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Cushioned Shoes | How do we decide on the best ones?
3.2k Plays3 months ago
Cushioned shoes are big nowadays - and we're not just talking about the stack height. Almost every brand has a selection of chunky options designed to deliver comfort, improve energy return and, in some cases, provide versatility for harder sessions.
In this podcast video, we talk about the world of cushioned shoes in preparation for our soon-to-drop best cushioned shoes video. We discuss what's out there, what makes a good cushioned shoe and run through some of our favourites.
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 and Teasers
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, Tommy from The Run Testers, and welcome back to The Run Testers podcast. In this episode, we're gonna be talking about cushion shoes. We've got our best cushion shoes video coming out in a few weeks, so we are gonna be using this podcast to discuss the different categories there are, what shoes are on the shortlist, and defining what exactly is a cushion shoe. Right, let's dive in and do the podcast.
00:00:37
Speaker
Evening, gentlemen. How are we doing? Evening. Yeah. Good. Too bad? Yeah. Too bad yourself? Fine. Thanks for asking.
Running Plans and Challenges
00:00:44
Speaker
No no Nick this episode because he's... I don't know. Where is that easy? Gran canaria? Gran canaria. No. I know. One of one of those. No. yeah in In Spain. In Spain. I haven't been checking his straw. Let's see if he's running. I'm assuming he's running at me.
00:01:02
Speaker
I think he was going to go and try and basically outside. It was basically all up mountains. So he was debating whether or not he'd be able to handle or get it up there. The heights fear and stuff. Oh yeah. He he was debating which trail she used to take with him, wasn't he? Before he went. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Well, I like it strong a bit. See if he's actually done anything. Not seeing him popping up. So maybe he's given, maybe he's not bothered. That doesn't sound like Nick, does it? Doing a run break. Yeah. I don't think Nick's ever had a run break.
00:01:29
Speaker
ah so our but What's going on with you guys at the moment, running-wise? I mean, for me, I am not training for anything at the moment. I think i have I've made the decision, I think, now that I'm not going to do a marathon for the end of the year. I think I'm going to look at doing some maybe some shorter races, but I think I'm going to focus on picking a spring marathon I've got a lot of life things going on at the moment, so I think I'm going to focus on those things and yeah just kind of maybe start a little bit earlier in my marathon training for next year. I could have built up for that, say which will be different. It was similar to last year. I mean i didn't do one last year at all. so yeah that's Decided which marathon you're going to do next year? Not yet. I'm looking at my options. I'm assessing my options at the moment. so yeah I think that's
00:02:18
Speaker
you know i I was taking a ah while to think about it, but I think I've decided I probably won't do one this year. It should be fine, it's fine. you know so And then look to next year, I think. I've got some ideas of which ones ah I potentially want to do and I can see if I can get into. And then, yeah, just really have a good go. Because I didn't quite do what I wanted to do this year. Marathon-wise, it was mainly just getting through kind of without any issues. And now I feel a bit better, so I feel I can get back try and get back to what my original targets were before.
00:02:48
Speaker
He's got a few months where you can just go and run and run easy, run slow, run for enjoyment. Smiles, not miles.
00:02:59
Speaker
yeah but ah yeah i it's It's definitely been a weird it's been a weird time weird time to kind of think what what I want to do, and but I think I will try and do some ah trying to find a a nice half to do before the end of the year that I'll have a good go at and then just kind of do some shorter stuff. i think I'll still do some racing, just not the big blocks of
Marathons and Race Experiences
00:03:17
Speaker
training. How about you, Tom? Me? I'm on it now. Fully on it. I've had four months off of renovating a house.
00:03:25
Speaker
drinking quite a lot and basically just becoming ridiculously unfit. Now now I've got a coach, I've got a PT and um sites are set on Valencia now. All in. Yeah. And I'm struggling. um the The runs that I'm doing now with my coach are like the easiest with my previous um coaching block.
00:03:45
Speaker
These would be like the easiest ones of the week. And now I'm finding them hard. Just the like a few intervals thrown into a run and already that's, that's destroying me afterwards. hopeful I'm hoping it's partly the heat, but I don't think it is. I think it's just my fitness. It's going to take a while to come back. Yeah. Well, I got a big, big half in four weeks. So.
00:04:02
Speaker
That's going to be an eye-opening experience, I imagine, for my half-marathon times. But yeah, it should shock me into training a bit harder for three months after that until Valencia. That's December, isn't it? Yeah. So I've got four four months. I've got plenty of time. Yeah, I'll be fine. Be fine. And then I'm just deciding. I think I'm doing Manchester next year. So are you doing Manchester again, Kieran?
