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The 2025 Mid-Year Running Shoe Roundup | The best and worst shoes of the year so far
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This month on the podcast, the team is talking through the first six months of the year in running shoes. What impressed us, what was average and were there any major disappointments?
We'll also be talking about loads of other stuff, from our current training plans to the latest products we've been testing.
Perfect for that Sunday long run.
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 2025 Running Shoes
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey Tom here from The Run Testers and welcome back to The Run Testers Podcast. In this episode we are going to be talking about 2025 so far in running shoes. So the shoes that we've tested that we really like, the shoes that have been surprising and some of the shoes that have been a little bit underwhelming.
00:00:18
Speaker
Right, let's dive in and do the podcast.
Casual Weather and Temperature Preferences
00:00:26
Speaker
Good evening, gentlemen. How are we doing? Good, thank you. Fairly warm still. It's not too bad. it's It's bearable. This is good. This is where I like it. like twenty Between 20 and 25 is good. Above that, and um my skin falls apart for one. 31 and 32. This is where coming into it living by the coast comes into its own, Tom, surely.
00:00:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah. it's it's It's not too bad here. hours was in London day before yesterday and I got off the train and i just wasn't prepared for it. it was I think it was the like 33, it was saying on my phone. It got pretty silly. It's always hotter in London as well. And it's just humid, isn't it?
00:01:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, you see a lot of very ah very confident, I'm going say this because we get a lot stick saying, oh, it's hot, but a lot of very confident Europeans who are used to much hotter conditions not realising how swampy it gets in like London and hot and unpleasantly hot it feels.
Running Attire and Coastal Living Advantages
00:01:15
Speaker
Yeah. It's just, yeah, it's that sticky, a bit like the East Coast of America, I think, isn't it? gets very sticky heat. Excuse me, get your shirt off and chest strap out or not? If I'm on the track, it's tops off every time.
00:01:26
Speaker
and If I'm on the roads, no. I don't i don't go like to run. I feel it's an imposition to run topless on the roads. Rant. Rant. Well, Kieran's still wearing four layers. Kieran's in two t-shirts, obviously, absolute minimum.
00:01:40
Speaker
I have to say, i mean, the other day I went out in a couple of running t-shirts from brands I'm not going to name because it was so hot thinking, I'm going to do it. I'm going to shed the base layer that I rely on so much not to rub my nipples.
00:01:52
Speaker
Six miles in, absolute lacerations. How sensitive are these nipples? You need some sort of like bra just so that you can get away wearing one top. Someone's sending a bra to the channel for Kieran, please. Or just tape them or something.
00:02:07
Speaker
Well, I could, but yeah I don't want to be sticking plasters on and wear I don't want to spend loads of money on the lube all the time. No, just wear two tops in 32 degree heat. That is insane. Spread it out. Anyway.
00:02:18
Speaker
Or you all go topless, I suppose. You can't get any friction then. Unless the very air would rip them to shreds. The rubbing was getting to the point where, with about three miles to home, I was nearly whipping off the top and running around Chiswick.
00:02:30
Speaker
You can't be whipping off if they're bloody nipples. that's that's what That's got to be a no-no. Hairy bloody nipples exposed. yeah The school kicking out time. Yeah, no one needs to see it. Well, now most of the listeners have turned off the chat of nipple chat.
00:02:47
Speaker
How's, I think it's been a while since we've done a podcast where you've actually chatted about what we're all up to. I think it was maybe like three months ago. What is going on in the world of training, racing, that sort of thing?
Upcoming Marathons and Training Challenges
00:02:58
Speaker
I just kicked off Loch Ness Marathon training while I was doing a couple of club races. Absolutely absurd club race. on it to So the hottest day of the year, Tuesday night, it was meant to be 10k out near Berkhamsted, miles away. They reduced it to 7k and moved it to 8pm start and he got there. This is the midweek road league. Road league is, but bear that in mind because we went out of the thing, turned left, under and underpass and just straight onto just rutted farmers fields for 4k of really hilly. Came back, what have come to Berkhamsted for this? This is a mad, mad race.
00:03:25
Speaker
We did well. i know I mean, I did fine. I'm very glad it wasn't two laps. It was hilly. But yes, back to the roads now for Loch Ness Marathon training. Quite excited to that. Tom, you doing that as well? I am, but I'm probably not training as much as you are.
00:03:38
Speaker
And Kieran's doing 100 miles, eight yeah Yeah, so I got Comrades out of the way, which went very well. got my Got my third Bill Rowan. I'm most pleased deb about, though, is that I have now run 8.48 in my first down run.
