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Running Shoe Questions Answered: Points of Shoe Episode 2
3k Plays8 months ago
In this new series from The Run Testers, the team answers your running shoe and tech questions.
This week Tom and Nick talk about old running shoes, the Nike Alphafly 3, the future of running shoe tech, and loads of other stuff.
If you have a question about running shoes that you want us to answer on the pod, send us an email to [email protected] with "Points of Shoe" in the subject line.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction to Points of Shoe
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey Tommy from the Runetesters and welcome to the points of shoe Runetesters podcast. In this series we answer your questions that you've sent in. So in this episode we're talking about loads of things from old shoes and how they compare with new shoes, comparisons between different shoes that you asked us about and loads of other stuff. Right let's dive in and see what questions you guys asked.
00:00:29
Speaker
Evening, Nick. How's it going? Evening. Evening, Tom. Nice, wet, cold, almost spring evening. Sick of it. It's just, yeah, so wet. I really didn't want to use trail shoes today, so in the forest I popped on a pair of road shoes I wanted to keep running because I was enjoying and just thinking it must have dried out a little bit and it was just utter slop. I've had to wash the shoes, which I detest having to do.
00:00:52
Speaker
Yeah, I have to do that. I did a 32k across the downs and looked out the door when I was leaving. What a lovely day it is. It's going to be great. It wasn't. It was just, yeah, just pure. I mean, my feet were completely soaked by about 1k in. Yeah, it's been a horribly wet winter so far. It's not been that cold, but it's been very wet. I'm hoping it
00:01:13
Speaker
relaxes a little bit in the coming days. It's still quite cold now actually. I'm looking forward to at least two weeks of nice marathon training before I start tapering. Well, it'll be wet right up until marathon day when it will be 25 degrees. It'll be the first time you've run in anything above 10 degrees. In Boston. Brains over here, doesn't it, in Boston? It could be pretty hot in Boston.
00:01:35
Speaker
It's always quite extreme somehow. Well, I'm holding out for Valencia Marathon now, summer training. It's a bit annoying one, isn't it? Because the bulk of your training is actually in October. Yeah, that's good time because it's usually still quite warm here then, I think, of late. It's been definitely the best time to train, I think. I prefer the middle of summer, sweating it out. Well, Berlin's good for that, yeah. That is true.
00:02:02
Speaker
All right, well, second Points of Shoe podcast. Points of Shoe's back by popular demand. Yeah, we had a few emails from people with some quite good questions, actually. So thanks very much if you sent an email. Very good questions. I thought the email was. Yeah, I open emails. This is exactly what we're looking for. Perfect.
00:02:19
Speaker
All right, well, let's jump into the first question.
Old vs New: Racing Flats and Cushioned Shoes
00:02:23
Speaker
So this is from Edward, and he's asking, if you are reviewing a running shoe that was shoe of the year 10 years ago, how would we review it today? Yeah, it is a good question. It's quite fun to think about, especially with racing shoes, because back then it would have been a racing flat and Tom in particular would have hated them because he only uses very cushioned shoes and would never have used
00:02:42
Speaker
I think that's like the Nike streak and all those. But cushion shoe wise, I was probably quite into the Saucony Triumph ISO line at that point. I thought that was a really good shoe. I was only fair 10 years ago, I was only just starting running. So I hadn't really done very much at all. So the Triumph ISO I was using for races, just getting into the sport. And I really liked, I thought that was a really good shoe.
00:03:02
Speaker
I think that was the start of a kind of slight focus on, it was about this time people started really obsessing about foams a bit because the ultra boost and TPU beaded foams were the new coming thing. And basically everything was a fair bit heavier, I would say. And I remember actually talking to their attics early on, they were going on about, we finally made a shoe that's under 300 grams kind of thing, a cushion shoe, it's not 300 grams. It's like, okay, well now shoes are like 50 millimeter stack height and then 250 grams kind of thing.
