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

I got back into racing after a few years away and had to get a pair of carbon plated shoes just to be competitive in my age group locally. I'm not talking very fast times but we have quite a few races with money ($25-$100 for AG placing).

I actually love the technology and the feel of the super shoes but it's crazy that I needed them for local races.

exactly

probably the casual shoe thats been on the market for years. I have those for my casual shoes too. But ya, if that shoe got stripped down, and the forefoot replaced with continental rubber like the adizero rocket, it'd be a possible racing flat

You are a responder to the carbon plated shoes, nothing wrong with that. For nonresponders to carbon plated shoes such as myself, using that shoe produces a slower time, assuming I make it to the starting line at all.

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My experiment with the zoom rival waffle xc has ended in failure. I started having some calf issues, and quit using them. It feels better and I run faster in the streak lt - the profile of the rival waffle xc would be fine if it were d width and not b width, I just run faster with some foot splay.

Given that there is nothing on the market other than the sinister, which is also real narrow and has wire lacing that isn't great for my feet, does anyone know of a wider xc flat?

I have some OG Nike streak xc i'm looking to put on ebay soon, men's 9.5 BNIB.

I'd they are in good condition with the glue holding the bottom together not failing, you can prob sell for 50-70. Least that's what I would pay for my size.

I managed to get a pair of adizero rockets on ebay that I guess had just been sitting around somewhere. It's incredible how good they feel to run in. The last couple times I tried this (ebaying these shoes) the glue holding the soles together failed within a couple weeks, but these seem to be holding up. I hope these hold up half a year or more, they feel like running is supposed to feel.

Pretty cool to hear some mentions of shoes from the 2000's. My coach in college loved the H-Street and if I could have found more of them I probably would have trained in the OG Lunaracer.

Kvothe, I worked out in OG Streaks back in 2020 I believe and I was shocked as to how stiff the midsole had become. I'd been using them here and there since my college days here and there but this was the first time I noticed how hard it was to run in them.

With the Streak update, Nike increased the stack height and added zoomX. It improved the cushioning over previous streak models but I would no longer consider this a minimalist flat. Very soft and squishy underfoot compromises responsiveness. Don’t forget the streak xc retailed for $65

Nike should make a dragonfly flat

still run in my adidas minimalist flats

you know what they are extremely good for?

doing easy runs on grass. really feels good running on grass on those kinds of shoes

Agree. What model are they? I used to have a pair of red adizero pr’s in 2007. I can’t find those nowadays

I'm not quite a "daily run in flats" guy but I find most daily trainers of the last few years way overbuilt. Even the vaunted Kinvara is up there in stack height now! The trend of softer cushion, high stack, or forefoot rockers start giving me lower back and hip pains after a few days of running in such shoes. So I've learned I need to avoid them.

I miss the days of readily-available low- to moderate-stack, semi-flexible (no plate) and firm cushioning. I really enjoyed the Boston 9 and earlier. I've been going through the Terrex Speed Ultra which is basically a (pre-10) Boston with some very mild tread (really not too much different than what many road shoes like the Pegasus have, but with better rubber being Continental). I'll use it for pretty much everything not on a track or a road race (I will use flats for those); Most all daily runs, longer runs, uptempo work down to around mile repeats (which are only around 6:00 flat pace for this master's runner), and of course any trails and XC courses.

I know it's marketed as a trail shoe but it's really a nice substitute if you miss the older Bostons. Not identical but close enough. I can find them on sale for under $90 at times, often $40-60 on their eBay outlet.

I never tried that shoe as I was only concerned with 10k and down at the time that was out. I've run in every streak since the streak 3 (usually only buying one pair because I much prefer the streak xc/lt over the streak line). The streak 3 was stiffer than the streak xc 3 that was in running stores alongside it. My adizero rockets are kind of a stiff shoe as well. I actually thought they'd be too stiff and heavy for anything but short secondary runs and just bought my first pair because they were cheap on ebay like a decade ago, but if I could do it again, even though I was a poor grad student at the time, I'd have stocked up on those.

I think there are some sorties on ebay. The mizuno wave cruise has a somewhat similar profile (but seems to fit a half size large for me) and is still sold on the Japanese/Asian market.

I think the original streak xc was 55!

Bumping this because I'm starting to look for a more traditional flat to do my speed development days (stuff like drills, plyos, strides, and short sprints). Currently I'm doing these in my Streakflys but they're a little more built up than I'd like and also starting to feel a little dead after 100+ miles. Ideally looking for something that can be used for warmups and cooldowns too but that has a more responsive foam and less stack. Not opposed to getting a pair of discounted XC flats but wondering how they'd be for 20 minute warmups and cooldowns. Any suggestions?

If you take a size 4 or 5 you're in good shape. I've seen a 6 on sale somewhere too.