00:03:52
Speaker
i did 8.50 in my first up run, and I ran 8.49 in my second down run. So I've done i've done them all within a minute.
Comrades Marathon Experiences
00:04:00
Speaker
over 90k's or whatever I've seen have you seen his splits he stands by their finish line waiting just waiting he got there in six hours would have been yeah and that was that was back again next year then i if I mean I don't know yeah people get addicted to this race they it so my car ever they go old every time now yeah It's it's such an incredible experience, on the whole thing. <unk>s It's so brutally hard that, you know you ask anyone at least a couple of days after if they're got ever going to do it again, and they'll say no. And then you kind of get drawn in by all the stuff around it. But i'd I'd love to. If I lived there, I probably would. It's about the time and the money to get over there and spend the week. so
00:04:35
Speaker
Right. But it's, um yeah, maybe.
Future Race Plans and Injury Management
00:04:38
Speaker
It's a maybe. And then I'm going to go to Berlin mid-August to try and run 100 miles again, do the same Berlin Wall 100, but I've got a weird calloused heel injury, which is holding me up. It's making it very painful to kind of run.
00:04:50
Speaker
So I don't know. I don't fancy at the moment running 100 miles with that on my heel, but we'll see. Yeah, get rid of that. Get rid of that nonsense. and we've all got uh is it next week you're all racing or is it is it the ah london 10k yeah yeah probably i think i'll train not train through that don't think i'll go all out that because it's quite a tricky course but we'll be running there running hard on the day and anyway nice i've not checked the weather for it yet imagine won't be as hot as it was last week i feel got we a couple of weeks of more normal weather now haven't we yeah Good, good, good. Good. Well, I've i've got, well, yeah, I've got Loch Ness Marathon. I'm just trying to sort out Tokyo at the moment.
00:05:27
Speaker
That's the one that I'm interested Got the place or not? Not yet. Not yet. We're working on that. Good. But I have just signed up to the Mince Pie 10 Mile. Makes sense, yeah. A classic coastal race down down down near Brighton.
00:05:41
Speaker
Is there any Brighton race you haven't done? So what, Kieran? was going to say, is that one of the majors or? The Brighton majors. Very close. It's very close. Everyone's dressed up as elves and Santa Claus. So it's the one I did. i did it one year and i it was really, really dry. And I wore trail shoes and I thought, I wish I'd worn road shoes. this is I would have gone a lot faster.
00:06:01
Speaker
Last year, not last year, before last I did it, and i wore the slidiest pair of road shoes I owned. And it was the muddiest race I've ever done. People were laughing at me the whole way. so it's almost as if you could just simply remember the recent weather and back factor that into your decision well in memory i was thinking oh it was all on like light light little paths and stuff but it wasn't it was just because it was really dry so i'm yeah gonna have to pick up but i'll take two pairs of shoes this time smart you've got them you've got the shoes i've got enough shoes yeah i'll find something good all right shall we talk about any do we have any news at the moment for uh things coming out
00:06:37
Speaker
Not well like what? Hot, hot news? Hot news? don't have any hot news, do we? No, think the hottest news is these mad Nike shoes that none of us have got. But other than that, don't think there's anything particularly hot, hot, when hot news, Garen.
00:06:49
Speaker
We're going to talk about, well, we could talk about the mad Garmin coming out, but the Venue X1, I suppose, that's quite interesting. yeah The kind of slimmest big screen watch, but a smart watch without necessarily the smart features. Well, it's got all the Garmin features basically again, but in a different design. But I do like the design now. It is where it's growing on me because it is so lightweight. And in the heat, every other watch is causing me to have rashes. It's the Apple Watch style looking on.
00:07:13
Speaker
Square-y. Square-z's. Yeah. It's massive. It's massive's massive. It doesn't feel big because it is so thin. That's the thing. Whereas, i thought yes, it even made the 4Runner 970 feel quite big on me. but i mean but for if you think about like not everybody has the same sort size wrists as no well i think they've been you know we noticed straight away when we were looking at it when it came into work not a single woman in any of the publicity shots which i think is um just big blokes with big arms hugh yeah they get as many thick armed men as they can make the watch look tidy but i mean yeah it basically takes up my entire wrist but i suppose wrists are more square than they are circular i guess That's a good quote.
00:07:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Put that up. I yeah it's one of the way i didn't expect to like it very much and it's really grown on me now, I have to say. um Not literally, luckily, because it is massive. I made that joke in the video. I shouldn't make that again. and But it's, um yeah, I am finding it quite pleasing to to play with. it's just one those things like, you have the Apple is really pleasing to play with and you're fiddling with all the time, but there's lots to do on it. Whereas this, there's not a lot to do. So you're kind of fiddling and just going, looking at your like training stats again. Yeah. At least Apple Watch, i can if i need to if I feel the need to play with it, I can open up my emails or something. But um yeah, it's ah is is interesting.