00:04:25
Speaker
I don't know, I might. Actually, it depends. I should have a good fridge for London this time. Oh, nice. So I may do that, but I did it. I liked Manchester, actually. I would go back. If London, for whatever reason, doesn't come off, if I'm not fast enough for my age, then I definitely would go back to Manchester. You should be now, surely, that time.
00:04:42
Speaker
I would hope so, but it didn't happen last time, did it? so you You were faster, you were a lot faster this time, weren't you? Yeah, I should. And I've got up in age category, so i should I should be well within it now. So okay it's all in your favour? Yeah, it should be stacked. but yes Well, you've got you're you're doing... Well, it's not long now, is it? said The big one. ah The next big one. Saturday week, that I go back to Berlin and... um Yeah, I don't know. like it's last Last year, I think I went into it, I was feeling I wasn't as up for it. Sometimes you go to a race, you got you you feel a bit excited about it. Sometimes I've been into races where I'm a little bit more daunted. This time, I actually feel quite hungry for it, which I think is a good sign. We'll see how how long that lasts. kind of into the midday Berlin. i'm so I'm terrified it's going to be like 32 degrees. So I just did, I spent, I was out on holiday in Italy for a couple of weeks and I spent quite a lot of time going out deliberately in the midday sun, running in 33, 34, 35 to try and bank some experience in that and try and ward off the worst of it. Because that's, we start at six in the morning, but if it gets hot by 11 and then it's hot sometimes in these, you'll be hot until like,
00:05:50
Speaker
7pm and it's like being cooked in an oven by the end of it. there's no it's not It's very exposed this course. You don't really get that opportunity. There's probably a few days in England where you yeah it's hot but when I was in Croatia it was about 35 degrees some days that I was running and you do get used to it so surprising surprisingly quickly but I won't be able to do it now.
00:06:12
Speaker
I found like after five miles, always after five, like the thirst would kick in in a big way and that's the big thing. I think that's for me when I'm doing trying to do these kind of big long, 100 miles, hundreds of Ks, it's nutrition in the stomach and the heat plays havoc with hydration. I can never quite work out whether or not I've had too many electrolytes, not enough electrolytes. I'm drinking too much water, I'm eating too much watermelon or I've had too many of the ritz cheesy crackers off the aid stations or what it is. but that's that's and When I get nauseous, then it becomes very, very hard. but Yeah. Fingers crossed. It's got to get beyond 69 miles. That's the first goal. Well, I might be, I forgot, I might be doing Dubai marathon in January. Wow. You've done Dubai half of them, you might. I did the Russell K mile, which is just a bit further out from Dubai, but it starts pretty early. It did get very hot at the end. So, and that's a pretty quick one. But yeah, I don't know what the, I don't know what the, It looks like one of those boring marathons in the world. It's basically just a stretch of road. It goes 26 miles, I think. So yeah, it should be interesting. I'm not sure how many people do it either. It's not one that crops up in the favorites list, is it? But we'll see. We're going
Tech Talk: Samsung vs Apple Watches
00:07:30
Speaker
to have a trip out to Dubai and then I realized there was a marathon there. So I thought, oh, I've coincided with that. It might be a ridiculous idea a month after balance year. It could be terrible.
00:07:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So any listeners, you know anything about Dubai Marathon, please message us because yeah, give me some advice or tell me not to do it. Cool. All right. Well, let's talk about kit we've been testing.
00:08:03
Speaker
Okay, so what, Karen, you can kick this off. what youve You've been on holiday recently. have you had What have you been testing that is new? Yeah, I mean, i've I've actually, just to step outside of the shoes for a while, I've been testing the show in it, but it's I've got the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra on, and which I've been testing up alongside the Apple Watch Ultra. I think Mike's got that as well, and which has been interesting for me. i've not it's the first First time in a long time, I've used a Galaxy Watch.