00:03:30
Speaker
So I think the racing and the speed shoes wouldn't do very well if you're reviewing them today is fair to say. I don't think any real racing flats have come out of late and if they have people have been interested in them but more as a novelty. I think some of the cushion shoes held up quite well I'd say.
00:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's probably, obviously when it comes to ratios, it's a completely different world these days. I mean, what shoe are we looking at? You'd even throw in the Canvara maybe, wouldn't you? It's one of the racier options back in those days. I think you'd have some quite fun, actually, lightweight trainers. The Pegasus at that point would have been a lighter shoe, but they've probably been a bit firmer. It would have been your standard EVA foams.
00:04:05
Speaker
Nowadays, if you make a shoe with just an all EVA midsole, people just dismiss it out of hand kind of thing. It's not super critical or something else. You can sort of get away with it. I mean, there's certain shoes out now, even like the New Balance, more V3, more V4, that is, it's not a particularly amazing technological feat. It's just got loads of thick foam in it. So I imagine there's a few shoes like the Isos and stuff that we're about, which probably aren't that far off really what you're going to get from it.
00:04:31
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think cushion shoes have changed that much. I think if you... To triumph ISO would probably stand up pretty well. I think we prefer the new triumphs, but yeah, certainly if you were coming to a racing... And there's no such thing as like...
00:04:45
Speaker
sock any endorphin speed like all-rounder shoe with a plate and the lightweight foam that does everything like yeah before you kind of all-rounders were pretty you know standard neutral shoes that you could do a bit of stuff on so we probably say they're a bit dull i think that's how we review them yeah well i was having a look i was trying to find out what shoes because i started running in 2008 and i think for the first 10 years of my running i didn't have i probably didn't have a good pair of shoes i think i was racing in like some sort of uh
00:05:12
Speaker
I don't know, wait, my early Mizuno Wave Rider or something like that, which was definitely not a race shoe. But I was having a look at some of the shoes that were out. So even like the Sockini Kinvara 5, the Brooks Glycerin 12, that was out in 2014. Of course, the Ultra Boost, which was probably the most technologically advanced shoe around at the time. I think I raced in that a few times. So it was probably even before the Triumph. When the Sockini Triumph got this ever run midsole, I was excited by that. I liked the ever run midsole, which I think was a
00:05:41
Speaker
maybe a teepee here, I can't remember now, but yeah, you look back with fondness, but it's quite different even five years ago when I guess the Pegasus Turbo was probably popping up and that's a shoe that we'd be pretty happy to see come out today. Peg Turbo, yeah. Well, yeah, even that, I suppose now if you got it, it depends what it was marketed as, but if it came in as like a
00:06:02
Speaker
you know how can i get something you might do pretty well we are tested recently didn't i am without versus we did with them what do we do with the pegs have a nice nature here yeah i don't mind out it wasn't quite as good as i remember that i remember being absolutely blown away but the original the second one i don't think was as good looking back yeah i mean it was still pretty alright i mean
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah. Well, that was the first proper shoe I had. I think that was the first time I'd worn a shoe which was designed with performance. Well, this is when you were in your phase of your training was to race a run-through race every single weekend throughout the year. Yeah. That's a training method. Yeah. Tom, how many medals have you got? Do you reckon from those? From run-throughs or all races? Run-throughs. Run-throughs. I must have about
00:06:42
Speaker
150 run throughs in a bag somewhere. Yeah. Got me a sub 40 though. I mean, at what cost? Well, a lot, a lot of money. A lot of money and not doing any real training until like two years ago when you then realized you were really quick. A lot of traveling across the other side of London every Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday. Which part this weekend? The worst one. Can't wait. All right. So that's a, yeah, that's a good question. More like that, please. Nice to have a discussion on these.
00:07:12
Speaker
you
00:07:21
Speaker
Okay, so this is from Peter.
Recommendations for Tempo and Speed Shoes
00:07:24
Speaker
It's quite long with this one, so I might paraphrase it slightly, but he's saying, what shoes would you recommend for tempo miles or speed workouts like intervals while training for a half marathon or a marathon? He says, there's plenty of great information out there on daily trainers and race day shoes, but now I'm looking for something to fill out my rotation. On two days a week, I'm running at least part of my run much faster.