00:08:25
Speaker
um i am ibi i be really I'd love to know how it does. We never really find out. Let's do it on individual watches. But I'm feeling it will either do really well or really, really badly. It can go either way. But I think a lot of...
00:08:37
Speaker
Every time I ask someone who's outside my ah normal running and outdoorsy friend circle, they really like to look a bit more than the Forerunner. If I if i ask anyone who's a runner or anything like that, they say they prefer to look at the Forerunner.
00:08:48
Speaker
So it's um it is interesting that people do seem to like these Square Watches. And obviously, the share of the market for Smart Watches is so much bigger than Sport Watches. Is it cheaper than an Apple Watch? so in the uk it is cheaper than the ultra in the us the same price but not the series 10 series 10 is much cheaper obviously but um yeah it's um it's a bit sportier than the apple watch depending on how much you value stuff like the you know the training analysis mainly but the maps are good on the screen i'll give it that yeah okay right well we're gonna talk a lot about shoes now so no and but no point in talking about shoe news so let's dive in and uh chat about the year so far and choose
00:09:34
Speaker
We're halfway through 2025 now, and and recently we've had a lot of shoes come into test.
Mid-Year Review of 2025 Running Shoes
00:09:40
Speaker
It's been a free pretty big year for shoe releases so far. And in this video and podcast, we're going to we did this last year, I think, where we did a bit of ah an overview of the first six months of the year, because it's quite hard to do one once a year because there's so many shoes that you end up just missing loads of shoes. from earlier on So this is our half year review of what has been out, what has really turned our heads and what we've been impressed with. So let's let's ah let's open the floor.
00:10:07
Speaker
how has 2025 been for you and Running Shoes?
2025 Running Shoe Trends
00:10:12
Speaker
He wants to go first. I mean, yeah yeah. At the moment, Tom, it feels like I am sort of under an avalanche of them. There's a lot of shoes. There's so many shoes.
00:10:23
Speaker
So many shoes at the moment. So we've got big piles of of testing. i think it's been I think it's been really interesting. You've seen some real sort of shoes jump. and be completely different. We've got like, you know, i think the Brooks Hyperion Max 3, one of my favourite shoes of last year. And they're all, to me, some of them are going in the sort of same direction where they've become this kind of super trainer, big kind of high stack, quite soft sort of plated shoe with a quite a minimal kind of upper and a sort of racy heel package.
00:10:46
Speaker
And for some of those, I'm not convinced. There've been some other crackers. I mean, I'm very happy that the Speed 5 feels like it's sort pretty much more of the same, but now feels very different to some of those other shoes that are in that kind of but that ballpark. there some really interesting shoes off the road. The trail shoes for 2025 have been more interesting as we see sort of more, um you know, softer foams, slightly more sort of aggressive shoes appearing on the trails as well. Some of that road shoe DNA transferring over. ah Obviously, had some really big hitting carbon ray shoes.
00:11:17
Speaker
Favourite among the the testers on one of them is a Puma Fast R3, which I think has been really interesting. For me, others, Hocusiello X1 has been a positive. I think that's this year. That landed this year. Yeah, so i think I think there have been some areas where you've actually moved on quite nicely and jumped to some areas where I think people have gone, taken little bit of a left turn and I'm less convinced.
Favorite 2025 Running Shoes
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say trend in the carbon shoe seems to be, is one I'm in favour of, which seems to be shoes are getting lighter, I think a bit more aggressive, a bit more racy. Whereas there was a trend of lot second generation of shoes got quite big and almost like going for comfort and bounce over everything. But that's what I think is happening in a lot of the daily training market. Everything seems to be getting bigger, bigger stacked. and broader bases and stuff like that which is a trend i'm okay with it's not really my kind of shoe i'm still hoping there's be a big push in the kind of rebel uh adidas evo sl area of them those lightweight simple daily trainers i think there's there's a few of them but i feel like every brand should be pushing out one of those because those are great shoes and i've really enjoyed those uh like i really like the rebel this year i will do it know be an update to the hoka mac line but the adidas
00:12:19
Speaker
Evo or Sal was released last year, but we've tested it this year. i've been a huge fan of that. So think there have been some great shoes. I think I probably have redone my rotation top to bottom with new releases this year, which doesn't happen every year. um And i think there's been some really good releases and some that have jumped bit out nowhere.
