I recently purchased Speedplay Zero pedals and find them incredibly difficult to clip in. I haven't been on an outside ride yet, but I literally have to stand a stomp down in order to engage the cleat. Is this normal?

Now I'm not new to Speedplays. I have been using the X Series pedals for 15 years without any issues like this one. I thought I would give the Zeros a try because of the walkable cleat feature, but now I'm second guessing myself.

I lubricated the cleat, but didn't notice any significant improvement. Looking online, I see a few posts about the increased effort required to clip in, but they are several years old. What am I missing?

Thanks,
Brian