00:07:44
Speaker
but still doing 8-12 miles total. He has used past race shoes for this, but ideally wants to save his carbon fiber races for race day. What sorts of shoes would we look at in this category? Well, these are the shoes I love the most because that's what I do a lot. I very rarely would just do a pure easy run.
00:08:02
Speaker
Well, no, not so much more. But if I'm doing lower mileage, most of the time I'll be doing an easy to steady run and I'll be finishing and not far off marathon pace, that kind of thing. So this is where super trainers do really well. I think the Endorphin Speed, the Adidas Boston 12 are really good for that because they are comfortable for your easy stretches, but they've got a bit of pace there. Or in the non-plated area, then the lightweight, but cushion shoes like the Hoka Mac.
00:08:26
Speaker
and the U-balance Rebel E4, even the Nova Blast can do a bit of speedy stuff, but I'd prefer the Mac 6 or the Rebel. I think, yeah, those are really good shoes, but typically, I do so much of that kind of training. That's exactly why I like something like the Endorphin Speed so much, because it's perfect for that.
00:08:42
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Up until two years ago, I didn't really do tempo runs. I did. You're just doing your run throughs every day. No, this is after my run through stage. I used to just, my only training would be easy runs and then occasionally very rare speed session on a track or something like that. But last two years, I've really
00:09:06
Speaker
A lot of my runs or at least two of my runs a week have tempo elements in them. So definitely it's an area that I do use a lot of. I've got a bigger pile of shoes now, which I picked for those things. And yeah, more often than not, depending on at what point in my training I'm out.
00:09:23
Speaker
how much help I need to do it. So if I've got a session tomorrow, which is really tough session, I'm going to be using an old ratio for that. Or say old ratio, we've got loads of, loads of ones that I've, you know, barely used, but I'll be using, using a ratio for it, basically, because I need as much help as I can get at the moment. But yeah, I mean, I would,
00:09:40
Speaker
How can MacX actually been pulling out more frequently now for some of those longer runs? Obviously the speed, all the speeds I'd take out. Superblast is an interesting one because I would if it was a really long session. So if I was doing like a, you know, 24, 26 kilometer run and there were tempo elements in it, I might use the Superblast for that. If it was a shorter tempo session, I probably wouldn't use that just because I want something a little bit faster.
00:10:05
Speaker
But yeah, there's loads of great shoes for it now. Yeah, definitely. It's definitely a well catered to area of the market for sure. So yeah, Super Blast is good. If I was Super Blast, I almost like to use it. So if I'm just near home and I'm staying on the loop near my house, which is slightly hilly,
00:10:24
Speaker
quite busy, you know, a few turns. I find the Superblast just a little bit unwieldy compared to some of the smaller ones. Yes. But yeah, that's another good option for it for sure. If you're on like pretty nice, flattish areas with open spaces to run. But yeah, like it's kind of thing.
00:10:40
Speaker
I do a lot of that in my training. My coaches always really like those kind of runs and it's quite different to the idea of having an 80-20 split or something like that where you're just doing 20% faster. There's a lot more kind of pushing yourself to steady pace and steady efforts in my training, which I think is quite good for marathon training. Well, it's definitely a higher level of marathon training because I never used to have them when I was training in sub three. I didn't really have them in it, but now I do
00:11:04
Speaker
consistently have those bits in them all the time now. And it does change what shoes you choose for that, because if I was just doing easy ones all the time, pretty easy which shoes I'd pick most of the time, but now they need a bit more thought into it. Yeah, it means you have to think about roots as well, it's a bit annoying. Yeah, yeah.
00:11:20
Speaker
Okay, that's a very good question. Thanks, Peter, for that. More like that, please. And then we had another one, which is, we sort of covered this when we did our January podcast where we talked about the future of running shoes.