00:12:34
Speaker
Yeah, I tell you when you, when you get a big pile of shoes, I think at its peak, I had, i think, like 10 pairs in a pile that I hadn't even touched. And you you really you can really tell which ones you're excited about when you've got them all in front of you in a big pile, because some of them you just don't look at. And I think weve i there's a few shoes have come out this year. There seems like it's quite a lot shoes that haven't really changed that much or haven't had any drastic updates to them, which is you know absolutely fine if that's what shoes are designed for. But there are a few that are quite interesting and in what they' what they're trying and what they're trying to do and what they look like as well. um
00:13:10
Speaker
So, yeah, we've got we've had quite a lot we've got got quite a lot of videos on the channel at the moment. So let let's look at from the testing that we've done over the past six months, what are the highlights? I think the Fast R3 has got to go down as a highlight from Puma. I think it's pretty hard now. We're pretty blase about carbon plate running shoes at this stage. lot of them have converged on pretty similar designs. you know The Asics has been our last couple of years. The Fast R3 feels like a little bit revolutionary. It's a really hard place to do that now, given the limitations on them. But the extended plate, the very lightweight design, the very pushy rocker, the aliphatic TPU foams, it's all added up to an incredible racing package.
00:13:47
Speaker
And... so Yeah, I was probably like, came out I got it a week before London, i was a mate at a fail, I really liked it at London Marathon and at a time where I think it is getting quite, like even the shoes I like, the carbon shoes I like, like I've really liked the Brooks Hyperion Elite 5, the Hoka Rocket X3 I really liked, but none of those shoes I've gone like, they're must-haves, they're better than anything else, you know, they're just all good lightweight racing shoes, but the Puma Fast Art3 did feel a bit better than other things and that's quite real. About to start testing the Asics Metaspeed Tokyo's, we'll see how those go, but oh yeah, that was probably, I think, the biggest surprise, pleasant surprise of the year for me so far.
00:14:17
Speaker
It's, um um I'm really pleased because you remember when we first, we tested the original Fastar and it was it was a bit of a novelty shoe. it It was quite specific to a certain use case. And um I think we, seems to remember you liked it, Nick, but it wasn't a shoe that you'd pick up quite a lot.
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, it was okay. I'm glad that Epuma stuck with it and really developed that shoe because I've i've used it few times now and it is a fantastic shoe. And I wouldn't have expected it to develop to to this from from that first version.
00:14:45
Speaker
but Even the second version was just so much heavier. Yeah. Kieran, you did the ah lab testing, right? Yeah. And I think what was really insightful from that trip was how they got to that point as well. So they, know, normally they're creating kind of physical iterations of the shoe, testing them with runners, looking for efficiencies, all of that kind of stuff. So you have multiple prototypes in the in the process of creating the shoe. They basically did a bunch of testing with runners in the old shoe, plugged that all into ah the computer and used computer modeling to work out where to shave off
00:15:16
Speaker
foam that was unnecessary to save that weight, which is one of the big deals. you know That's the big thing is cutting that weight down, how they could sort tweak the the geometry of the plate and all of those things. It was all done via the computer.
00:15:27
Speaker
and Then essentially, they went from that straight to the model that's on the foot, apparently. They didn't make prototypes in between and then go back and change them. It was like, this is the shoe that the computer told us was going to be good, and and it is. so And that kind of design protest and in terms of the speed of it, I think that's really interesting as well. It kind of helping.
00:15:45
Speaker
And I was ah went there hoping that in a way that actually the shoes that was going to take to to test them against would prove that they were more efficient than the Puma. It didn't. Yeah, it didn't. It wasn't the case. you know It was by far the the top performer out of the three shoes that I took. so i think Yeah, and obviously it's a test on the Puma conditions, but they have had a pretty solid study. And I think they did similar with the DV8 Nitro Elite 3.
00:16:07
Speaker
and people took their shoes to test against it and were more efficient not in the puma at times of that but the fast r3 does seem to be a shoe that people respond to efficiency is just one thing obviously in the terms of a race it might not be the best shoe for everyone know people might get more from a more comfortable shoe they're still very fast towards the back end of some races but we've been really impressed by that and like say it's just hard i think so now is a very well developed racing shoe market to do something a bit different and for it to work because you do something different like the far the first two versions of the fast r were quite different but they weren't huge hits necessarily Well, we we sort of hoped that Puma were doing that at the time, that they were just being experimental, hopefully end up with something that was really, really exciting, which doesn't always happen brands. Sometimes they just throw something in for the purposes of marketing, don't they? Just yeah just to get a bit of notoriety. But no, it's definitely gone the right route. What about you, Kieran? Any standout highlights so far this year? I mean, i I have to say, I agree with Nick. I really like the Rebel V5. I actually like the 4. I didn't get to run a huge amount in the 4, but the 5 feels like my kind of shoe.