00:08:31
Speaker
and Can't say I'm in love with it. Things that I like, there's some things that I don't. I mean, the one thing I'm really noticing out above all is just the battery life on it. seems It seems to die at a much, much faster rate than the Apple Watch. Almost sometimes it feels like a day and a half quicker than the Apple Watch Ultra, which is, and you know me, I'm the enduro, I charge it once a month, it's bugging me. and But there's you know there's obviously lots of capability to it, but those tests kind of on ongoing. I know you've been having a little play as well, Mike.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah, I've got it in. um Obviously, this is clearly Samsung's answer to the Apple Watch Ultra in many ways. I mean, it's got like a dedicated button like the Apple Watch Ultra. You should mention, obviously, it is only for Android. So it's kind of probably going up against things like the Garmin Epic. So I guess really in terms of you know the feature set, I've I've raced with it. we I use it for something needs 10k to kind of test the new dual band GPS. It didn't perform fantastically for me. I found like the the quick button, which is kind of Samsung's equivalent to the action button is probably not as fully fledged, not doesn't have as much going on with it. And again, I think I just echo your experience with the battery has been very inconsistent for GPS tracking, but also just day to day. And I've used a mixture of the scenarios of using the battery and
00:09:50
Speaker
It's an odd one. I think it's it's good that they've made something that's just clearly inspired by the Apple Watch Ultra. Is it by Android's answer to that watch? I'm not convinced just yet. And there's a lot of things around the navigation and mapping. I don't think it's quite as impressive as the other options that I think are there for Android users. so But we'll we'll be doing a review. We'll be doing a full review once Kieran has finished up his testing
Shoe Testing Insights
00:10:12
Speaker
as well. So they're very strict to taking my watch back. So there's a squeeze in my testing. So yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker
if Is there anything else on the list? I eat lots of lots and then lots of shoes. Lots of shoes. Any exciting ones? I've got the, I mean, I know this one, actually I've got the Tekton X3, which now Mike's done a first run in. I've also, the the two new Brooks shoes, so the Hyperion Max2 and the Ghost Max2 have both been in for testing, which I've kind of been in enjoying as well. Done a lot in the, well, Adidas Ultra Boost 5 as well, been on the feet. Interesting to see if that's actually now back to being a genuine running shoe or if it's for swanning around trendy urban haunts, but yeah. so I've done a first run in that. that's yeah and i think it's yeah Long and short of that with the Adidas Ultra Boosters, it's kind of okay. It's not great. It's it's not a bad shoe. it's not a you know and and We put it up in terms of the rivals that are out there now and the the competition it now goes up against. it's kind of Is it a new boost phone? Yeah, they'veweed they've basically tweaked the formula to try and make it a bit lighter and a bit a bit more um springy.
00:11:17
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's okay. I didn't mind running in it. But it's not going to set the world on fire. And I think it sort of lands in a, in a much more competitive space now. I think people who like the old boost might invest in it for retro feel. And I think people who may be looking for something that they can wear casually and then do a bit of running, bit of gym, all that kind of stuff it will work for. But it's,
00:11:38
Speaker
it's quite highly priced and it's going up against even Adidas's own shoes in this space, I think are probably much better. The Supernova range probably tops it. So yeah, it's an interesting one. I think they're probably trying to appeal to, you know, a bit of heritage, that kind of thing. but early views on the Tecton X3 then. Well, mine is still in the box, but so yeah yeah. Nice box. Yeah. Well, I mean, this is obviously a very radically different looking Tecton to the previous one. and It's actually the kind of stack exactly the same but obviously the design is very different you've got that kind of big design kind of dominating gator on there you've got piba instead of the kind of dual density eva and midcell that we had on the tecton x2 i think we all kind of you know like the tecton x2 i think this is just a very different beast in terms of how it feels you know as soon as i put it on you can feel how much more lively
00:12:32
Speaker
it is and there is a little bit you know there's more of that bounce and obviously you're you're losing i think a little bit of that kind of more contact with the ground but i think you know i think it's going to be interesting how this one kind of translates to people who maybe like the tecton range and this for me just does feel like a different shoe i think potentially a good shoe, a different shoe, but a good shoe. ah The outside was great. and You know, it's been slightly and adjusted in terms of the lug depth on there. But I was out in Chamonix for the launch um for Hockus kind of athlete camp and that this was kind of
00:13:04
Speaker
the shoe they were launching out there a lot of their athletes will be wearing and I can see out there I can see you know, you know, it's a shoe definitely yeah have you're gonna have to kind of really grow to get used to and adapt to but I can see that it's a it's a shoe to run nice and fast in it's just on that kind of more technical challenging terrain can you maintain that? um I think some runners might be able to more kind of agile more Experience runners, will it will it kind of you know translate to all runners? I think that's the interesting for me. And also just seeing how it it works on my trails back here in the UK, which I know I'm going to be running and that's really what I want to see how it performs.
00:13:38
Speaker
It's funny, a strange way of running brand radically changes a shoe in the lineup because they could have just called it the Tekton Elite or something so that you knew that it was a different shoe because the Tekton is a very specific shoe and everyone, I think we all like the Tekton range for what it's designed for so it definitely sounds like the new one's not designed for, we won't use it for the same things that we we use that sheet those shoes for.
00:14:03
Speaker
I think it's still built for speed. It's still still absolutely built for speed, I think. It's just going to be a very different experience, I think. And if you're used and very much liked that feeling of the Tekton X2, I think this is going to be... I still think you're going to get that faster feeling from it. It's just going to be a different experience, I think. And it still feels pretty controlled. So, yeah, plenty more testing to do that. So video up on the channel. and But yeah, I think... And it's expensive. It's expensive. You know, it's not a cheap trail shoe to pick up either.
