AQx water running shoes

Peter Wick

After both a foot injury and a collarbone injury, I have spent a long time in the pool for rehab and came upon these shoes last year. I don't know if anyone else out there has heard of them so I figured I'd mention them here. AQx makes several items but I've only used the shoes shown on this page.

http://www.aqxsports.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=36

They have little wedges built into the sides of them that provide extra resistance in the water and it is definitely something you can feel, especially if you're trying to run with a fast cadence. Your legs have to work to push up and through the water. It is kind of like a harder gear-lower cadence bike workout, only in a running gait. My legs are still buzzing after a 4 x 7 minute interval workout substituted for today's NOS 4 x 1 mile Z4 interval run. These things really kept me in the game while my foot healed and I'm continuing to use them this year to keep my foot from divorcing me.

They're not available in all the sizes that regular running shoes come in so be careful in how you select your size. Mine are 9's and they fit me a little bit snug in the forefoot but I'm only in them for an hour at or so at a time. If you find the only size close to your optimal fit is too large, wearing a cycling or running sock with them helps make up the difference.

And another thing, between intervals I 'rested' by swimming a 200 before getting back to running. The side wedges are not solid bumps. They're actually like a sort of stiff parachute that creates quite a lot of drag so trying to swim in them is a little demoralizing. I suppose it would be a technique drill trying to keep your feet up towards the surface with these things on. I tried a kickboard with them once - and I wound up drifting backwards. LOL

Jim Yanoschik

I had knee surgery earlier this year and did lots of pool running with the AQx shoes. I really like them and you want them snug in the pool or they will fall off or flop around. The wings are like little weights that add resistance. I swim and run at the local gym pool. One end of the pool is shallow up to my waist. When I run in the shallow end it feels like I am running through the surf and really makes me drive my thighs up for a good workout. The deeper end of the pool goes up to my neck where I work on my cadence because the resistance is much less than the shallow end. I like the AQx shoes because if you are going to run on the pool for any length of time, the bottom of your feet could become tender until they 'toughen" up.