhags men’s authentic jacket. This jacket is not windproof neither waterproof. For a jacket with a price of 276 Euro I expect some more. But it has all other details I’ve expect for a outdoor jacket so from that point of view it is ok. Real good ventilation solution, and it fits nice. But with a need of some kind of rain cover/wind cover I am sorry it can be more than (NNN) even if I can add a + (NNN+) But not more. But I think it will become a favorite anyway, I like the jacket even if its not living up to my expectations…

Paolo Nutini – Candy (Official Video) (youtube.com)

See ya soon…(next week it will be about happiness…)