00:14:29
Speaker
And the other the other thing i I think they actually felt like that some of the feedback that came out when we were kind of placing the speed goat versus the Tectons have been that they were quite similar and was there a real reason
Defining Cushion Shoes
00:14:40
Speaker
to go Tecton for the money and maybe they felt like they had to make a wider gap between those shoes some big design yeah differences like they're quite Actually, interestingly, the booty fit even makes it, it's so quite a visual design difference between those two shoes now. Whereas before, you they sort of sat quite close together. It looks serious, doesn't it? It looks like, you know, it's designed for your elite runners going over mountains and stuff like that. All right, well, the thing I'll do is for um updates in this episode, shall we dive into this month's discussion?
00:15:21
Speaker
So, cushioned shoes, gentlemen. It's a tricky area these days. I think if you looked at cushioned shoes maybe five, ten years ago, it was very clear which ones were the cushioned shoes from ah from ah from a brand. You could walk into a running shoe shop and you could see the cushioned shoes there and go, I know they're cushioned, I know what they're for, comfort basically.
00:15:44
Speaker
But over time, as stacks have increased, as shoes have just tried to be more versatile, it's become a little bit of a more confusing type of shoe. So in this ah podcast video, we're going to talk through what we classify as cushion shoes when we're doing our roundups and how we choose the best cushion shoes.
00:16:06
Speaker
ah We're going to be doing our best cushion shoes round up in the next month. So this acts as a bit of a discussion precursor to that to work out, to explain why we choose those shoes and what the options that we've got in there. Okay, so let's start start this off with what would we classify as a cushion shoes these days? Yeah, I mean, i i for me, it's there's a range here. So, you know, we the obvious, what we're looking at, it you know, there's ah that trend for max cushion shoes where you're looking at big stacks. I think you can We're seeing more of the latter. And as you said, Tom, just a second ago, the shoes that we probably would have considered to be sort of more maximalist, Max Cushion now look like they're like the mid-cushion shoes. So things like the Sockety Ride 17 and maybe a Clitter of those kind of shoes. They've still got sort of pretty big stacks. There's still a lot of cushion there. um And they probably fall at the bottom end of that category for me. and But we've now got a whole bunch of new shoes that come in.
00:17:00
Speaker
with much higher stacks and you could argue that you could define it sort of by stack and we're talking mid soles ranging from sort of 35 mils right up to 50 mils in the hill and from you know sort of 20 or late 20 mils to sort of 30 and beyond in the forefoot so you know they've got a big hulking great stack of foam on there but I think it it also comes down to more than the foam it's the type of foam how soft it's tuned often these tend to be tuned softer to provide more cushioning on impact. Bigger stack can obviously mean that you're going to get shoes that might be heavier but I guess part part of where this confusion lies is that because the phones are coming in now, softer and more cushioned and lighter you can have bigger stacks.
00:17:44
Speaker
I think for me, I think about this also in terms of purpose. So I would have a cushion shoe in our category, which is something that I would tend to be using for more of my everyday miles. It's for my bigger mileage, for my loan, for my slow. You know, if you're thinking about 80% of your mileage coming in at a certain sort of lower end of pace, just a build base, these are the shoes that you're going to want to put on for for those miles to soak up the ground and also your recovery miles, those kind of things. i think Well, it might get complicated as you can have some shoes that have a lot of cushioning, but they're very stripped-back lightweight and you think about the kind of raised shoes. You could think about like an ADS Prime X too strong. I wouldn't, that's a massively cushioned shoe, but I wouldn't put it in our cushioned shoes bracket. I think that's a shoe for faster, but that's kind of how I would, that's how, in my head, that's how I define
00:18:32
Speaker
So i I think that if you if you were trying to drill it down to a very simple couple of statements, I think cushion shoes in the way that we define them is shoes that are designed for comfort and protection over
Cushion Shoe Categories
00:18:49
Speaker
any distance basically. So you know cushion shoes for a lot of people are used for long runs, so they keep your legs nice and fresh and ah with the consistent hitting of the ground. So i would I would classify cushion shoes as those purely focused on the comfortable side of training as opposed to basically not performance shoes. So I don't think we'd have any performance shoes in best cushion shoes.
00:19:13
Speaker
What do you think? Yeah, yeah i think I think a little kind of what Kieran was saying is I think the characteristics of these cushion shoes are very varied now. But I think the essence for me, when I think of a cushion shoe, I think of this is ah this is a type of shoe that is can be an entry point for a lot of runners.
