I’ve done ~300 miles on linkglide so far, no signs of wear at all.
Btw, factory zeb mudguard is complete waste of money, except for looking good it does almost nothing. I ride in dry desert mostly and was getting constantly hit in the face with sand and small rocks with it. It depends on front...
Tried larger pedals? If clipless - tried moving cleat all the way back as deep as you can?
I’m similar height, had similar problems + calves getting really sore on longer downhills. Turned out cranks were not the problem. I have 180mm ones on XC bike, and 160mm on ebike, no problem anymore...