00:11:36
Speaker
where we talked about what we expected to come up over the next year or so. So Adam says, the seemingly established template for a marathon super shoe and companies tinkering around the edge with the shapes, etc. Where is the next big leap? Where would you see a super shoe in five years time? Or is it that it is for the next 10 to 20 years until a big leap is established?
The Future of Super Shoes
00:11:59
Speaker
And if so, what would that leap be? Oh, quite a weighty question there.
00:12:02
Speaker
Let's tackle it in two parts. Five years' time, what we're thinking is super shoes going to look like? Five years, I think they can look quite similar. Tom, if I'm honest, I think there might be a few brands who try the Mizuno angle a bit more where they essentially skirt the rules by making the midsole 55 millimeters in height in the middle, but at the heel, it's within legal limits and they try and add foam that way.
00:12:27
Speaker
Otherwise, I think you're going to see a lot of, we've got a new phone, it's a better phone. And Brown's basically just trying to say that their phones are better. And I think, and then there might be some more, there might be some decent phone advances, but in five years, I don't think they were going to see a leap like we saw from, you know, nothing to the vapor fly. Yeah. But maybe further down the line, what do you think? We'll come on to more in the future in a minute.
00:12:50
Speaker
I think there's going to be a lot of brands trying stuff out and you know, Puma's every step of time Puma brings out one of the new ratios. Everyone's looking at the game. What is this? How is this going to work? Why's he got that on it? I don't think a lot of that is going to last the time. I think there's a lot of like interesting innovations going on. But ultimately, even with the Mizuna, I think the Mizuna is fantastic shoe. Love it.
00:13:14
Speaker
But even then, I would not use it for a marathon over my alpha flyers or my soccer indoor from pro three. It's just because it's a bit of an awkward shoe. It's a fun shoe. I really like it. I did. What did I do? I did half marathon. No, I did 5K in a department the other day. I did find it quite a hard shoe to really get a nice feel from. I don't think I don't think it's going to become a mainstream shoe, basically. So I think in five years we're going to see all sorts of things like
00:13:44
Speaker
weird shapes and all these different things coming out. But ultimately, I think the actual top five super shoes that are out in five years are going to look similar. It's going to come down to materials, isn't it? It might have the lightest upper. It might have a really, you know, modified midsole foam that is obviously going to be as bouncy as it can be or is going to be as light as it can be. But
00:14:09
Speaker
I don't think it's going to be massively different from what we're seeing here. Light shoes definitely seems to be a little bit of a thing. Now, since the Pro Evo 1 came out and was well under 200 grams, Essex's new shoes are under 200 grams, so maybe there'll be a bit more push for that. But I think long term we're going to see brands attempt to do this. And it might not be possible because I have attempted it before, but a lot more personalization. I think there's a lot of research in the area that shows how people respond to different carbon plates, different styles of carbon shoes. And the difference there is actually much bigger than the overall benefit you get from the shoe.
00:14:39
Speaker
I'm sure with elite athletes, like they're tuning the shoes to them, they're working exactly what they need. And brands will hope to try and make that, you know, we've got that bit with the like, Essex is two different shoes, and every brand has two different shoes, like one bouncy one, one slightly more light and tippy forward. And I guess there'll be more of more of that. And people will start to really work out what they like. And
00:14:57
Speaker
that'll probably be the way they go. Because it's about what's the best carbon shoe and what's the best carbon shoe for you will be the push. But it's going to be a hard thing to do without people getting into a lab and having biomechanics tests. But even then, there's no universal answers to biomechanics because people's gate is a very personal thing.