00:19:29
Speaker
and I think so there's a lot of things ah key things I think need to be ticked off you talked about some of them there Tom I think also maybe you make some compromises in terms of weight in terms of the level of padding that you're going to get in an upper where you know you might own a more racing focused shoe you're going to get obviously you know minimal material you know a lot lighter durability those kind of things you're going to are going to lessen but i think for me the way i look at a cushion shoe is one that you know a lot of people are going to be able to pick up as Kieran said do use it for a lot of their kind of daily miles and you're not necessarily thinking this is going to be a shoe although it might be able to race in it that's ultimately giving a shoe that's really going to just cover up a mixture of your running it might just be the one shoe as well that you use and you buy because not everyone's going to have a rotation and a
00:20:13
Speaker
you know of shoes. It could be one that's going to the cover all of your running. Up to a point, yeah. So if you were running marathons trying to get a sub-3 marathon, we probably wouldn't put a traditional cushion shoe in that list, would we? No. But I think if the flip is true, it's also if you're coming in for a five and a half, which I think is sort of the average marathon finish time globally, you may well look for something that's going to have a bit more protection towards the end. I'd probably lean towards the more kind of medium cushions so the bottom end of that cushion shoes rather than the big sort of heavier really recovery style cushion shoes but yeah I think for some people they may go for a cushion shoe if they run in a much slower marathon.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah, I suppose as well with the enhancement and development of foams, but we what we have been seeing in some shoes is that even though the the stack isn't increasing, the foam is actually feeling softer with with with less of that stack height. So it doesn't necessarily mean the stack height, it's just historically more stack height generally means more cushioning. But if you can find a way to um have less midsole in, but it still provides the same cushioning, then that might be a way that I was going to confuse our our um classifications as everything else does. and All right, well, let's let's try and ah because I'm going to be editing the ah Best Cushion Shoe's video. What categories would we have, do you think, for Best Cushion Shoe if we were going to try and compartmentalize it into categories?
00:21:46
Speaker
i think i mean ah I think the obvious one is that yeah i was go say i think the honestest one is that the the rise of max stack cushion shoes. I think that in itself has to have a, just because pretty much every brand has a shoe in that space now. And I think that's become a category that wasn't there.
00:22:03
Speaker
You know, I think there are some brands that were doing those shoes. I think with hocker we're probably quite early there with this kind of Max cushion shoes. And now pretty much every brand has that shoe. And I think there's a strong enough selection of shoes there to build a category around and actually good, good options. That's the main thing. You know, it's not just a lot of options, a lot of very strong performing options that we've collectively all kind of tested and used. Hmm.
00:22:27
Speaker
So how about if you classified it, say you've got your purely easy day cushion shoes, because there's quite a few of those that I know of that I wouldn't use for anything else. just They've got no no real enjoyment over long distance, they've got no performance element, something like the, maybe something like the the New Balance moorange. I love using those for easy days and comfort and cushioning, but I would never even dream of going for a faster run in them. um So that would that be a category do you think that that firm easy day shoe?
00:22:59
Speaker
I think so because I think so because I think a lot of people are using their cushioned shoes for that for that reason, right? That it is, you know, you you save your your carbon shoes or your kind of faster, non-plated shoes for those kind of focused training sessions, those harder training sessions. And those these are the shoes where you may be struggling to want to go out and it's like, well, this is a shoe that I know it's going to give me that comfort, that level of comfort that's going to make doing that that extra amount of running you probably don't want to do.
00:23:28
Speaker
a lot easier to do. All right, give me some more categories then. I think there's definitely got to be one. I mean, this is not one necessarily that as runners we need a lot of, I don't think, in our group, but stability has to be in there, I think. Yeah. All of those, you know, that's one thing they tend to have sort of... So I'm finding stability cushion very, very difficult these days. If you looked at shoes three, four years ago with like the Keanu 28, things like that, there was a very, very clear difference between what a cushion shoe did, a neutral cushion shoe, and what the gel Keanu was doing.
00:24:00
Speaker
you you could instantly tell you had a stability shoe on. But now what I'm finding is that a lot of these stability shoes out, and I've been running in loads of stability shoes recently, they're basically you know comparable with some of the best cushion shoes out there. You don't even notice the stability of them. and So now it's added another element of confusion to how to choose the best cushion shoe. If you look at something like the um the Hurricane 24, that's a stability shoe. If you hadn't told me it had stability in it, I would put it up there with some of the best max cushion shoes out there, and like like the the more V4 or something like that.
