Trying the new Xero Z-Trail running sandals

by | posted in: Barefoot serie, Blog, Featured | 144
Social Media

I’ve been walking and running for months with the Xero Z-Trek sandals. These sandals are great and I feel great running with them. Early 2016, I started joining the Mont Kiara Running Club and there is a weekly night trail run in Bukit Kiara. So after many months running barefoot and in sandals, I had… to wear back my good old Merrell trail running shoes… I like trail running but it’s hard with the sandals, and the Z-Trek are great for hiking but definitely not for running. You feel everything under the sandals sole and that is too much in the case of trail running where you have roots, stones, … In short, yes you can run with sandals but on the trails, you need more cushioning. So when Xero published that they had the new Z-Trail with more cushioning and for trail running.

Purchasing the Z-Trail sandals

I usually buy the Xero sandals in Australia as it’s cheaper there (currency rates, local shipping, no risk with custom charges, fast shipping) but the Z-Trail was only available in the US online. The Australian reseller told me they would start selling it only from August. At the same time for the first 10 days, Xero was giving 20% discount on first buyers. It basically covers for the entire shipping cost, so I decided to buy it at that time.

The guidelines on the Xero web site were very good. They had updated their template to compare Z-Tek and Z-Trail, telling very clearly to Z-rek owners like me that our size might be bigger for the Z-Trail as it’s tighter on the foot. I use a size 9 US men for running with the Z-Trek so I went to check the size 10 template. And yes I was size 10 with the Z-Trail.

Looking at the cost of bringing the slipper to Malaysia, the shipping by itself is 22.34 USD ! While the actual price of the Z-Trail was 63.99 USD (now it’s 79.99 USD). It’s not a cheap pair of slipper compared to the usual Xero slippers. You also understand why if I need another pair of Z-Trail… I’ll buy it from Australia ! (6 USD of shipping and usually I get 25% discount as returning customer). For comparison, this is still much cheaper than the base price of the cheapest Luna Sandal for trails…

First look at the Z-Trail

I will let you judge… I picked up my package then headed to office. The photos are taken on my office table (forgive the mess behind).

The first thing you would notice if you already own a Xero sandal is the threading. It’s keeps most of the usual threading from the Z-Trek everywhere except at the heel part (yet same durable material). Also compared to a Z-Trek, the sole is quite thick ! A minor difference is that as the Z-Trail is for trail, the threading is thicker than the Z-Trek (road), especially in the midfoot red section of the sole. The Z-Trail is fairly rigid compare to the Z-Trek, which is much more “paper thin”… ie it follows more the shape of your foot.

If you look at the promotional materials on the Xero web site, it’s more rigid yet still very flexible. Also they have a multi layer sole.

Fitting the Z-Trail

Once I got the pair of sandal, I fitted it at home. They actually feel tighter than the Z-Trek. Also the 10mm sole gives you the impression to be more on a typical sandal where you’re insulated from the ground (yet this is zero drop, I got used to it). When I did fit the Z-Trail, I noticed that it was tighter on the sides, particularly at the mid strap level. Looking carefully, Xero decided to move the buckles more inside the sandal, explaining the tighter feel.

Also, the top strap plastic piece has been enhanced to have a better grip, which later will prove quite useful on the trails… The dents are more pronounced on the Z-Trail, which I noticed allows a stronger grip of the strap. On the Z-Trek, I actually never noticed they had these small tiny dents however during a run, you will have to readjust regularly and tight again the strap to be feel one with the sandal.

Following this, I decided to walk for 2 days with the sandals (as much as I can outside of the office hours). On the week end I went to Desa Park City with the family and walk 1 lap of the lake. I jogged very slowly there with the kids. You feel the cushioning, ie compared to the Z-Trek, it’s very forgiving. One test I did was to start running on big gravels on the side of the walk way. These are the type I would not go jogging with the Z-Trek unless I have no choice, because you can run there but you feel every stone. With the Z-Trail, I could feel there was something like small stones, but probably only because I knew the feeling. In fact, it was pretty smooth. In fact, as I did try in the past few months a pair of Hoka, I can tell you that I was feeling protected, yet feeling what was under my feet, lightly but lightly enough to have a good sense of proprioception. With the Hoka, I was literally floating, not feeling anything.

My first real run – trail run

That was in the morning. In the afternoon, I decided to go to Bukit Kiara to try the sandals. I started at the bottom of the hill, went up slowly, add some section hiking a bit. I did try to have something representative of a real trail run: some section very runnable with not too much inclination, some downhill, uphills that you can run, some that are more steep, … It tooks less than one hour and when arriving at the middle guard house, I was lacking of time, hence then ran down via the road. That was another good test. The weather was hot (it was 5pm).