00:17:05
Speaker
ah Just for quite sort of simple. It can be fast. I think I can do kind of easier runs in it as well. It just feels like a really solid all-rounder that's comfortable, light, and performs well.
00:17:16
Speaker
And it's just not overdone. I don't know. It just feels very, very simple to me. It's a really easy one to choose for a lot of runs. So that was, yeah, i wasn't expecting for that to sort almost jump up and compete in the way that I would use it in the runs that I would take it for against the Endorphin Speed 4. And now putting I'm interested sort put it up against the Speed 5 to see which one of those I prefer.
00:17:36
Speaker
And actually having gone back into the Speed 5, I'm not sure now and over longer distances whether or not the Speed 5 for me might feel a little bit more direct than the V5. And a might edge to the V5 for some of my longer, longer runs.
00:17:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was great. I think it's now moved into an area where... For me, that kind of shoe, I don't like it so much for speed work. I think it i think it can everything. I think it's a really good all-rounder shoe. But if you had a rotation, I'd have a faster shoe alongside it. But what I think it's done now is become so comfortable and stable and so lightweight. For me, it's like, if it can do all that, there's no distance it wouldn't be comfortable over. Obviously, Kieran did the comrades in it. But you know even if you're just doing it for Sunday run, going to be very comfortable for that.
00:18:12
Speaker
For me, it ah makes me look at shoes like the Novoblast and the Hoka Clifton 10 and Nike Pegasus and all those are really good, solid daily trainers i go well, I think the Rebel does the same job, 50 grams lighter, same price, comfortable, you know but more versatile. I think that's where it really can stand out is like, this is just a great daily trainer and a really comfortable one. You don't need an extra... whatever three four millimeters of cushioning on top of this because it is so comfortable and stable so yeah i was really impressed by that and it's very much the type shoe i like like i really i probably still prefer like the adidas evo sl as a just a faster version of that but it's much less stable and i really like the hokumax 6 as a similar kind of again just a simple shoe just
00:18:47
Speaker
you should have to think about it so much just pick it up put it on and it's going to be comfortable enough it's going to be i think that's the benefit of these amazing phones is you can have really high stack shoes that are very comfortable but are still really lightweight and the rebel is not high stack by today's standards but it it is really high stack and it feels even higher than its listed stats to me it feels very comfortable Nice. Yeah. I think that one of the things that i think that's happening quite a bit in the running shoe world is is actually quite a big disparity between the expensive shoes and the good, cheaper shoes, because there's been a few shoes that have come out over the past few months that not they're not budget options, but they're the the lower end of the more premium ones. So things like the the Ride, the, what was it, the Kieran? Yeah. Yeah, like that one as well. yeah Yeah, they just seem to be just putting a lot more effort into that that level of shoe.
00:19:34
Speaker
a kit Cumulus, I wasn't a massive fan of the Cumulus, but I can see they've that they've developed it a bit and and they've added a bit more technology into it to make it bit of a better shoe, basically. Yeah, a lot of them are so similar to the designs of the premium model.
00:19:47
Speaker
It is just often a case of just what two or three extra millimeters of stacker, isn't it? yeah Yeah. The other well the other one that stood out. Oh, sorry, Tom, go on. I was just going say, for me, the standout shoe, and i I think it was released just before Christmas, the Adidas Evo SL, but we're going to have to put it in loads of whatever videos we do for the rounds up of 2000 and 20 25 but that shoe everybody loves our shoe every time i see anyone post about it and it and it's justified it's such a steal for the for the price um and that just goes to show that that level of shoe which is 130 pounds you wouldn't even have dreamed of having that level of performance in a shoe three years ago and issue that price so it's a good sign of of the way that it's used to developing at the moment I think that shoe is the reason I don't like the Rebel V5 even more, basically, because it's a similar price, similar style, but faster, better foam, because obviously New Balance doesn't put its best foam in the Rebel, and AliEx have put a previous version of Lightstrike Pro in there, and it ya is classy. It is yeah might be wobbly for some people, but it's a shoe I've pulled on so much already. Sorry, Kieran, you were saying something.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm not running the s cell so I can't draw that comparison. But I was going to say, um yeah, it's interesting with with some of those shoes when they're coming in at that kind of price, how good value they now look when you see a lot of other shoes. That's the other trend you've seen is like the shoe prices are all creeping up. For a while, we were getting hit, I think, a lot more in the UK and the US s prices were staying the same. that um that's That's changed. Yeah. So all the US dollar prices are now rising more rapidly than the UK, but everything has seemed to, you know, a lot of shoes have gone up 10, 20 pounds. So it's getting more expensive.