00:24:30
Speaker
so Yeah, you're right. is really they You definitely need to have that stability cushioning in, but it is a tricky one to sort of work out what it actually means at the moment. It's I think it's made me wonder as well. Like I've I've I don't I'm not a big analysis. I um was a bit dubious about how well those tests are done. But I've been on and people have said you need stability. I've never run really instability shoes. But I do wonder, that you know, there's that this whole thing that we're on a spectrum of how much stability we need. And the shoes are getting better at being a little more subtle or a bit more accommodating. So people who might need mild stability now find those shoes better. And I wonder if it's actually that we might need a little bit of more stability. And we benefit from that now because the shoes are able to cater better rather than being really kind of sort of forceful in the stability. But yeah, well i'm I think that stability, stability shoes is not really a category in in the way that people think of it because
00:25:20
Speaker
I keep talking about like old the old days, but if you went into a running shop, they would have very clear sets of stability shoes in there. Each brand would have a stability shoes, and they'd be comparable. They'd all have a medial post, and they'd all be a bit chunky and quite clunky. Now, on the channel, people say, can we have a versus with the Hurricane 24 and you know the the the tempest the Tempest? But for me, they're completely different shoes. One's a cushion shoe, one's ah a daily shoe. So stability shoes is becoming a bit confusing. so Yeah, i wouldn't if if you if we had a category in best cushion shoes, which was best stability cushion shoes, I wouldn't put the 10% in there because it's I don't think it's cushioned enough to be classed as a cushion shoe. But I think there's i think there's there's a cha there's a change in the nature of stability, I think. Obviously, you talked about it. It's that before, previously, it would be one focus thing that would be delivering that stability. And the way stability shoes help guide you know these kind of supportive shoes have evolved is that the delivering that from various bits of the other of the the design of the shoe, so if it's the sidewalls, if it's that broader base. And I think that's where the you know the blurring of the lines between are kind of a neutral and ah kind of a moderate stability shoe. I think that's maybe the more of the thing. We're maybe not seeing that very kind of strict stability shoe. We're seeing a growth of the kind of mild stability shoes where
00:26:41
Speaker
Well, we're finding where we don't need that stability, but as neutral runners, most of you know us, we are able to get on with those shoes because they are so close in terms of that. But I think it's because that stability is coming from from different places where I think generally it's going to work for most runners. Yeah, and I think if you look at something like the Hurricane, um ah like you, Kieran, I'm told that I need a bit of stability every time I've had like, get analysis done, I don't do it.
00:27:05
Speaker
But if you look at something like the hurricane, if you try and run and pronate in it, you you can feel it. You can feel that support kicking in, which would be interesting to find an actual somebody who really majorly overpronates to see how those shoes work for them. But they' I think they're very, they're very interesting design these days where you don't notice their stability shoes until you actually need it. which um yeah Yeah, we we're moving on to stability shoes there. So yeah, another category would be best cushion stability shoe. And I think we've got a load of those now that we can, we can put in and we, you know, traditionally we didn't really test stability shoes on the channel because none of us really need it. But now they're just accessible to anyone.
Criteria for Good Cushion Shoes
00:27:46
Speaker
Okay. Any other categories?
00:27:48
Speaker
this' it's like a not performance what a versatile one like ah suppose you did day che Yeah, that was where I was going to go. I wouldn't know know what to call it really, but it's, and I think some of these will come in and while sort of saying, oh, they're kind of now would be considered almost like the, in terms of stack often like the medium stack. And I know that's not the only sort of thing that will get something into this category, but it's shoes for me like a Supernova Primer, Saucony Ride 17, Triumph, those kind of shoes where they've got a big old sort of stack of cushioning, but they're they're able to do more. They can run in good comfort when you want to go slow, but when you're pushing up to maybe 70% of your pace or whatever, you want to go at a little bit faster, they can also do some of that if you really want to. I think that's something that we're seeing a lot more of as well. So what we've got, easy day shoe, stability cushion shoe,
00:28:35
Speaker
Daily cushion shoe, is there anything else? Have I missed one? I guess the speed, I guess we want some kind of speed focused. I mean, for me, maybe there's an argument for that, right? That maybe they don't want to say the level of... Well, yeah, that's a tricky one, isn't it? Because you could have Super Blast in there, you could have the Prime X2 in there, but then, you know, where are you going with that? Because then you've got calm plate ratios that are probably some of the most cushion shoes out there. But it's those shoes that wear, you know, that's going to give you an aspect of those racing shoes that you may already have, but it's going to give you that durability and level, the protection that you're maybe not going to get in the same way. And I feel like that is an area that's growing. I mean, yeah, it's all right.
00:29:26
Speaker
Well, let's move on to a nice, simple one. What makes a good cushion shoe? What makes a good cushion shoe? I mean, I've... Yeah, for me... like i There's going to be things that ah you know there's things that are nice in specific shoes, but in general, if if say you're a beginner runner, you're going into a shop, what do you think that cushion shoe needs to have for that beginner that's above all else important to to for that runner? I think it needs to feel balanced. this might I used the word balanced a lot in our videos. and I sometimes check myself saying it too much, but I...