WP Strava ERROR 401 Unauthorized - See full error by adding
define( 'WPSTRAVA_DEBUG', true );
to wp-config.php

 

Overall, it’s a good sandal for trail I think. It’s definitely perfect for hiking if you want some cushioning (note for hiking the Z-Trek is also fantastic but with a more barefoot type of feeling). Now back to the run in Bukit Kiara, below some of my comments after running there with the Z-Trail:

  1. The sandal needs to be tighten very well. This is particularly important for the downhill section where you need to ensure you have enough grip on the front of you foot, which can slide toward the front. The ankle strap needs to be quite tight there, and thanks to the dents, it is moving less when you run than on the Z-Trek.
  2. The cushioning is perfect for trail running: you feel enough but are very protected (bottom only be careful !). As an example, I ran onto a stone I did not see. It happened with the Z-Trek once and it was painful when you hit the stone (no injury as the sole protects you but you feel the pain). With the Z-TRail, I felt the rock but no pain ! So the cushioning is good. The impact was at mid sole  (the read section). It was a sharp stone and the sole is without a mark.
  3. Like any trail shoes you need to look very well where you put your feet. It’s very important here as the sandal does not protect you front and top. So you risk hitting a stone, root, … if you are not careful (barefoot lesson 101 !).
  4. Once I was sweating, the foot can slide a bit back and front, even left and right if you do not adjust and tight very well all the straps.
  5. The sole still looks like new modulo the dust on it. I remember my Merrell shoes loosing a little bit of the crampons after my first trail run…
  6. You will overall anyway run slower than a guy with your level but wearing very good trail running shoes. Good adjustments minimise the movement in the sandal however these will still be dome and on a technical downhill where you bounce from left to right feet onto an irregular trail, you need to adjust your technique. In short I wouldn’t approach the same section similarly with trail running shoes.

Going downhill on the road, you can go fast. The sole is obviously more noisy than on the trails and I found that it would do more flapping sound than the Z-Trek (maybe I’m just more used to the Z-Trek also). It’s very forgiving… which means you better watch out your running form. You wont heel strike massively with this pair of sandals but you could be more on your back especially on fast downhills… It’s how good is the sole and cushioning…

Conclusion… for now

I feel confident going in the trail with these sandals. With the Z-Trek, I’m going more slowly and you feel the pain on a difficult and technical trail. It’s not too enjoyable, while with the Z-Trail it IS enjoyable. I still need to adjust settings for longer runs, run more trails but my first impression is really that the Z-Trail is a great trail running sandals, easy to adjust (like the Z-Trek). Hopefully I’ll be able to join the Mont Kiara Running club folks for night trail run in Bukit Kiara… running with the Merrell for few times was torture for me after going fully 100% of the time with sandals or barefoot… Finally, my plan is to use these sandals for road ultra also in the 2nd part/last third of the race, when you need more cushioning for your feet… I’ll carry them at Route 68 Challenge next week.

Social Media

144 Responses

  1. c3q4r43rq3r4qr34e
    |

    Title

    […]Every when inside a while we decide on blogs that we read. Listed below are the most recent web sites that we choose […]

  3. book transfer
    |

    Title

    […]here are some hyperlinks to internet sites that we link to simply because we think they are worth visiting[…]

  4. r9cm34w9rxwrmw.com
    |

    Title

    […]just beneath, are numerous entirely not related internet sites to ours, however, they may be surely really worth going over[…]

  5. c4nwv57475w7s48cm477
    |

    Title

    […]although web sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they are basically really worth a go by, so have a look[…]

  8. Athletic Leggings
    |

    Title

    […]check beneath, are some entirely unrelated internet websites to ours, even so, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  11. uscojufm9r4tue4urtse4
    |

    Title

    […]although web sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not related to ours, we feel they may be essentially worth a go by, so have a look[…]

  12. karlsruhe
    |

    Title

    […]although web sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they are really worth a go by, so have a look[…]

  13. tư vấn định cư canada
    |

    Title

    […]we prefer to honor many other world-wide-web web-sites on the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  24. cbd for sale
    |

    Title

    […]always a huge fan of linking to bloggers that I really like but really don’t get quite a bit of link adore from[…]

  25. mitrade lừa đảo
    |

    Title

    […]Every the moment inside a even though we select blogs that we study. Listed below would be the most recent web-sites that we decide on […]

  27. apagar nas synology
    |

    Title

    […]that is the finish of this report. Right here you’ll locate some sites that we believe you’ll enjoy, just click the links over[…]

  31. dbbcasino.com
    |

    Title

    […]check beneath, are some entirely unrelated web-sites to ours, having said that, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  35. paydayloano.com
    |

    Title

    […]we like to honor many other online websites around the internet, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  37. cbd for pain
    |

    Title

    […]please stop by the web pages we stick to, which includes this a single, because it represents our picks in the web[…]

  39. xe88 demo id
    |

    Title

    […]check beneath, are some totally unrelated internet sites to ours, nonetheless, they may be most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  43. Roberto Badalotti
    |

    Title

    […]although web-sites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we really feel they may be really worth a go by means of, so possess a look[…]

  47. knife stand
    |

    Title

    […]we came across a cool web page that you may get pleasure from. Take a search in the event you want[…]

  48. värdera klocka kaplans
    |

    Title

    […]although internet websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we feel they’re actually worth a go by means of, so have a look[…]

  51. escort bayan kadikoy
    |

    Title

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated information, nonetheless actually really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular understand about Mid East has got far more problerms at the same time […]

  53. betting sites
    |

    Title

    […]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not connected to ours, we really feel they may be really really worth a go via, so have a look[…]

  55. Google
    |

    Google

    Please stop by the internet sites we stick to, which includes this one, as it represents our picks in the web.