00:21:21
Speaker
So it's nice to have those shoes that are still going to offer the value at that price. Yeah. And they always do. You get your head turned by the top of the range stuff, but those shoes are always great. And now, you know, if brands are, the way foams are moving on from Piva actually in lots of carbon shoes, it means that we'll maybe see more Piva foams in everyday shoes and stuff like that. So I think they're going get better.
00:21:40
Speaker
Nice. Any other the highlights you can think of? There's one one other that I think is ah a surprise. you know It's just a shoe that shocked me because I i wasn't 100% keen on it. The last generation was the Vimero, which I feel like is a bit of a transformation. It's now a bigger stack, sort a little bit so softer. It's...
00:21:58
Speaker
a bit a sort hybrid shoe, good stability. But again, that's one that I can just do loads and loads of different runs in. It's maybe going to be a bit heavy for most people who want to go fast. think particularly kind of your end of the sort of scale, Nick, who wants something much lighter on their feet to go and do their speed workouts. But it's another one where everyone I've bumped into who talks about it, who's experienced it, really loves it because it can do quite a lot. If you really need it to, it can go faster.
00:22:24
Speaker
but it's just an easy everyday shoe. i'm And I didn't really like the last generation. So that was a bit of ah a surprise. And it's another one I think represents pretty good value. It'll be interesting to see what happens now with that, with because they've got the two models above it in the line now. of One is the same stack, just all Zoom X, the Vermeer Plus, and then the Vermeer Premium is the mad one that's got the 55mm stack. And yeah, I'm interested to test those shoes. You might not get to test them. We don't always get to test Nike shoes. But um yeah, it'll be interesting to see if they're adding much compared to the standard Vermeer, which I haven't tested actually.
00:22:54
Speaker
Yeah. which yeah I don't know about Nike. I feel like there's there's a potential for them. They seem to have sort of bringing out three shoes around one sort of model frequently, right? that's big They've consolidated the lines because there already was the Invincible and the Vomero, but the Vomero Premium is something new. And there already was the Pegasus and the Pegasus Plus and then the the Premium as well. I mean, it does feel like a third shoe in each of those lines or silos, if we can use the correct terminology, feels a bit... And doing the same with a Structure. So there's going to be a structure Structure Plus and Structure Premium as well, right? Yeah. Three shoes do the same job. lots of brands do three shoes, same job, different price points.
00:23:26
Speaker
But if the cheapest price point already 130, 140, and it's already a very cushioned shoe, don't where you're going from there. Yeah. the last The last one for me to throw into this, which doesn't really count, is the Rooks IPR Elite 5.
00:23:40
Speaker
five but because of the existence of the 4PB, it's not that exciting an advancement for that for that series. But I do think it's a really good shoe and one of the better ones I've tested, race ones I've tested so far this year.
00:23:52
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think every brand who's done a race shoe I've tested this year has improved on previous models. i think the Brooks have got better and better. I think the Hocus Yellow X1 2.0 is really good. I like Pocket X3 as well.
00:24:03
Speaker
New Balance is new one is better as well. It's just, yeah, then they didn't do what the Puma did basically, which is they've come and that's their best racing shoe ever. But I think another brand's got a better shoe. And I think that's the big problem with racing shoes in general is people don't tend to have too many. like I think people who watch our channel have a few, but, um,
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah I think they've all improved, but not in a way that looks like they've not come to the table with something they can brand as seismic shift or anything like that. it's not incredibly lightweight. It's not the springiest foam. It's just their best shoe as opposed to a shoe that maybe can be called the best shoe.
00:24:43
Speaker
Okay, so we just talked about highlights, things that stood out. What about things that haven't really, not necessarily bad, but haven't really wowed us, haven't really changed? Quite a few of these i' think we've tested over the past few weeks.
00:24:55
Speaker
What was it? The Sockany Endorphin Trainer. That's my least favourite shoe of the year so far, think. The one i I didn't mind. Well, the one that was just another Canvara Pro. It's a really expensive, but not very interesting. With a sponge in the middle. just i I don't know what shoe does. it's like a It's not really a super trainer, but it's got the price of one and a big heavy shoe, big clumpy shoe, very loud.
00:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't like that shoe. Yeah. Didn't like the Pegasus Premium, actually, either from Nike. I think that's, again, just a really high stack, three different foams in it. Dangerously unstable, I think, for shoe that you're meant to just be running easy in. And, again, just unbelievably heavy, like, you just chuck a load of stuff in a shoe. I don't think it really worked out.
