GEAR GUIDE: Adidas CC Ride

Feels like the first run in a while. Inertia… once you stop for an extended period, it can be hard to get out the door again.

I got my sister new Adidas shoes the other day – the CC Ride. I saw some cool-looking Adizero shoes, but they felt way too uncushioned to run in.

Since we are the same height and have about the same foot size, I decided to give them a try.

Flexibility:
The zig-zag sole makes them really flexible, so I expected them to be more barefoot-like than the shoes I’m used to.

Footstrike:
I found myself naturally wanting to strike more forefootish, maybe because of a smaller heel-toe drop? One website estimated 6mm. I could feel it. It was different from what I was used to. If I did want to run in these long term, I’d need to move it into the rotation gradually, to make sure my Achilles didn’t get too stressed.

Stability:
The toebox is a wee bit smaller than what I’m used to in the Saucony Kinvara and the New Balance 1224/5 and the Asics Gel Evolutions, which are the main shoes in my rotation. I also found that running on the uneven grass, my feet tended to pitch left and right a lot. I had to be careful to not roll my ankles. I don’t know why that was the case. I was running on uneven, wet grass, but I run there often.

Upper:
It was very meshy and light, which I like.

I don’t regret not getting a pair for myself, since I have a history of rolled ankles and need something more stable. I did stick a pair of arch support insoles in there, which supposedly help with my overpronation, and that aspect of it was fine. As I mentioned earlier, I would also like a tad bit more cushioning. It could have a place in someone else’s rotation, but not mine. My sister likes it. She’s just getting back into running and does maybe 8-10 mpw. She likes that it’s so light.  However, she also complained that it was too wobbly left and right.  She also tries to run on grass whenever possible, so she'll save these shoes for treadmill runs.

So…. Those are my thoughts after a single 4.4mi run, in mostly wet grass, on a humid, pre-Tstorm day. It was 64 degrees.

4.4 in 35:58, 8:11 ave. 339 cal. It took me a while too warm up, according to the splits. 18:51 for lap 1, 17:06 for lap 2. Quite a difference. That’s a 8:54 ave pace for the first lap and a 7:31 pace for the second lap.

I don’t often run on wet surfaces, now that it’s winter and 2/3 of my runs are on treadmills. But going on asphalt, on older asphalt where the pebbles are exposed, you take a step forward and end up slipping like 1 inch backwards as you toe-off. On newer asphalt that’s all black, the grip is fine. Just something I noticed.

The next day, Dec 22, I did an easy 6.7 to try to recover from the previous day and the previous weekend's LR.   Splits> 19:20 (8:40 pace), 18:42 (8:17), 18:01 (7:59).  I started comfortably slow and picked it up a bit towards the end naturally as I got loosened up a bit.