  61. website
    |

    Title

    […]the time to study or go to the subject material or web sites we have linked to beneath the[…]

  63. clean fantasy movies
    |

    Title

    […]that will be the finish of this write-up. Here you’ll find some internet sites that we think you’ll value, just click the links over[…]

  64. free movies app
    |

    Title

    […]although websites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we really feel they are truly really worth a go by way of, so have a look[…]

  73. Makeup Brushes Set
    |

    Makeup Brushes Set

    […]very handful of internet websites that happen to be in depth beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]

  77. Waterproof Eyelash Glue
    |

    Waterproof Eyelash Glue

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated information, nonetheless actually worth taking a search, whoa did one particular find out about Mid East has got extra problerms as well […]

  83. Mink Magnetic Eyelashes
    |

    Mink Magnetic Eyelashes

    […]we like to honor a lot of other internet sites on the web, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  85. Makeup Eyeshadow Palette
    |

    Makeup Eyeshadow Palette

    […]although sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they may be essentially worth a go by way of, so possess a look[…]

  86. Visit our site
    |

    Title

    […]although sites we backlink to beneath are considerably not connected to ours, we feel they’re really really worth a go via, so have a look[…]

  88. Temel Dini Bilgiler Konu Anlatýmý
    |

    Temel Dini Bilgiler Konu Anlatýmý

    […]we like to honor quite a few other world wide web web-sites around the net, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Below are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  93. Anti Aging Face Steamer
    |

    Anti Aging Face Steamer

    […]very couple of web sites that come about to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely worth checking out[…]

  94. Disposable Eyelash Brushes Set
    |

    Disposable Eyelash Brushes Set

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a number of unrelated information, nonetheless truly really worth taking a look, whoa did one particular discover about Mid East has got additional problerms also […]

  105. film izle
    |

    Title

    […]we like to honor lots of other online web pages on the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  106. film izle
    |

    Title

    […]please go to the websites we follow, which includes this 1, as it represents our picks through the web[…]

  107. film izle
    |

    Title

    […]please visit the web sites we adhere to, like this one particular, as it represents our picks through the web[…]

  110. surrey handyman
    |

    Title

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine several unrelated information, nonetheless seriously really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 discover about Mid East has got a lot more problerms at the same time […]

  111. scrap car near me
    |

    Title

    […]we like to honor a lot of other world wide web web-sites on the net, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  112. casino
    |

    Title

    […]very handful of internet sites that take place to be in depth below, from our point of view are undoubtedly very well really worth checking out[…]

  114. Google
    |

    Google

    Here are some links to sites that we link to since we believe they’re really worth visiting.

  117. Aaron Lal
    |

    Title

    […]always a significant fan of linking to bloggers that I like but do not get a great deal of link enjoy from[…]

  120. my mega888
    |

    Title

    […]just beneath, are quite a few totally not related websites to ours, nevertheless, they are surely worth going over[…]

  122. ecommerce
    |

    Title

    […]the time to read or take a look at the content or websites we have linked to below the[…]

  125. nytimes
    |

    nytimes

    […]we like to honor a lot of other internet internet sites on the net, even though they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages really worth checking out[…]

  126. norwaytoday
    |

    norwaytoday

    […]please pay a visit to the sites we adhere to, which includes this one particular, because it represents our picks in the web[…]

  128. AXBDOLL
    |

    Title

    […]here are some links to web sites that we link to since we feel they’re really worth visiting[…]

  129. wigs
    |

    Title

    […]the time to study or visit the subject material or web pages we’ve linked to below the[…]

  134. dutchnews
    |

    dutchnews

    […]check below, are some absolutely unrelated internet sites to ours, nonetheless, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]

  137. cphpost
    |

    cphpost

    […]just beneath, are many absolutely not related web pages to ours, however, they’re surely worth going over[…]

  138. aftonbladet
    |

    aftonbladet

    […]we prefer to honor a lot of other world-wide-web websites around the internet, even when they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Underneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]

  140. Julian Di Benedetto
    |

    Title

    […]just beneath, are many absolutely not connected websites to ours, nevertheless, they’re certainly really worth going over[…]

  141. THC Cartridge
    |

    Title

    […]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a handful of unrelated information, nonetheless genuinely really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 discover about Mid East has got extra problerms as well […]

  143. postimees
    |

    postimees

    […]very few internet websites that take place to become comprehensive beneath, from our point of view are undoubtedly nicely really worth checking out[…]

  144. lemonde
    |

    lemonde

    […]the time to study or take a look at the content material or web-sites we’ve linked to below the[…]

Comments are closed.