This past February in Chicago saw heavy snowfall — 4 ft (1.2 m) of snow. Strong winds created snow drifts that measured as high as 6 ft (1.8 m).

Temperatures often dropping as low as -4º F (-20º C) not factoring with wind chill were challenging. Icicles crystalizing on my face during runs gave me the appearance of a much older and wiser me.

As a result, I had to change up my running shoe rotation to cope with these challenging conditions. This training block I was using Hoka One One Clifton 7 were for easy days and long runs. Atreyu Standard Issue Colorway #2 for tempo, track, and fartleks.

2 shoes were added to the rotation:

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The Mountain Fly isn't a typical running shoe. In fact, it seems more targeted to the streetwear hypebeast set than someone looking for a winter trainer. The upper is full GORE-TEX with a flexible neoprene ankle cuff. There is no traditional lacing system which initially I was worried about the lockdown. Thankfully I was able to secure my feet pretty well using this cinch bungee cord system.

It features a React midsole (not as squishy as Zoom X) with a full length carbon-fiber plate. The plate seems to be there to offer stability for the large wide base of React foam. The outsole wraps around the toes — which really helped on the trails with hardened ice, solid salt blocks, and other unexpected road hazards. There were times when snow got packed into the lug pattern thus minimizing the traction I needed to keep the pace up on slippery sections of the trail.

I'd reach for the Mountain Fly if I knew there would be heavy snow or slush on my route. This was also my go-to shoe when temperatures dipped to 8º F (-13º C) or lower. The GORE-TEX upper kept my feet warm in wind, snow, and slush. Distances varied from around 3 miles (5 km), 6 miles (10 km), and 12 miles (20 km).

2 memorable runs in the Mountain Fly where I stayed around 8:30-8:15/mile pace (5:18-5:07/km). The weight and heft of the shoe really only allowed me to do steady aerobic efforts. I found I couldn't go much faster in this without really pushing it. 8:00/mile (5:00/km) would have been a threshold effort in some of these conditions. Will run in these again when the conditions call for it — hopefully not until 2022 😅.

The Torrent, v1, is a shoe I picked up for a Ragnar Trail Race in Kentucky (Spring 2019). There isn't much trail running in Chicago so I kept it in the box until I brought it out this winter. I hoped to use the Torrent as a speedy complement to the Mountain Fly.

For the most part this was successful. The outsole has a combination of harder and softer rubber. It worked well on pavement as well as varied trail of packed snow and hard ice. The upper is a breathable mesh that didn't offer much in terms of protection from snow and water.

2 fartlek workouts at 7:27-7:13/mile (4:38-4:29/km) pace. I'd reach for the Torrent when there wasn't fresh snow, and when I needed to get my heart rate up that day. The trails were still slick and challenging, so I needed to adjust expectations on overall effort and pace. Will definitely run in these again in winter.

Chicago has been warming up lately, so I've put away the Nike ACG Mountain Fly GORE-TEX and Hoka One One Torrent for the season. This training block also ends this week, thankful to have had these shoes to get me through this challenging weather. Looking forward to what's coming next …