Repeats repeated repeatedly

Nothing like getting your lines down if you have the opportunity. The lines, you know, those particular paths along the trails that can help you shave the minutes off your time. On those rooty, rocky, muddy trails of the first stage of the HURT loop they are critical, or at least that is how I see it. And, not to be overlooked, are those mental paths, that labyrinth of thought, that leads you in and out of cardio limits, oxygen deficiency, muscle wasting, and just outright too dumb to quit perseverance. The lines; it is what I am working on now in a never ending succession of runs along the first few miles of the HURT loop.

Physically it sounds like a challenge; Up Hogsback, Cross-over to Center Trail, then up Mangoes, to Nahuina, up the hillside to the top of the ridge at Tantalus Road, and then, to add to the insult, to gut out the training, its up Concretes to the second of the bumps. The last part, concretes, is not on the HURT loop, but it a nice brutal end to an hour of difficult work-out.

As this is primarily a one-way work-out the down is less spectacular and done at a good, but not reckless pace. I only really time the up.

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New Shoes: First Look Adidas J S5 M

I received a few pairs of shoes in today. Running season is about to kick off and there is nothing like running an old pair of trail shoes to ruin the feet and legs. I've still got a few miles in my present Adidas Supernova Trails, and I have an Asics pair that I use for hard or dry conditions right now, but I got a bit yancy and went looking for bargains on the web.

I found a pair of Adidas J S5 M trail shoes. This appears to be one of their models that they sell primarily outside the US. Its not listed on the US site. Much like the pair of Hellbenders I purchased a year ago. I got a good deal on a pair of 14s and decided to go for it. I'm having a problem springing for the new Riot, the Supernova Trail replacement, which is in the 80-90 dollar range on web discount sites.

Adidas J S5 M

The J S5 M's are an Orange shoe, or Pumpkin, or some kind of Safety Color. For a multi-view look try http://www.tajakoo.com/adidas/adidas78607.htm (Officially Gold, Dark Gray and Slate) They look neat, but how well they will do on the trails is another question. The toe box is fairly roomy for an Adidas shoe. However the shoe pocket is raised to the main body of the shoe with space underneath the pocket to provide cushioning. There is a pretty heavy plastic outer wrap to keep the foot firm inside the pocket, and Adidas is fairly good at engineering a stable foot.

The toe is the same type as the Response Trail and some of the old Supernova Trails. A small tongue comes off the soul and there is a thin layer of outer soft plastic around the toes. I will shoe goo to whole front end before I wear them. This will provide the impact resistance I need on Hawaii trails. I do this regularly with Adidas, and have saved a number of toes and toe nails. It doesn't look particularly elegant but when you are doing a Ultra elegant is something that keeps you going. One of these days Adidas will listen to the real runners and offer toe protection on par with the Solomon or Montrail.

I'm a bit concerned with the channels along the sole of the shoe. these pass through from side to side, so water and runny mud shouldn't be a problem, but constant exposure to wet terrain or small gravel may lead to debris getting lodged under the toe box.

Finally the heel of the shoe is harder than the Supernova. But there is some good traction on the bottom sole so time will tell.