I'm defining flats as anything from something like the Piranhas, to the slightly more built Hyperspeeds. Nothing much more than that though.
My question is, if you do a large chunk of your mileage in flats, do you also do your long run in flats?
I ask this question because I had made the transition to something as minimal as the Piranhas for tempo-type runs up to 7 miles, although I also did some runs in the Nike 3.0 for about the same distance. However, more than half of my miles (during 50 mile weeks) were still in regular training shoes.
Long story short, I missed several months of consistent running due to an injury (from too many hill workouts too soon, NOT from running in flats. I actually felt the best physically I had ever felt for a couple months before the hill-related-injury) Injury went away but frisbee caused another.
As I make my way back, very slowly building mileage and introducing consecutive running days, I have mainly worn the Asics Hyperspeed (none on pavement) and have felt completely fine.
Because the Hyperspeed is a little more built than the Piranhas or Frees, I'm hoping that while I slowly build mileage, my mileage increase won't "outrun" my ability to train in the Hyperspeeds.
However, when I get to the point in a couple months where my long run approaches 10+ miles, will I be able to continue running in flats, or should I have a lightweight trainer ready, like the Asics Sky Speed. I REALLY hope to avoid that, because running in lightweight flats feels SO good, but as my mileage increases I will also have to run on the pavement more often, especially in winter.
Thoughts? Experiences?