00:15:14
Speaker
Yeah. And it's also very much driven by the market as well, isn't it? So you could create the most amazing shoe of all time. Yeah. But if it could cost £500 to have a personalised version of it, that's not going to be the most prevalent shoe around. It's going to be the thing, I mean, there's got to be a limit to how much shoes are going to cost within five years. But who knows? Who knows? If somebody creates a shoe that makes you 20% faster and it costs the ground. I do think, I feel like, you know, we're not really in the area for those leaps now because
00:15:43
Speaker
Is the phone technology really blew up? They're already creating phones that are returning 80, 90% of energy. I don't see a massive change apart from maybe the person saying, or the rules will be abandoned. Well, that's probably where it comes into 10 to 20 years' time. It's always impossible to work out. But by that time, they're probably going to have some technology in that actually has
00:16:09
Speaker
that does something is basically just being like reactive mid cell phones and stuff. Actually, I mean, I imagine that by that point, the technology that is available, you'd hope
00:16:20
Speaker
You could actually have running shoes that have some sort of mechanics in them that actually do stuff for you based on your running. In nanobots, you're thinking, are you thinking nanobots? Yeah, I'm thinking nanobots. I often think nanobots. It's got to be something like that. Because even if it's maybe not for race shoes, but for fun shoes, I mean, you could do anything, couldn't you? You could do spring-loaded nanobots.
00:16:42
Speaker
And I'd take that. Tom would, yeah. As long as the nanobots were sufficiently cushioned, Tom would like that, yeah. You've got a cushioned nanobots here. Well, they might react to you or however you want your shoe to. You could change the cushioning of your shoe. I think we've got an idea. Maybe we should put this podcast out. We should start marketing this and investigating. I reckon we've got any interest in actually putting any effort into working that out. Oh, okay. That's an excellent question. Thank you, Adam.
00:17:14
Speaker
They're the big ones. I've got some easier ones now to chat through. So we've got one here, which is magnifying nitro 2 and the Puma Velocity Nitro 3. Are these shoes stable? Pretty stable. I think the magnifying nitro is a bit wider. It's slightly higher, but I think it's probably the more stable of the two, got a wider base. Velocity is quite a narrow shoe. I think for lots of people that will mean it doesn't feel that stable potentially.
00:17:41
Speaker
I agree. I think the Magnify is probably one of the most stable of those quite cushioned options from running shoe brands. It's very, the foam's quite dense and sturdy. Yeah, definitely a nice stable shoe for me. And yeah, the Pume Velocity Nitro 3. I did mention this in the review that I do think it feels slightly softer than the two. So it isn't as stable for me as the Pume Magnify Nitro.
00:18:05
Speaker
too. I'm trying to remember all the names of my few machines here, but in comparison to a lot of other shoes of that ilk, I think it's still very stable and solid shoe. Yeah, it's a pretty traditional setup for a shoe. I don't think it's particularly wobbly underfoot, but yeah, it's not a stability shoe.
00:18:22
Speaker
Okay, got one here and the, I cannot pronounce the name of the person, but, um, and that's not because, uh, of where they're from or anything. It's just a load of letters randomly generated. So this is questions for me, basically. Watermelon socks. I want, where are they from? Those are my brave watermelon socks.
00:18:40
Speaker
I've got a couple of pairs of brow socks and I absolutely love them because they're nice balance of they're not too light, they're not too padded, they're just like perfectly sit in the middle. I use them for races all the time and that colourway for the watermelon and mons goes brilliantly with most of my super shoes now because most of my super shoes end up being either purple or pink these days so
00:19:00
Speaker
Purple. Yeah, it's true, I suppose. We're just white ones now. Yeah. Might clash with the, uh, the Essex. If you get it, that kind of burnt red, it has. Well, luckily I have no interest in fashion whatsoever. Yeah. Yeah. Well, quite. Yeah. As, as anybody who's watched the channel will, will know. So this is a rare occasion where somebody's commented on my clothes saying that you look quite nice. But there you go. They're brave watermelon socks.