00:29:56
Speaker
For me, the and this will be different for different runners, but the the amount of cushioning has to feel right on the foot for the weight that you're carrying um the in the whole shoe as well. and For me, my personal preference is for a shoe where there's good cushioning, it takes the edge off the road, but it isn't too soft and sinky. I like to feel some of the road still. I know other runners really want just to be you know to have almost no road coming up through and just feel like they're having all of that impact taken away and they can just run in kind of supreme kind of pillowy comfort. I still like to feel like I'm doing a bit of the work. So I think it does depend. I don't like my cushioning to take too long to respond. Sometimes I feel some shoes when i when I'm in them, they'll sink too much and it takes too long for it to come back and I feel like they're a bit sludgy. i yeah And even if even if some of those still have the punch, I don't like that kind of feeling like I'm waiting. so
00:30:49
Speaker
i Yeah, balance for me is key. So i want I want it to hit like just about the right amount of cushioning with the right weight. And this is why I tend to favor those kind of mid-stack cushion shoes over the the really big, bulky, kind of heavy shoes, just because they tend to do that.
00:31:04
Speaker
Yeah, I would say comfort is really important in in any cushion shoe that I looked at because yours you can get cushion shoes that are quite lean and have quite minimal uppers. But I think for me, the cushion shoes that I would associate with being cushion shoes generally have quite a plush and they're just nice to run in for a long period of time or for for slowly If you went into a shop, someone in a shop said, I want a really nice cushioned shoe, and you came out with a shoe that had a really tight, thin little upper, you wouldn't be happy with that. I think you want that sort of big padding on it. Because cushioning doesn't necessarily just associate with the midsole, is it? it's The whole thing is a big is cushioned and comfy. I'm not a fan of big, fat laces.
00:31:45
Speaker
Like I think there's, you know, some shoes go too far and you've got tummies that are like, they're giant and there's like so much heel collar and there's, you know, the laces are, you know, as fat as my fingers and it's, I think that's a bit overdone. That's where I think as well you start to get into big heavy weighted shoes.
00:32:02
Speaker
I want that midsole to do the work for me, but i i don't and I don't want to feel exposed in some uncomfortable upright. I don't certainly agree to it. You want to feel like the shoe has completely got your back on all fronts, but also I don't want to feel like it's like it's on a good too comfy.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yes, yeah, yeah. Any from your bike on the shoes? Yeah, I mean, i think i mean i think I think just a really obvious one, it is fit options. I think some brands do this better than others, but I think just having you know extra width fit options, as we've seen, when we've tested shoes, there are some you know some of us have got very narrow fee and that's going to be a great fit fit for some of us, but not for all of us. And I think having those options, I think, as I said, I think some brands do that better than others and having that scoped to so we have something a little bit broader or have something a little bit more narrow, I think is really important. I think we talked about foams and obviously the the evolution of how those foams kind of really, and we're seeing more plush softer foams. um I think also it's what's happening around those phones and around that cushioning I think for me I think is a really important feature that I've really appreciated more in cushion shoes is the kind of the rocker element of it and it doesn't have to be this super aggressive rocker that you're going to get on ah and a more expensive shoe but something that's going to just help you roll through really nicely when you are doing this kind of comfortable shoe.
00:33:16
Speaker
And I think it just makes a world of difference in a cushion shoe. And not every cushion shoe has that, but I think having that as an added ingredient in terms of that performance and that ride, I think makes a massive difference of you wanting to go out in that shoe and wanting to spend a lot of your running time
Top Picks for Cushion Shoes
00:33:32
Speaker
in it as well. Great. Okay. Well, let's finish off with... We haven't actually been through the short list of cushion shoes. Let the chaos begin. But what are... Give a couple of examples that will be on your list. So we're all going to pick our own top two cushion shoes out at the moment. Mike, what's on your list? Give me two shoes that are on your short list for best cushion shoe. Can I say Super Blast? Is that included in the category?
00:34:00
Speaker
You can have whatever you want, but you might get a better debate on it. You've just messed up the categories. No, I mean, in terms in terms of the ones that I've spent a lot of time in, I feel like I'd go back to in this kind of space. I think the new balance to an ATV 13, which is not new, but I think in terms of kind of max cushion style shoe, that's a very good weight, you know, a shoe that I just know I can go out and it can be very comfortable to run in. And again, I talked about that kind of rocker feel there's just enough in there to to make it a kind of a nice shoe to cruise in. I think things like the Hawker Skywood X I've really liked and I've been out a lot in post kind of testing and that's just a just a fun shoe to run in a bigger stack of cushioning but I think there's a lot going on there in terms sort of Hawker done with that shoe.