00:25:32
Speaker
Well, there seems there seems to be a lot of shoes that have come out, as as always, that not really that much has changed. Tweaks, changes to the upper, things like that. So we've got the Giacomo 32, major updates on that. ah nothing no major updates on that We've had the Sockany Triumph 23, which is a little bit of ah a a welcome up update to the 22, which I don't think any of us liked. So that's a step in the right direction for Sockany, I think. We've not finished doing the full review of that yet. I'm assuming you've got a similar view to it as me.
00:26:01
Speaker
More or less. i mean I mean, most of the classic big names haven't changed too much. And that's probably one of the bigger changes, the Triumph, compared to the yeah biggest one. Much needed. ah Things like the Hurricane 25, stopping Hurricane 25, that doesn't seem to have changed a great deal, which I'm quite pleased about.
00:26:14
Speaker
And the Speed 5, not massive departure. The Mizuno Neo Vista 2. So I think we've all tested this, haven't we? Yeah, a little bit. So I've only done one or two runs, I think. and So this is an update to the foam.
00:26:26
Speaker
I think it's a dual layer of foam, isn't it? Which um I didn't notice a massive difference in the testing that I've done so far in it. i i haven't run in the I didn't run in the first one of those. I ran in the Neo Zen.
00:26:38
Speaker
And from that people at that, one of the things I sort of pulled out from looking at what other people said was that the Neo Vista had a little bit more kind of stiffness, a bit more snap to it. But actually, I don't know about those. i kind of can't quite make my mind up. I feel like they're too soft for... me i feel like you definitely wouldn't like the first ones then i know i think the first ones were better were were more responsive oh really yeah i thought i found it easy to turn my feet over in those i think the new ones are bouncier and softer but yes they're squishier basically and think they're fine you know i was gonna do long run and try that but i think the when i tried them side by side nevista one i think you move through a bit faster is it bit easier to push against it
00:27:16
Speaker
Oh, interesting. I've only done two runs in it, so maybe i need to um soften it up a little bit. I definitely didn't think it was that soft. one bring out Get your old ones out. I think you'll find that they feel a bit firmer, I reckon. Okay, okay. I'll give them a go. Anything else that sits in a sort of... mean, we've got the... I've not tried the Brooks... Well, I've done one run in Brooks Ghost Max. What about that? Is it similar? It looks like the Ghost now, the Max 3.
00:27:41
Speaker
but Yeah, im mean, I just... rocket ah just Again, I feel like there's ah there's a whole swathe of shoes that have come out that you just stick in a big bucket that labeled competent. you know so you know they they They're good enough. you know They'll do a job. do they and When we you put them on, you think, actually, this hasn't blown me away and it's not doing anything particularly new. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know but yeah, there's a lot of shoes I think actually this you know this is this is perfectly good, not remarkable. Depends much they cost, doesn't it? Well, that's the thing with all of them is the ones where I go, well, yeah, perfectly fine, but get the previous version. And when this version is on sale next year, get this version. You know, nothing nothing's moving around too much. so I think brook shoes are famous. You know, if you're building rotation from scratch, i think it's never a bad idea to have a brook shoe in it because they last forever. They're built really well. The tanks, they can soak up miles, but they're not always the most exciting ones. They're just really solid, aren't they?
00:28:32
Speaker
I think i got the Max 3, the Hyperion Max 3 is, and I don't want to put this is not in a bracket of shoes that I haven't enjoyed, but I just think it does something very different.
00:28:43
Speaker
And i um absolutely loved the two, maybe because I you know i basically did 40 miles of the Berlin Wall 100 in it And it wasn't really necessarily a shoe that you'd immediately think that would be good for, but there was a few things about it. The light had really kind of nice, roomy, lightweight uppers. It had ah a bit of response, enough cushioning, but had like a nice, easy kind of clip through to it.
00:29:03
Speaker
This shoe feels completely different to me. It's now gone to being more of a, like it's trying to be an all-out sort of fast trainer, but I'm not convinced it's 100% got there, but it's lost that ease. And the uppers, the whole booty upper thing is a complete change as well with...
00:29:17
Speaker
the the sort of two pad kind of minimal sort of heel collar thing going on as well. At least there's a wrapping pad on the inside. but I feel like it's less quick than the previous one almost, even though it's got the better foam in just because it's got so big.
00:29:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. The first run video, I liked it because i did the exact kind of run I think it's good for, which is a pretty relaxed long run where you might pick up a little bit here and there, but actually trying to actively run quicken it a couple of times, just didn't like that that much.
00:29:43
Speaker
And then for like kind of your short everyday runs, it just feels a bit too much. And I'm not sure if it's the midsole and the rides, but it just now, I had this in my mind of a shoe that I wanted to do sort similar to the last one.