00:19:25
Speaker
Okay, what's this one I've got here? So we have covered, I think you did a video on this, but this was off the back of another video that we did. But Vaporfly versus AlphaFly, I'm assuming the most recent versions, Vaporfly 2 and AlphaFly 3, why would you buy one over the other? We've got full video on the channel for this. I'd say if you want the lightest possible shoe, the nimbler shoe, the Vaporfly is that. I think you get a bit more pop off the pods on the front of the AlphaFly. I think it's
00:19:52
Speaker
got a slightly more aggressive ride. It's not that much heavier. I think it helps you lock into a race pace a little bit better as well. So in the past, you know, it's been a bit more kind of vapor fly is maybe better short distance race, the outflow better long distance. I think they're both great at all distances with these new versions, but I think the outflow pretty has a bit more punch. Vapor flies are a lot cheaper though and it's easy to find in sales and
00:20:12
Speaker
It's still a very good shoe. Slightly concerned about durability on the Layfly 3. Mine's been okay, but Tom, you've had trouble with the rubber and the outsole and other people have as well. So, AlfaFly might have a bit more durability to it as well.
00:20:26
Speaker
Definitely, well, if you're talking about the Half-Fly 3 and the VapeFly 2, VapeFly 3. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I've ripped the bottom of the VapeFly 3's off in like 10K, and I've not had that problem. I've done about 60K or something in the Half-Fly now, and I've not had any problems at all on the Half-Fly 3, so definitely durability difference on those. And I have ripped the bottom off of the earlier Half-Flies.
00:20:51
Speaker
You did, the Half-Fly ones, yeah, I remember the very first time you used it. But for me, I would say, I mean, I much prefer the Half-Fly these days to the Both-Fly, and it's just because it's bigger, more cushioning, feels a bit bouncy. I prefer the Half-Fly 1 to the Half-Fly 3, but I think it just really comes down to that, the feel you want from the shoe. I think people who really like lightweight, feeling leaner, nimbler shoes, I'm going to get on with the Half-Fly as much as they're going to go with the Both-Fly. I think that's really the difference there.
00:21:18
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, Vapeify 3 is not quite as aggressive feeling as some of the other ones, but it's still really, really quick. I mean, if you've ever either on, you're probably going to have a pretty good race. I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's quite a lot of carbon shoes these days. It's like, they're all really good. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
Okay, I can't answer this one because I haven't got either of the shoes, but would you take the Max 6 over the Rebel V4? So this is a bit of a precursor because you haven't done a video on this yet. No, a video will come when we've got enough testers in. I think I've tested both of these shoes now and both are very, very good. I would say having done quite a similar run than both of them, at the moment I'm leaning towards the Rebel, I think it's got a slightly
00:22:00
Speaker
better foam feeling. The foam feels a bit better to me, a bit bouncier. I was surprised actually. I think the Mac 6, I've done identical easy to steady 15 milers in them as well as other runs. I think I'll probably just give it to the real. I think it's weird. It's quite a big shoe and it feels quite large and wide on the foot in a supportive way while still being really light. It's lighter than the Mac.
00:22:19
Speaker
I think if you're looking for the non-plated, all-rounder shoe, it just has the edge for me at the moment. I'm going to do a little bit more of testing before we do the video, but at the moment, I'd lean towards the Rebel. They're both pretty great shoes. I wouldn't be worried about taking either of them again. I think they've got a lot of similarities as well, pretty more similarities and differences.
00:22:42
Speaker
The last question is a bit of a discussion one.
Focus on High-End Running Gear
00:22:46
Speaker
Why don't we cover more cheap kit or shoes? We do, basically sometimes. It's mostly in the monthly round up we get this comment. It's like we'll stick in the latest bit of saw kit or a gore jacket. I've got lined up and it's really expensive.
00:23:03
Speaker
Generally, when we cover cheap kit, I think we've spent quite a lot of time on the channel. Cheap kit is good stuff you can find. You can go to Decathlon and get pretty reliably good stuff. You can go to sports shoes and get the high estate stuff. It's all pretty solid, but I broadly think it is more useful potentially and more interesting to cover the more expensive stuff that is a big decision to buy.