00:34:42
Speaker
Hock is done with that shoe, it's going to make it a very enjoyable shoe to run in and really handle the the extra weight that you do get in that shoe. And I've also got, I can't talk too much about it, but the Puma Mag Max is in it at the moment on testing. And that is and another of those kind of max stack shoes, but I think, you know, is as well as much as being pitched as an easy kind of recovery day shoe, I think there's a little bit more about it that it feels a little bit super blast, I think to me, and I think that's potentially another good option. so I think if this is a category, there's a lot of good cushion shoe options, which is great for us, you know, great variety, but there's some... Well, I'm glad we haven't got Nick on this podcast, because we'd still be on question two now, debating it. All right, Kieran, what have you got? Yeah, I mean, as I sort of said earlier, I think mike my favorites within this category are possibly slightly different to some of the people's. I tend to go for the ones that have a slightly lower stack and
00:35:34
Speaker
probably have a bit more range, a bit more versatility. I can happily run easy and slow in shoes that probably aren't quite so big and pillowy and soft. So, you know, for me, I i actually really like the Adidas Supernova Primer as a shoe. I think that's got, again, it's got a nice rock ring. It's got quite a kind of stiff outsole, which rolls you through.
00:35:52
Speaker
quite nicely. The foam responds, I think, in a really timely fashion. They've got a good overall comfort. I can clip along in those really nicely. I always rattle on about the Saucony Ride. That's another shoe that i I really like. One that I might... I'm weighing up still on the list, and it's a bit of a curveball, is the On Cloud Monster Hyper. Just for me, that's one shoe I run the comrades in, and it did such a good job over that long distance moving at a really... steady to lower pace for me. and it It just had all of that comfort that we've sort of talked about in some of the shoes. I wasn't really expecting it to. I know it's been criticized because it's not got the liveliness that you might be looking for in a super trainer. But I would, if you put that in the cushion shoes, which i I would, I think it sort of has that long haul capability as well. So there's a few there. I mean, as Mike said, there's like there's so many good shoes in this space. I really like the 1080V 13 as well.
00:36:44
Speaker
um i you know i even i even quite enjoyed the car ano 31 as we talked about about stability shoes on that i don't really need that but i ah found that had quite a nice clip along as well i was quite impressed by by that um brooks ghost max 2 i'm still testing i like the ghost max original whether or not I like the two as much, I'm still working out. But I think all of these shoes are sort of swimming around in my head. I don't know whether the Nike Peg 41 makes it into this category or not, but that's another one that I found very good for easy, easy miling right up to kind of, yeah, sort of 70%ing. It's very, I find it very good at a sort of low and slow pace, although some might not find it is quite protective enough, but.
00:37:24
Speaker
All right. I heard what you both said. How about if we pick our top three, but you have to have one, which is a max stack. So it's above 37 going to be as well. You have to have one that is under that. And then you have to have, you can have one versatile one. Does that work? What now? Not now, not now. when when i did the actual video I'm thinking of ways to actually, cause if you, if you picked the con Clyde hack on cloud hyper,
00:37:51
Speaker
and somebody came in looking for a cushioned shoe and that they're not looking for that sort of performance features. Well, and they're looking for classic cushioned shoes just for even days. It's not a performance shoe though, it's not. No, want no but it's mentally, isn't it? That's probably where it falls down, but you know, it's, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think the other thing as well is that the Cloud Hype is a very expensive shoe. It is, yeah. You're not going to buy that if you're a general runner beginner who just wants a cushioned shoe, you're going to look at that and go, why would I buy that?
00:38:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I i was totally caveat. That's a very specific to the kind of to people who might be thinking about doing long, long, long. Yeah, I mean, I think the Supercross arguably, I wouldn't count that out, but yeah. Yeah, kind of the basis. All right. Well, I'm going to make it. I'm going to keep it simple. The ones on my list at the moment, well, more V5 is arriving soon, hopefully. So I should imagine I'm going to have some pretty strong views on that. The other ones, I definitely think Hurricane 24 is I've really been enjoying ringing that shoe.
00:38:54
Speaker
That has been, that has surprised me. That shoe has surprised me massively. It came out of nowhere, didn't it? yeah yeah um was never I've never even heard of the hurricane range before. I remember the cartoon, not the shoe. The hurricanes. any Any listeners, viewers, remember the hurricanes? um And then I'd probably, based on my style of running, go for the 1080 V13 as well. Just very enjoyable shoe though, for easy days. But it's not a cushioned daily trainer, because Nick says it's not.
00:39:26
Speaker
but Yeah. Well, you can't move faster than it can be. It basically saps your energy. But you if you get out from running, you don't want to be bothered about energy return, then then it's it's very comfortable to use. so Cool. Okay. Well, I think that is covers us for cushion shoes until Nick gets involved when he's back from holiday and he throws some spanners in the works. Right. Well, that could be better. That could be changed. Everything would be awesome. Waste of a video. Waste of a video. Right well we're going to start choosing him before he gets back. Right then, catch you later guys. Cheers. This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley, Kieran Alger and Mike Sore. The music was by Fear of Tigers.