The impact of Covid-19 on Running Shoes

Last week I had some time on Tuesday to go to Runner’s lab in Zaventem for a new pair of running shoes. The shoes I had were the previous model GT-4000 on which I had run a little over 550km by now. Strava had given me an alert about the mileage but the recommended fork to replace is between 500 and 700km so I thought I had a bit of time before really needing to switch. I just went already to get it out of the way. As I had experienced a bit of a lack of cushioning in the shoes at the heels I wanted to try a few models and not just stick to the model I had. But testing the new model side by side with a few others and comparing them also to the old ones which I brought along revealed that the new GT 4000-2 was best for me and the difference in comfort and support between the old an new shoes was really night and day. Turns out that my old shoes were really spent and my renewed running habbit triggered by Covid-19 gave them quite a beating. My shoes before :
… and my shoes after :
Went for 2 short runs on my new shoes last week already and as was to be expected they needed a bit of getting used to. But the second run my feet were already noticeably more adjusted to the new shoes. If I enjoy the run in the coming months I will probably order a second pair online. Saves me the travel and traffic jam aggravation I had to go through this time with a 25km return trip that took almost an hour to complete.