00:23:25
Speaker
if you're going to spend 300 quid in a jacket, is it actually any good? That kind of thing. And that's more or less, well, it's hard to say for sure, but when we do videos on cheap stuff, we have done them, they never do very well. And all the videos on the more expensive stuff are more popular. So I guess the audience goes for that. And that makes me think that they'd rather have more information about those products. And also, it is less of a risk to go and spend
00:23:50
Speaker
30 quid on a decathlon jacket than to splash out 250 quid on a gore jacket, so you almost need more information about the latter. But we do cover it a fair bit, I think. Yeah. In the monthly roundup, I've been picking up stuff from decathlon and sports directors and stuff recently that I've been testing and trying to add some of that stuff in. But I think it really does come down to a lot of the stuff that we cover, because we don't review everything. We're not
00:24:16
Speaker
doing reviews of every t-shirt that we get. We're only telling people about the really good ones. So we're basically picking out stuff that is worth spending money on if you do want to spend money on it. So from that point of view, if you're going to go and spend, you know, look at some like tracksmith things, you're going to spend £80 on a running top.
00:24:36
Speaker
you're probably going to be checking online to see if it's if it's worth spending 80 pounds on. If you're going to spend five pounds on, you know, pair of socks from decathlon, you're probably going to spend five pounds on the pair of socks from decathlon anyway, because you know, they're fine. They're fine. But yeah, very rarely will I pick up, you know, some stuff from decathlon and go really need to tell everyone about these things, because it's just fine. They're like, they're worth what you get what you're paying for.
00:25:01
Speaker
So yeah, there's definitely, we basically, when it comes to kit, we only really bring up the things that we really want to tell people about, whereas with running shoes, we will cover the good and the bad. Yeah, exactly. The kit's more of a thing. We all do write a fair bit about kit in our main jobs and websites and stuff, where I have a bit more of a range of price points. But yeah, the monthly kit thing, we do like three picks. And then we're doing the best running jackets. And I just want to tell you about the two that I like testing the most.
00:25:27
Speaker
They probably will be quite expensive because running jackets can make quite a big difference, especially with waterproof ones. They feel a lot better if they tend to be priority ones, although we did do a best cheap running jackets video and I watched it. My view on running shoes is the best cheap running shoes are last-gen shoes reduced that were already quite good shoes that cost maybe 100 quid, 100 quid more, and then they get reduced to 30, 40. That is, I think, the best way to get a bargain running shoe.
00:25:54
Speaker
Very occasionally, we come across one that is a genuine bargain. The high estate soil shaker trail shoe was always 20, 30 quid, really solid shoe, or the Reebok 75 quid shoe. But for the most part, we don't go and buy the 20 quid shoe that the Catalan says is good to use once a week for 5k because it's... I don't think it's really our audience for one. And also, I think, like I say, yeah, the best shoes are the older shoes that have been reduced.
00:26:17
Speaker
Well, generally, when companies produce running shoes, the company itself probably has them set up in different segments, don't they? This price point gets this foam, this price point gets the foam that's more expensive, this price point gets the really expensive foam. So unless you're looking in the sales, which sort of ruins that whole model, because you could get a shoe that has the best foam in that has gone down to like 60 pounds. But if you're actually getting when they first come out, that's generally
00:26:46
Speaker
how they are allotted. So I know my friend was using the Nike Downshifters or something like that, which we never cover on the channel. Yeah. Which is essentially, if you bought that new, I think it's not the cheapest shoe in the world when you get new, but it's definitely quite a bit below the next level up, which would be something like, you know, the Zoom Flies and those sorts of shoes. Yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
and Pegasus, things like that. And there's a big difference in the actual materials that are used in those shoes. And you really do notice it. Because my friend's just got his first proper pair of running shoes, I'd say, which is the Puma Velocity Nitro II. Even from using the Nike Downshifter to the Puma Velocity Nitro II, which I think actually worked out cheaper because he got this model. He says it just feels incredible because he's been running these Downshifters for ages. So there is a big difference in that sort of quality. And we don't tend to
00:27:38
Speaker
