Minimalist Racing Flats are no longer being made —— Sad Days

Along these same lines, does anyone know of a study done on change in proprioception wearing the new super shoes? Purely anecdotal, but I find my balance is cut in half when wearing them and it has to contribute to injury in runners that train regularly in them.

I feel off, like my footstrike isn't right when wearing them too. I haven't seen any studies related to proprioception, but I imagine rapidly switching from low stack shoes to high 30s messes with it.

edit: after a quick search on google scholar

Most the studies that tackled shoes based on proprioception were done between 1995-2015ish. There are some newer ones that deal with footstrike, but nothing that has made major waves, at least not in informing training, shoe construction, or shoe choice on a wide scale. There is tons of stuff out there, but unless you are at a university, lab, or library you prob can't access most of it, at least I can't.

Responding to my own post just to say that anyone who is considering the Adidas Adios line, it's been a good option for what I'm looking for. I have version 7 and I've used it for speed days and one longer tempo. Unfortunately, I've had some shin issues that have meant I've shelved them for a bit because they are much more minimal than the Bostons and Vomeros I do mileage in and even feel a lot firmer and low profile compared to my Streakflys (that I was looking to replace them with). This has been good in general but not what I wanted when coming off shin issues but hopefully will resume rotating them soon. For anyone looking for that older school racing flat feel, the Adios seems to be a good blend of that profile with some fun super foam thrown into the forefoot.

I definitely am similar to op. Ran for years in 1400, A9, old takumis, etc.

The atreyu base model v2 is awesome and the sinister is great. These are my go tos. I also have used the active 88 boulder and liked it but find the atreyu to be better for me (more cushioned).

Honestly I now prefer these models to anything from years ago so finally satisfied. Fwiw I mostly run 1 mile to 8k races. 18xx 5k usually

I ran in the Kilkenny as an everyday shoe for more than 10 years. I would run more than 1000 miles on them before buying new ones (100 mile weeks in the summer almost entirely on the roads). No injury probs at all. I stopped wearing them when I switched exclusively to trail running and saucony changed their upper material to something horrible that began ripping like crazy after about 2-3 weeks of running. Switched to kinvaras but they are not much better and the new kinvaras are unwearable. Trying to find an alternative now

Check out the Saucony Freedom. I wouldn't call them minimal, but they're relatively low stack, firm, and have a real outsole (unlike the Kinvaras). I've found them pretty good on trails and super durable.

They are 27/23, but are 8.4 ounces. This is probably about the best of the trainers currently on the market, but doesn't compare to old school flats at all.

__________

I've been lucky to find some streak lt 2's and 1's on ebay in the past few months that I am now training in. They feel like foot sex if anyone is curious and hasn't run in them before. If feet could have sex, this is what it would feel like - a near perfect shoe. When those wear out I have a pair of streak 7s I might alternate with streak lt 4s - prob about a year's supply of those (they wear it in like 3-6 weeks!).

Some nut wants over 100 for a pair of streak xc 1's. Its way too risky to pay that much when half the times old shoes have glue that's worn out and the upper starts separating from the shoe or the sole starts falling off. I'd prob pay that if I was a collector though or had one specific race I was trying to pr in.

I am. Getting down to my final pair. I found that I had two pairs of old Zoom Streaks - which I love...and will run them till they fall off. I have one pair of Streaks LT 7 left for racing only.

Once these last few pairs are done, I don't know how I i will be able to train.

I tried the Streakfly and absolutely hated them, Still have them because they made me faster, but I can't stand the marshmellow feel and can not run anything over 800 in them. Only ran a total of 10 miles in them so far.

I tried the Xero shoes. Hated them to death. And they hurt my heel.

I can run in spikes with no problem - so I guess I will be doing a lot track work.

I have even taken the spike plate off old spikes and find them better than the training shoes being made today. If I knew how to make shoes I would add a sole to the old spikes and make them a running shoes.

Nostalgia isnt what it used to be..... but I bought my first racing flats--Tigers--through mail order from Seattle in 1969. They were light, blue nylon tops and thin wrinkly soles. I still maintain I improved my track times and marathon time by a good deal. Only thing was, esp in the marathon my feet got hot and blistered from the close proximity to the hot road. And I couldnt wear socks w them. Still I loved them and wore them in shorter races, had them resoled a bit thicker. Gave up using them but kept them on deck for many years. My wife threw them out one day. Told me about it a couple weeks later. Said they "stank to high heaven." She was right of course, but I never gotto tell her because we were divorced that same year.

They're not ideal, but with the Pebax foam they run faster than the weight (for me faster than the Streakfly, which is a mushy mess of a flat). I do miss the Streak XC.

Saucony seems closest of the major brands to making a reasonable shoe these days-- I'm mostly mixing between the Freedoms and Sinisters.

This is a long shot but one of the stars of the minimalist era was a doctor called Steve Robbins who is or was on the faculty at McGill University. One of the things he did was research the relationship between running shoes and running injuries and found that the more expensive your shoe the more likely you are to get hurt. He thought your best bet for steering clear of injuries was to run in shoes that cost no more than $40. That was in the late 80s. Today that shoe would cost a bit over $100. There are many "entry level" shoes that aren't old time racing flats but much less plush than what's mostly on the market now.

Steve is actually a fan of barefoot running. I am not, not even remotely, and I know that in Montreal he wasn't going to run in bare feet all year so I asked what he ran in when he needed to run in shoes. He told me that he found that running in indoor soccer shoes worked very well. He said he particularly likes the adidas Samba.

Finally, you say you've taken spikes out of spikes and did okay in them. That makes me think you could do well in cross country racing flats. I find the Saucony Kilkenny a very versatile shoe.

Saucony rebranded the old Kinvaras as Convergence. They feel exactly like the Kinvara 13.

You know, I have softened my feelings about the Kilkenny's. I don't wear them everyday but every other day, and I don't have any problems. They just took some getting used to.

They are harder to find outside of cross country season.

There might be some streaks on ebay, poshmark, depop, or mercari. Ebay and poshmark are the best sites for buyer protection, but I haven't been scammed on the other 2 just yet. Just disregard my advice if you wear size 10.5 =P

I've gotten 5 pairs of lt 1s/2s in the past few months (was averaging like 1-2 pairs a year until this year - so I donno why all the clowns holding on to these shoes decided to sell them now), but they are so old that the rubber on the sole wears faster than it used to or the glue holding the shoe together sometimes fails. Sometimes they last over a month, sometimes they don't last a week.

I've gotten 3 pairs of streak 7s in the past few weeks too. I'm thinking of using them for some marathons and a few runs leading up to said races.

I have like 8 pairs of streak lt4s. They fit my feet the best probably, but they hurt my smaller foot to run in. I guess the rubber nubs are like right over a joint or bruise or something. I really don't want to go back to those, but I know I inevitably will.

You might like training in the lt 4 though, they feel almost like running in a spike turned into a road shoe.

just going to have to switch to rollerblades i guess

Interestingly similar or coincidental, I have been having a hard time finding my favorite racing flat the Nike Eagle for a while. 🤔

Open image

These look interesting...

https://www.runningwarehouse.com/New_Balance_XC7_v5_Rubber_Spikeless/descpage-NX7RF1.html

Or these...

https://www.runningwarehouse.com/Nike_Zoom_Rival_Waffle_6_XC_Spikeless/descpage-NZRW61.html

This is where time travel would be useful, and grab a pair of original Air Mariah