00:29:54
Speaker
And the upper change, I think, is where it sort of thrown me a bit with the shoe because I'm not not convinced. I don't like that pad at all at the back, have to I think that the other interesting thing was the Hyper-Romax 2 did something different as well. It was quite sort of set apart from a lot of the other shoes that we were getting.
00:30:10
Speaker
And I like that. And it now that's gone, I'm a little little upset. Yeah. Well, it is for me. I feel like it this feels like it's Hocus Carwood X is what I compare it to. like a big cushy plated shoe that's, I don't know what, you know I never really know exactly what those shoes are for, but I guess recovery miles with even more of a boost, like this new Pegasus, this new Vemero Premium, but it doesn't feel like a super trainer to me. i And with Hyperia Max 2, I didn't think it was a great super trainer in terms of speed, but it was quite a lot more stable than most of them.
00:30:45
Speaker
All right, so they one last question. So we're halfway through the year. um We've got six months left. What is coming up or what are we hoping is going to come up over the next six months that we that we either haven't heard about yet or we do know about but we haven't got?
00:30:59
Speaker
Big launch probably just so after this podcast comes out. very i'm very excited about it. But it's not that exciting, I suppose, really. But I don't know. who normally Who hasn't gone this year? Who hasn't done a big launch? Everyone's gone, I think, haven't they?
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah, are there going to be any surprise ones? We've had... haven't had the Pro Evo 2 in yet from Adidas, even though we were allowed to run 70 metres in a tunnel, but we were meant to be getting that shortly afterwards to test properly, but that's never happened, has it? Was Sockney Dolphin Pro 5? Yeah, if they've released a speed without that, I don't think that'll come out. Okay. I reckon, being my guess.
00:31:31
Speaker
There's a guess, though. and Okay. What about any new... There's not going Alpha Fly anytime soon, is there? No, yeah, be next year, I guess. Some interesting prototypes floating around Instagram of that with ah an extended plate past the forefoot. It'd be very interesting if that happens, the Puma style.
00:31:46
Speaker
Yeah. Don't know, there anything else going to come out? I can't think of anyone that it would do. Depressing state of affairs for us. No, it's great. we we but the um mean What we're just testing right now is the autumn launch of shoes. So the next thing we'll be testing is the spring next year, which normally comes in the winter before that.
00:32:02
Speaker
and we've had I mean, the rush we've just had, surely there can't be too much more to come. ah ah ah Because New Balance are the ones who often go late in the year with their launches, but I've had the SE Elite V5 in. Don't think... so It's got to be a New Balance morebi more 6.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah. know that They did two years between the last one, didn't they? Did they? No. maybe maybe about a year and a half. What's going on about this No one's bothered by that one, Tom. i am What about it with like a Prime X3 strung? I've seen that floating about on the on on the Instagram. That appeared on their website.
00:32:35
Speaker
okay yeah That looks very interesting. I don't know. it doesn't That doesn't that doesn't doesn't excite me that much. Really? Do you like you like the previous ones? so ah Fine, it's just not a shoe that yeah I'm going to use probably as part of my daily routine or I'm not going to race in it. So I know.
00:32:49
Speaker
one of those ones that is quite interesting, but it's not one that, you most interesting issues that I really want actually use. ah don't yeah It hasn't been the case with the Prime, the first two versions in a anyway. I like them, but they just seem a bit bit much.
00:33:01
Speaker
Okay, I think that'll for 2025 so far. If you're listening to the podcast or you're watching the video version and we've missed a shoe that you think we should have mentioned, please leave a comment. And if there's any shoes you're excited about and or hoping that are going to turn up, then also let us know.
00:33:18
Speaker
When are we doing the podcast where we discuss how we ah create the categories for the best running sheet video again? That was a big hit last year, Tom. Oh, yes. Yeah. the chaos Chaos podcast. Chaos cast. The Venn Diagram podcast.
00:33:29
Speaker
I think we should do that one live. That should be live. We should invite people Oh, you drink. okay we can we can try it we'll have a few lagers as well yeah let's just yeah let's just hire brighton town hall is it a city or a town we can get a big blackboard like a big sticky board we can paint the venn diagram we'll get stickers for each shoe we'll put them in it'll be six to seven hours of just joy Well, best best running shoes ah video will be out in July. So this is a precursor to that. But yeah, we'll do something. We'll do a podcast around it. Maybe not in the same format as the last time we did it.
00:34:08
Speaker
Right. right'll Catch you guys later. See you later. Bye-bye. This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley, Kieran Algar and Nick Harris-Fry. It was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.