review a lot of the cheaper ones, because one, they probably aren't going to be as good. And we're just going to every time go, you know, not as good as these other shoes, but also brands that really want us to test them. They don't. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And also, the way I view the channel is like the thing I like about YouTube is it was harks back to the days of will magazines and magazines, or it was a magazine to serve every interest. I think we are a we serve a niche, we are quite
00:28:06
Speaker
committed runners like the audience like are really into running they want shoes that are going to use regularly for running and a lot of those other shoes are built more for the kind of yeah it's a good shoe you can wear a bit you might want to do a couple of five k's a week and that's you know it's fine but we are you know in this job which is why in our channel well i like it so much we are yeah we're aiming at
00:28:25
Speaker
quite people who like running a lot and they want to know about running shoes they're going to run in a lot and those tend to be just slightly different and the best cheap shoes for that, like I say, are the older versions of shoes that have come down in price. There are a lot of good ones of those, but I would even say to any of my friends who started running and they're getting into it, they're getting up to 10Ks and they're signing up to races and things,
00:28:47
Speaker
don't get a cheap shoe, get a shoe that people know is good, because that's going to have a massive... I remember when I started running, I went to shoe fair, and I picked up a pair of Nike trainers. They weren't... I don't need the running trainers. I had them for like two years, and they must have worn, they were like 18 quid, and I must have worn them down to like, hardly any midsole foam. I'd love to find out what those shoes were, because they must have been so bad for me.
00:29:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. We talked about shin splints and stuff, and they start out, I said, well, part of it might be a shoe. I actually had this very similar experience to you where my friend asked me for shoe recommendation, and he was talking all about different needs, and I went, I don't think he's, I'm not sure. I'm just going to get the pure velocity nitro too. And he, like, on his strawberries, like, oh, I can't believe it took me so long to get an appropriate running shoe. And he was running in running shoes before, or they just weren't very good ones.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say that is the good place to start, isn't it? Yeah, we do. If we find something that's cheap and good, we will tell you about it. Yeah, we definitely do. We're often banging on about decathlon. It's a bit of a stunt video to go, look, we've got the 20-pound shoe from decathlon. Is it as good as the 100-pound shoe as well?
00:29:54
Speaker
We just review the shoes that people are likely to actually want to buy to use a lot of running. I do have one more question. I'm going to go slip it in. People ask me a lot actually in the Greece videos is if I show the Garmin I'm using, what's the strap? I would say it's like a nylon blue strap of eBay. I would 100% be only looking for straps on eBay or Amazon.
00:30:17
Speaker
Basically, if you go to eBay and look for Garmin strap, type in the model, type in the width, 26 millimeters for the X models, 22 for the others. You'll find a nice range of colorful straps. You can find them all, you know, send them from China. Just get your order in, forget about it. Two weeks later, a nice strap pops up in your doorstep. It costs you a pound 50 or two pounds. And that's what I use at all times on my watch.
00:30:35
Speaker
Yeah, I buy them from Amazon as well. I bought Velcro one for like 15 quid the other day. You've got to mark up on Amazon. Amazon, they're doing the exact same thing. They're just marking it up because they're selling it from the UK. So if you've got the time, you buy them direct from China. I'm not an eBay. I have no time. Come after that. Yeah, yeah. He's a busy man. He needs his new straps. But I mean, the Garmin 911 are really, really nice as well, but they're like 50, 80 quid and there's only two colors. And I like my light blue, my light blue, my teals. Yeah. Yes, you do. I think we all know that.
00:31:04
Speaker
All right, well, that wraps us up for another points of shoe.
Conclusion and Listener Invitation
00:31:08
Speaker
So as always, if you have a question you want, send us an email at team at the run testers.com and put points of shoe in your subject line. And as we said last time, if it's a question that is useful for people like the general audience, we're more likely to cover it. If it's you talking about
00:31:26
Speaker
specific thing that you've had with a shoe. We might not cover it, but thanks for listening and we'll catch you next time. See you later. Thank you. This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley and Nick Harris Fry. It was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.