The Altra Lone Peaks has been my go to shoe for everything
now, with a strong Stoneguard, stiff and responsive cushioning, not too high of
a stack height off the ground, and Zero-drop heel differentials with no foot
“support” built in, it can almost seem like a minimalist shoe at times. The Lone Peaks has seen me through the
gauntlet of 4 Capt’n Karl 60K races, 70 miles at Cactus Rose, Bandera 100K, and
Run LOViT 100K, all fairly technical races that they performed well in, and I
wouldn’t have dreamed of doing them in Vibrams, but I was starting to see the
limitations of either how far the shoes could carry me further, or a
combination of my own lack of foot strength to handle the ever increasing
distances (it’s important to note that I’ve only been at this for 2-3 years
now, and I’m well aware that more experienced runners can handle these types of
technical Ultras just fine in Huarache sandals even). After repeatedly experiencing numbed and beat
up feet after 50 miles or so on these tough technical trails, I knew I needed
more support to go further, and had nearly bitten the bullet and gotten a pair
of Hoka’s…fortunately though, Altra’s had just released their entry into the
maxxed cushioning shoe wars, the Altra Olympus.
The Altra Olympus had been released for several months
before I finally purchased a pair, even though I desperately wanted the shoes
after reading all the glowing reviews it was receiving, the minimalist dogma
which I still adhere to is a strong one, and running on pillowy cushioning
seemed like the antithesis of that philosophy.
I learned how and loved to run again in Vibrams over 3 years ago, when
traditional built up shoes left me a limping painful mess after only a few
miles because I never knew my running form was so detrimentally poor. Since the day I made the switch to Vibrams, I’ve
completed nearly a dozen Ultras in them, including my only 100 miler at Rocky
Raccoon, but as the steadily increasing miles (in training, as well as races)
piled on, and stepping on sharp rocks never becoming any less painful, my world
view started changing with it; you know, perhaps Humans were never meant to
frequently run 30-100 miles on difficult terrain, our species would have
probably died out tens of thousands of years ago if that’s what it took to run
down game…maybe a rockplate and some extra cushioning in your shoes isn’t so bad.
These days the Vibrams are relegated to short weekday
training runs to maintain foot strength (and that I still highly enjoy running
on grass with them), while the Altra Lone Peaks are taken out on those long
weekend training runs on the trails, an arrangement I had been content with for
nearly a year…until just recently. I had
already been considering the Altra Olympus for nearly half a year since first
hearing about it, but the real pressing need for finally purchasing a pair was
my un-ending mulling on running Bryce Canyon 100 Mile in June. I didn’t believe my feet and legs were
capable of not only withstanding a 100 miler in the Mountains, but the long
50-60 mile training weeks leading up to the race as well. Also, I was still dealing with the ankle
sprain I incurred at Run LOViT 100K in late February, and with my next race
coming up soon at Possum
Kingdom 55K, I felt my
ankles needed the extra cushioning and it would be a good opportunity to test
out the Altra Olympus during an Ultra.
My first test run of the Altra Olympus came only a week
before my race at Possum Kingdom; I had already ran 22 miles at Cedar Ridge
Nature Preserve in my Lone Peaks the day before, so my legs were trashed, and
with it raining and muddy trails the next day, I couldn’t have asked for worse
testing conditions. At first I didn’t
like how the contour footbed pressed against my arches, after years running in
Vibrams I can’t stand anything resembling arch support, so I took them out and
ran directly on the flat midsole instead.
Taking out the footbed reduces the stack height from a whopping 36 mm to
a slightly less whopping 31 mm (a stack height that is still more than what
you’ll find in a pair of Hoka’s, I might add), running on the flat midsole felt
more stable to me, and made me just that less uneasy running ever so slightly
closer to ground while on uneven trail surfaces. That first and only run before Possum Kingdom
lasted only 8 miles at Cedar Ridge before pouring rain forced me to call it
quits, but I was sold.
My feet and legs hardly felt like they just ran 22 tough
miles the day before, it was like experiencing a revelation while I was
floating over rocky terrain with huge pillows under my feet. The initial run was not without issue though;
first the Olympus has no traction on mud and
accumulates it rapidly, making it feel very unstable to run on an already very
high stacked shoe. Second, just because
you can stomp on rocks doesn’t mean that you should, I lightly tweaked my left
ankle, my good ankle that has never been sprained before, while being careless
on the rocks which freaked me out a bit, the reason why I fear high stack
heights on the trails in the first place is because of their potential to
exacerbate sprains. Third, running
uphills seems to take more effort as you’re trying to dig down through all that
cushioning to power you up, but being able to bomb the downhills sorta makes up
for that. Regardless of those initial
concerns, and after only 8 miles in the Olympus, I was already having delusions
of finally signing up for Bryce Canyon 100 Mile, but first I had a 34.8 Mile
training run coming up the next week to more solidly base my decisions on.
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| At Possum Kingdom, the Altra Olympus looks quite like regular shoes compared to the more clownish HOKA's. |
I had ran Possum Kingdom 55K (it’s more closer to a 56K
now…) last year with my Vibram Spyridons, with the trails there being some of
the more smoother and runnable trails (the fairly dispersed rocks and stones on
the trails are avoidable for the most part) that I’ve experienced in Texas, it
was tough not to want to break out the pair of Spyridons again for another go at
it, at least for one loop, but I needed to see how my feet held up after 30+
miles with the Altra Olympus and left the Vibrams at home. Before Possum Kingdom, I had been steadily
ramping up my mileage after a long break to recover from Run LOViT 100K, and
reached a peak of 46 miles (with most of it being on hilly trails) the week
before the race; with very little time to taper, I figured the best time to
really test out a high cushioned shoe is when your feet and legs are already
shot with fatigue going into a race anyway.
Since I had already written a Race Report on Possum Kingdom 55K last
year, this will be more of a focus on reviewing the Altra Olympus, so I feel
free to just spoil the ending with me managing to finish the race 2 minutes
ahead of my last year’s finish time of 7:53hrs; my only goal at the race was to finish ahead of the lead 52 milers...and I just barely edged out the Overall winner, Nicole Studer, by 1 minute!
What I loved most about the Altra Olympus (that I already
didn’t list above during my test run at Cedar Ridge) is it’s performance on the
flats at Possum Kingdom, with it’s steep rockered forefoot, you can just sorta
lean forward, make sure you land on your forefoot, and the shoes will
automatically propel you forward; it almost felt like I was cheating while
doing this during the second half of the race when the Sun and temps (up into
the 90s, I heard) and badly fatigued legs were wearing me down, I could just
lean forward and still trot at a respectable pace while the shoes rockered me
forward. I’m use to having to work harder
for my gains with the Vibrams or the Altra Lone Peaks, so the feeling was a
little bit disconcerting, but I do have to add, don’t count on this making you
faster, I still had to push myself to try and keep up with my friend Greg
Sisengrath for the first two miles of the race before I fell behind for good
(he ended up finishing over an hour and half ahead of me…), for moments when
your legs are completely shot and all you can manage is a trot though, that rockered
forefoot is a godsend. Also, the Olympus
features a much wider bottom sole for added stability to make up for the high
stack height, which makes it act sorta like a snow shoe over the mile or so of
loose sandy trails at Possum Kingdom, greatly preventing your feet from sinking
into that quicksand portion (that was the most miserable part last year with my
Vibrams).
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| Wider bottom sole for snow shoeing. |
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| Rockered forefoot compared to the flat forefoot of the Lone Peaks |
What frustrated me most about the Olympus is the almost
complete lack of grip on the trails, climbing steep hills is already more
frustrating having to press down on all that cushioning, but then there’s
barely any grip to help you up, I slipped quite a bit trying to powerhike steep
climbs on my toes and forefoot. What
makes the lack of grip particularly scary, is when you have to run down hills
over stony ground, I slipped a few times over some stones and slightly tweaking
my left ankle each time, which just worsened my paranoia of incurring even more
sprained ankles with these shoes on. The lack of grip also makes me have to rely
more on braking with my heels going down steep hills, whereas I’ve always felt
freer to tackle the downhills on my forefoot with the Lone Peaks and Vibrams
(at least all that cushioning helps with the heel braking…). With the high stack height and lack of grip
to consider, I definitely had to be more careful on trickier portions of the
trails and even change how I’m accustomed to running. Changes to my running style that annoyed me the most about the Olympus,
was that I wasn’t able to make sharp lateral cuts any more on trails,
especially when going down steep switch backs, if you take the turn to hard,
either the shoes may slip up, or your ankles will experience a rollover because
of the high stack height (like a large SUV would after trying to make a fast
and dangerous turn on the freeway); so instead of being able to turn on a dime
with my Lone Peaks and Vibrams, I nearly had to come to a complete stop to
safely make those downhill switchback turns, which frustratingly breaks the
momentum and fun of the downhills.
The Altra Olympus is no panacea, there are tradeoffs you’ll
have to be willing to live with if you want to safely run in these shoes (I would happily tradeoff some cushioning for better grip...), but
for a long and grinding Ultra, I would be willing to make those tradeoffs. As I mentioned before, I came into Possum
Kingdom with barely tapered and fatigued legs, and the last 10 miles or so felt
like I had already ran 50 miles, but all that huge cushioning helped a lot to
absorb the impact of running, leaving my feet, ankles, joints, and knees still
feeling relatively good after the race, and that is fucking amazing to me,
considering I’m use to them being destroyed after an Ultra while wearing
minimalist shoes. Also, mentioning the
rockered forefoot again, that will undoubtedly come in handy when I’m 70-80
miles into a 100 miler, and can count on it propelling me forward on
auto-pilot.
I don’t see myself utilizing the Altra Olympus much for
races under 50 miles, where my feet is generally strong enough to hold up just
fine (provided that I go through a normal taper process) and I don’t have to be
constantly on guard about slipping and worrying about spraining my ankle over
that ridiculously high stack height. For
races 50 miles and up, where I would have to go at a slower and more deliberate
pace anyway, the Olympus will start coming
into play more often. I also see myself
utilizing these shoes during the 2nd half of a back to back weekend,
particularly on high mileage peak weeks to save my feet from the pounding. Bringing up my minimalist dogma again,
there’s a real worry that I may become too reliant on all that cushioning, and
my feet, Achilles, calves, legs, etc will weaken in the process, or that my running form may suffer, something that
I was already worried about with wearing the Lone Peaks all the time; after
running so much Ultras in the past few years though, I’m more open to
acknowledging my weaknesses and the need to address them (I have also finally seeked out physical therapy for my chronic ITB problems, at Airrosti centers, and was able to run Possum Kingdom successfully with no issue afterwards), rather than so
stubbornly stick to old ways of doing things, especially if I expect to have
any hope of finishing Bryce Canyon 100 Mile in June…any extra help and
advantage I can get would be welcomed.
And now, for your enjoyment, some additional photo's of the trails of Possum Kingdom Lake:
