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Best Running Shoe Brand Rotations Podcast | We pick the best three-shoe rotations from each brand
2.7k Plays1 month ago
There's no shortage of great running shoes available in 2024, with most brands now having a wide range of options covering everything from recovery runs to race day. But if you could only choose shoes from the same brand what would be in your rotation?
In this podcast (also available as a video on YouTube), we discuss the main brands and select what we think make up their best three-shoe rotations.
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 Podcast and Shoe Rotations
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey Tommy from The Runetesters and welcome back to The Runetesters podcast. In this episode we are going to be talking about brand running shoe rotation. So we're going to be talking through each running shoe brand and picking out what we think is their top hit for a rotation of three shoes.
Types of Running Shoes and Gear Highlights
00:00:19
Speaker
So race shoe, daily shoe and easy day shoes. We'll also be talking about our training and some of the other kit that we've been testing it over the past few weeks. So let's dive in and see what we said about running shoe brand rotations.
00:00:38
Speaker
Good evening, Runtesters. What's going down? Oh, forceful start. Yeah. It's a big question. Not a lot, really. It's a big forecast today, so I wanted to get you alert and awake. I'm very alert, very alert.
Weekend Training with Hoka Professionals
00:00:51
Speaker
Lots going down. I've just come back from a very fun weekend in Font Rameau with the Hoka lads, the Hoka pro boys. Yeah, just brilliant weekend. Got to train up there with some of the training groups and had a fantastic time. They're all very nice to me, which is good.
00:01:05
Speaker
And I'm going to do the Paris 10K with them in November. So it was great to obviously be out there because their coach is my coach, I think, which is possibly why I was out there. And it meant very fun to see a load of elites doing the sessions I've been doing for five years and complaining about constant steady pace and
Training with Elites at Altitude
00:01:20
Speaker
stuff like that. It was great.
00:01:21
Speaker
but I've got a question on this. so You were training with the elites. Yes. How how were much worse for you than elite well i was in the I obviously only had a weekend out. due I didn't go in at full pace. so the Saturday, we did a double day and i did the I was working with the the female elites. so They have quite similar times to me. So and we were just working together as a group. it was that They were also worth fairly working fairly easy. And then I did a Sunday long run and I got lost along the way and then joined up with the ah with the guys. And obviously it was a pretty easy run, so that was fine. But like, so I think when I see their sessions, you know, if I'm thinking of it, probably I've only seen them at altitude when they're obviously doing slower paces than they would at seed level. But yeah, they were doing some pretty brutal two-miler reps where
00:02:07
Speaker
you know, if I could cling on for one of the reps, they'd do three of them. If I'd done one of the reps at sea level, I think I'd have been pretty cooked. It was kind of, yeah, very fast. See, what I was really looking forward to when you told me about this was loads of videos of, uh, loads of really fast blokes. And then you just coming in at the end, like looking awful. Clipping at the clippings. When you told me about it, I was like, this is going to be great. I'm going to get loads of content.
00:02:30
Speaker
I wasn't really sure what I was going to have, so I turned up and I was on the was on the coach from ah Barcelona, because that's the nearest airport, I think, and I was um and i spoke to the guys with an Italian guy, a very nice guy called Matteo, and I was going, oh, so what do you do? He goes, oh, I'm a pro runner. I went, ah, are they all going to be pro
The Dynamics of Group Training
00:02:43
Speaker
runners? And I got there, just all pro runners. I was going, OK, well, there's actually some kind of plan. And then later, a couple of women from Germany came who were more kind of influencers. They weren't that fast, so that was fine. So that said, none of them are marathoners, so I might have technically had the fastest marathon time there because i had none of them will run them, so brilliant.
00:03:00
Speaker
but it was It was amazing. like just It just really reminded me how nice training in a group is and how much I wish I could form a group. But it's mainly mind the problem because I have such um particular hours about when I can run. things Yeah, don't be forced to join your running group. yeah ah um But no, it was a it was a brilliant trip. like say it's just It's just a really cool place to be. you know Immediately like Google at house prices for a moment, just to see how much it is. Very cheap actually. So fortunately, ah not really a place to take the kids just for for a laugh. But um yeah, great weekend. just ah I'm excited for the Paris 10K now as well and the build up to Valencia.
Marathon Preparation Challenges
00:03:33
Speaker
I got back to see half this weekend. It's the big one. To claim the sub 70 I'm owed after i I lost it in that half marathon where the course was unexpectedly short at the last turn. so
00:03:42
Speaker
eight and a half laps. Get back on those loops, back on those happy loops. I think it's like pretty much exactly eight minute a loop or just slightly quicker than eight minute a loop. So yeah that just got to grind that into my head. It's just eight of them. Don't count the first three quarter one, right? Yeah. The really annoying thing will be if there's someone quicker than me and I'm not with a lead group who gets the bicycle shouting people out of the way, because then you're just, you're on your own right, fighting the crowds. I don't think that's very fun, is it?
00:04:07
Speaker
No, that's what me and Kieran probably do every time. Yeah. But it's just a half marathon. It's not like they have the other distances at the same time, at least. That as you parkrun started last week, you see that? Very quietly. I think that's going to be an absolute potential disaster, just with like thousands of people coming up. They've got 250 without telling anybody. So, yeah, it's going to be pretty big. It'd be interesting what happens this weekend. I think when run-through do events there, it's like 300 kind of max, isn't it? No, more than that.
00:04:33
Speaker
run I mean in terms of run, do you think they have more than that in a race run through? Yeah, yeah yeah definitely. but i When I did the um Batsy half marathon there was definitely more than that. Okay, so I was wondering how how many you can fit on that on that loop because if Parker has a thousand people there, that's more than run through half, isn't it? It would be on Batsy, yeah.
00:04:49
Speaker
Although, I don't know. I don't know. I'd have to check. i bet I think there's a lot more than you that you think on that Batsy one. Because Bushy gets a thousand. Batsy Park is notoriously the fastest place. There's already a lot of people running there every Saturday. Batsy, when
Running Shoe Reviews and Preferences
00:05:01
Speaker
they do the 10k and the 5k for run-through, they will split it out at different start places, don't they, to give it a bit of... But there is a lot of people. There's probably 300 in the 10k start. Okay. So maybe there's a bit more manageable. In my mind, like I think Shri Chinmoy is only a few hundred. and I just thought if Batsy Park gets twice as big,
00:05:17
Speaker
It's gonna be carnage. It's gonna be carnage. It should be interesting to see. All right, Kieran, what have you been up to? You've, ah for the first time in a while, you've not got anything big on the horizon, have you? I'm having a bit of a rest. Feels weird. Probably about time. Yeah, I think the last time I was out, went and did the the five valleys up in the Lake District, kind of broke my duck racing in the hills of the Lake District. and For some mind, in my mind, I was sure you were doing the full one. I was going, what is he doing? And then like then you got the know on your story, it said, okay, okay. Because look that's like a hundred and over 100 miles, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, they've got it's like 180 K's. Yeah, okay. They go out in the evening on the Friday. And I have to say, you know, hats off to anyone. It's UTMB style stuff, you know, where it's you're you're just going to not only have to deal with the the distance that you're running, but the conditions, some of the descents, I just don't know how people do it on tired legs. It was hard enough. I mean, I i was doing them on fresh legs.
00:06:11
Speaker
No, our first descent came in probably about 15 k's in. Yeah. And by the bottom of it, I was like, I can't want to go home. I'm done. I don't like this. this this little of alex gary but Four more valleys. yeah it's so Yeah, it's just it was just very, it's very wet. It's very slippy.
00:06:29
Speaker
yeah like unless you're good on the downs. There's no escape for me, you know, I'm, I'm, I don't mind hacking. I'm stubborn, you know, I can just get my head down and grind out the ups and I overtake people. And then I get to the down bit and then all of the people I've overtaken just sort of, sort of whiz past me. I had this in a race a couple of weeks ago and there were these two guys that every time we went up a hill that they would I'd overtake them and on the way down they'd overtake me but then for like the flat for about 2k because it was like single file running I couldn't get past them
00:06:59
Speaker
well It's just that for the whole race. You took that well, yeah. well it was a trailer I don't race trails, so i don't I don't actually care that much. If it was a road race, I'd probably do it. That's why I do that in cross country if I need a break. I wait for the single track and I slow down so no one can overtake me just to relax a bit. Yeah, yeah nice, nice. The problem with like the British hills, I found when I've done any kind of short runs even on the downhills, because I can't descend, is because you go so slow, you get cold, right? because it's yeah Yeah. I mean guess it was was weather that bad.
00:07:27
Speaker
We got lucky. I mean, it rained for about half an hour, but it's, you notice it, you know, I remember the kit, the kit list for the five hours when I first got it, I was sort of blasé going into it thinking, I've done mountain races before, I'll just stick a 55 ks, I'll stick a very lightweight ultra vest on, stick a waterproof jacket in and off we go. Kit list came true. And there's like three different types of jacket you have to take. alright I was only like two weeks out started to panic and then when you're up top of some of the climbs you know you're I think we went up 600 meters or so you notice how cold it gets even when it's not raining and it wouldn't take a lot if you were really slowing down and that's where I think about those guys and yeah going into the 180 k's where you're doing
00:08:05
Speaker
potentially into a second night and you're <unk> absolutely freezing. You'd have been wearing six or seven t-shirts, would you care? I have all that i i took 17 lessons. I mean, people were running around in t-shirts. I wore my jacket for the entire thing. I mean, absolutely minimum jacket. yeah yeah yeah that was yeah You're essentially the running equivalent of my cat, Taz, who doesn't leave the house once it drops below a like 13, 14 degrees.
00:08:28
Speaker
But it was great. It was it was great. It was like, I think once I got over, I basically just fell over in a big bog covered in mud. And I just thought, if that's how it's going to be, I just got up and found my sense of humor a bit and then just decided just to enjoy it. And it was it was beautiful. And it's it's a great place to go and run. And it was a very, very well put together race series. I don't think i people would say, would you go and do the seven valleys, which I think is like 110 kilometers. Oh, big jump then. Absolutely not.
00:08:57
Speaker
Those are two very big valleys to suddenly add in. yeah yeah it's it's It's that well it's a situation where it's almost as hard as the 13 valleys, apparently. You're building up to a Bob Graham round or anything?
00:09:10
Speaker
No, i saw whether bob we ran past a section where the Bob Graham round starts just going up Skidor and someone pointed it out to me and they're like, you know, you've got a road and then you just basically go into an enormous terrifying climb straight away. It put me off. If any romantic idea I ever had about whether or not I was capable of Bob Graham, this taught me that that's not for me. Yeah, add it i' I'm definitely better on the flats. But there you go. Yeah, how about you, Tom? I think I've gone.
00:09:35
Speaker
Well, Manchester half. I've got six weeks until ah Valencia. So myself and Mr. Soar went up to Manchester to do the half marathon on a whim thanks to Puma, getting as ah some spots in that and to test the Puma Devate Nitro Elite 3. I used to live in ah Manchester like 20 something years ago and this is the first time I've been back since then so it's quite interesting to to head back. Well, I'm going to be going out twice because I just did the half and now I've got the marathon in 45 months as well. So we're spending a lot of time in Manchester at the moment. They've changed the um the finish for the... this yeah really This is a brilliant update to the Manchester Marathon where before it would finish out by Old Trafford and they the one thing it was really missing was coming through the city yeah and having a bit of a crowd and they've changed it now, which is yeah yeah which is fantastic. Well, it makes it a lot easier for hotels and stuff. Nobody wants to be coming all the way back from old Trafford to yeah hotels in the centre. So yeah, so yeah, it's really, neither of half, have you? No, no. seem to do It looks really quick. Everyone seems to go to town. Fantastic.
00:10:38
Speaker
I put it down as like, I very rarely say a half marathon is like one of my favourites, but it's just, do you know, I was banging about Spanish marathons. so I've got really wide roads, which is really nice to run. You've always got loads of space. it it' It's almost flat. There's a few like little hills in it, that which actually just make it a bit more interesting, but great race. Really, really good. and Perfect weather for it as well on the day. So many people were there's still loads of people came up to us and you know said hello and talked to us about the run tester so uh nice i think mike got more than me though so it's a bit
00:11:12
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah, he always does, didn't he? He's a likeable man. Very likeable man. So yeah, all good. and then ah But I got 1-2-5, which is better than I expected. so And i wasn't I was doing it at marathon pace, so I reckon I could have done 1-2-3. So all bodes well for Valencia at the moment. Ooh, come back on Valencia. I wasn't sure if you were going to go that hard at it, but yeah, going all out now, yeah? I don't think... ah Well, to be honest, ah I would have been... I think I was just be getting towards the... I'll just go for a sub-3 and that'll be it. Yeah.
00:11:41
Speaker
Probably, I'd probably still they'd be happy with that, but I might, we'll see how it goes the next six weeks. Still got a lot, I haven't really done as as many long runs ah as I'd normally do, so. Yeah. so two ago I haven't done, I've only done one long run so far. Still got loads of time and conditions are very good. UK is unbelievably warm right now, so we haven't had any horrible conditions yet. Dangerously warm, some would say. but Yeah. All right. Well, um shall we jump in and just do a quick round off of new kits and stuff? Can do. Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:21
Speaker
Right, so we've we've got a big podcast this time, so we probably won't go to too much depth with these things, but anything you've tested over over the past few weeks that you want to bring up as you...
00:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, probably me as the biggie. Got the Adios Pro 4, which I've enjoyed testing. Take it different a different little solo marathon, done quite a lot of all out. And I like it apart from one issue, and I'm not alone in the issue. It it lifts your toenails. That's a horrible to think about. So towards the end of my kind of solo marathon test, I was running a bit ragged. um I ran sort of the middle block of it quite well at marathon pace, and the last I was hanging a bit because I've done too much running recently but yeah I felt it sort of lifting it's almost like the narrow toe box kind of clips the end of your toenails and my toenails are cut nicely all of that kind of stuff is done and I just thought is it just me running ragged and I've seen lots of other reviewers have mentioned they've come out with big beaten up bruised toenails as well. They cannot get the front of that shoe right can they? The rest of it the rest of it is a huge improvement I think or at least you know the uppers they've they've changed the bit that the eyelet
00:13:26
Speaker
used to rub on the toe knuckle and it used to be too tight across that bit, of the back of the toes. The uppers feel really nice beyond that and for the first bunch of runs that I did up to a certain distance or time, I didn't notice that at all, the toe nail thing. But yeah, deep into that and it's just made me think, am i would I ever want to put it on to race a marathon again? I'm just not sure. I think the ride has everything that you'll want from a carbon racer. I think it's you know it's as good if not better than the Pro 3. Some people might think it's Pro 3 was a little bit kind of firmer. ah Some people would say it's harsh, some people preferred that and that firmness. This is a bit softer, but I think it's really nice. I ah yeah that i'm goingnna i will at some point go out and race in it again. Tape your toes down. Yeah, maybe cut a hole in the end of the toe box. I don' don't really want to be ah taping your toes down to race, do you? It's ah probably suggest you haven't got the right shoe.
00:14:17
Speaker
it maybe half maybe ago It's half a size up. It might be too much, but it's almost like it just needs just a couple mils extra in the length and then it'd be fine. It's a shame. Other than that, I really like it. Interesting. Okay. Anything from you, Nick? Oh, what I've been testing.
00:14:34
Speaker
If you watch this, I'm a new balance testing trainer, me and Kieran have been testing, which I actually ended up really, really liking after doing a lot of marathon miles on it. But it's got one of the most bizarre yeah UK prices I've ever seen for a change. Oh, weird. Why is it so expensive? I don't know. like i i I mean, it will be in sales pretty soon, I imagine, because it's it's just its it's crazy expensive in the UK.
00:14:56
Speaker
normal price in the US. That's been an issue I've enjoyed quite a lot. I've actually had a bit of a kind of a quite a chill time. I've not been calling in too much. I've been using some trails. I've got the Meryl Agility Peak, which you guys are very familiar with. All the five. Yeah, yeah. I've been um jumping in that to see if it's as good as the speed goat. I still prefer the speed goat so far. and But overall, just having quite a chill time and using a lot of shoes I've loved throughout the year, which is one of my favourite things to do towards the end of the year and stop testing stuff and just use, especially in a marathon, long just use loads of shoes I like, because I do think this has been the best year of shoes since we started the channel, I'd say. Wow. Well, we we'll have the award soon, so you can record the awards wax lyrical about all of those when we do that. Oh, we should do our little thing where we pick off it. I mean, there it is, the Morphlite, the king of shoes. Always in the background. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:15:45
Speaker
I have to have a narration there. Kiranaga holds up the war flights like Meryl. Do you assume we're always holding or thinking about the war flight? You'd be right to. I think when we do our little thing, when we pick our five favorite shoes of the year, it's going to be very hard this year, I think.
00:16:01
Speaker
Well, i there will be many people on the channel, viewers, excited because I finally have the New Balance More V5. I did see you post that today. yeah Tom is obviously the king of the more. You haven't used it yet, right? I have used it. I did a rumor today. How was it? What do you think?
00:16:19
Speaker
Do you like them more than the ballast? Oh, it's a tricky one. It's a It's so the ballast foam is different than the more V5 foam. yeah It's clearly they're they're doing similar things with it, but the more V5 is a little bit less, ah you know, ballast is ridiculously soft and bouncy. More V5 is a little bit more stable, which is what you need in that level of shoe. It is basically just from that first run,
00:16:45
Speaker
and a slightly softer, more comfortable Morvee 4. The dream for Tom. So the name's not as good. Morvee 4 just is how it should be. Should have been too tired of that. That's it. It's always the Morvee 4. Well, if it gets to the Morvee 40, that's quite good. The Morvee V40.
00:17:03
Speaker
Oh, Christ. i yeah so i not That was probably the shoe I will be walking around in it's at that point in my life. Still telling it. One of the chum many more. He's been telling it everybody who listens about how great it is. Yeah, for walking around the ah bingo hall. um Cool. All right, then. Well, let's ah but let's dive into the the big podcast.
Podcast Overview and Recommendations
00:17:31
Speaker
Right, so in this episode, we are going to be talking about our brand rotations. So I don't know anything about this. kit Nick's been organizing this. And he's going to be taking us through all the different brands and what shoes you can get from them. So Nick, do you want to explain this what this whole video podcast is about?
00:17:48
Speaker
Yes, so basically the idea is to give a rotation for each brand. So that's an easy day shoe, a daily trainer slash fast training shoe, and then a race day shoe from each brand. So picking out the best kind of three shoe rotation from each brand. We're not doing every single brand here. I think we're going to do eight or nine in full, which are the brands we've tested enough shoes to do that with. And then we've got kind of a best of the rest category because for brands like Outraw or even Mizuno, not necessarily tested enough shoes to give a full rotation. so Also, it will just take way too long. it's It's already good. I'm already worried about how long this is gonna take, but I've basically picked the rotation of three for us so far ah based on what I think you guys like and what I like, and then we're gonna discuss it and see if there's anything that I've missed and go from there, basically. And it was gonna be in alphabetical order, but I was doing it off the top of my head, and I managed to get the first three in roughly alphabetical order, and the rest are just brands, so that'd be fine. Okay.
00:18:41
Speaker
Perfect. So the first one is Adidas, put it that way. So I hope this ah this will explain what the situation is. And so we're gonna need an easy day shoe, a daily fast shoe and a race day shoe. So easy day shoe I've gone for here as a supernova prima, a shoe that we tested this year that we like. It's a upgrade on things like the ultra boost we've seen in the past due to a better foam, bit more light, generally just a good easy day shoe.
00:19:00
Speaker
daily shoe slash fast shoe. Only I've tested the Adios Boston 12, but I think it's clearly the pick here. It's like a ah really good value kind of super trainer and race day shoe. Only Kieran has tested it, but the Adios Pro 4 seems to me the best option here. Assuming we're not going to put the Pro Evo in because I don't think that's really a ah consumer shoe, right? So what do we think of that? I think Supernova Premium is probably the one we can discuss here because the rest Kieran will have to take you through the Adios Pro 4, but Supernova Premium I think is better than the rise for this one, do you think?
00:19:25
Speaker
I've enjoyed it. I think for for easy days it's a bit of a wider platform, a bit more comfortable, a bit more cushion. It just feels a bit more forgiving. The rise maybe is a little bit firmer, stiffer, a bit harsher maybe. i mean So overall the comfort from the Prima comes through.
00:19:44
Speaker
over the rise. ah maybe i mean i I didn't mind running in the Ultra Boost 5. I didn't have the 5X. I think the Ultra Boost 5, it's not <unk> not an amazing shoe, but yeah I think for easy it would do a job, but the Prima probably wins out. Yeah, I die quite like the 5 as well. I think the 5X just hasn't got a cage, hasn't it? A mid-fit cage. so Probably pretty similar and then obviously the rise could have been the daily trailer We've gone for the Boston as it's got the rods in there. It's a bit light a bit more sparky There's other options like the adios, which is I think a bit too lightweight for most people to use as a daily trainer Save the Takumi which then leaves the adios pro for us. I mean a pretty clear start You've also got the SL2
00:20:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, Tom, you're a SL2 man. Yeah, of course. The SL2. So in in some of the comments that when we did that video, some people were saying that they much preferred it as their daily trainer to the Boston 12. So there we go. Yeah, that's and that's a very good value shoe, right? It's very good value. I mean, I i think it's 110 pounds normally, but I bought it a month and a half ago and it was like 80 pounds and that was two months after release. So it's probably giving it a bit cheaper now. So that that is a that is a really good shoe. It's probably not as cushioned as the Boston 12. So that's probably where your decision comes when you're you're picking that as a daily shoe. Both good options actually that turn up in sales a lot. So I think you could if you could go sneak to four shoes. But
00:21:04
Speaker
Let's move on from ADAS because I would say that's the one we have the least discussion about because there's a lot of shoes there that only one of us has tested. And on to ASICS where we've all tested like all the shoes and then we can have a good discussion about the easy-to-shoe shoe. I so far have stuck in the Cayano 31 because I actually really like it. I prefer it for Nimbus. I think I enjoy the extra support you get from it.
00:21:22
Speaker
I've picked the Super Blast 2 as the fast trainer. We have not tested the Magic Speed 4. That is a problem here. But I think the Super Blast 2 is probably the best all-rounder daily trainer. And then we went for the Metaspeed Sky Paris. I think that's a pretty clear choice. Kieran and I have got a marathon PBs in that shoe. Tom likes it as well. But yeah, what do you think to this rotation, guys?
00:21:39
Speaker
Yeah, ah the the the only i think I think definitely C++2, definitely that's Sky Paris. I'm probably going to use that for Valencia. But yeah, the the cushions one's the only one that you probably have got a bit of debate on. I would actually go for the Gelcano 31 as well, just because I don't think there's ah there's much in it. um And I do like that slight bit of extra stability when you need it. But yeah, I agree with you, Nick. I think you've gone for the right ones.
00:22:03
Speaker
Nova Blast is definitely a good shoe though, right? Yeah, I guess that's the one thing. Whenever we talk about easy day shoes, it's something I sort of caveat where I don't mind running in a shoe that's perhaps deemed a little bit stiffer or a bit firmer or whatever. There's not quite so much of that kind of pillowy cushion. And I think the Nova Blast for me can cover those easy day runs and some of the slightly more up-tempo runs. There's a bit of versatility there.
00:22:26
Speaker
in it. I've not run in the Super Blast 2 yet, still waiting. I don't know about that one, but Sky Paris, I i think absolutely that one's right up there with some best shoes of the year. And so, yeah, I i don't i don't mind the Kainu 31. I think just for me, prefer i my preference would go for something a bit kind of maybe lighter than the Nova Blast or yeah, I think the Nimbus 26 if you want a bit of cushion.
00:22:48
Speaker
I think Novblast could sub in for the Superblast or the Kano, really. it's It's a really good shoe, definitely. I probably would use it like that for easy runs as well, but it's um it's a great shoe. And then we have tried the Edge Paris. I think it's very similar to the Sky Paris. It just feels a bit different. I prefer the feel of the Sky. You might prefer the feel of the Edge, in which case, if you can test them, go for it. But both amazing shoes, just the Sky Paris is the one that's felt the best to me.
00:23:19
Speaker
Now, still on alphabetical, it's Brooks' turn. Now, they've released a lot of shoes this year. I think we've got two very strong shoes in this rotation and a pretty dodgy racer. The Hyperion Elite 4 is the race we've gone for here. I think Brooks knows that it's not quite at the level of other racing shoes out there, but we're going to maybe see some updates to it quite soon. But loads of easy day shoes here. So I've got the Glycerin Max in there for now. um I think that I picked that because I think some of you guys really like it. I probably would go for the Ghost Max 2 myself there, but Glittering Max is in there. And the Hyperion Max 2, I think, is a pretty clear winner as the all-rounder daily trainer fast shoe. How about you guys? and I really love the Max 2. And again, if you if you're thinking about the way we talk about the Nova Blast, I actually ran a long, long way in the Max 2 out of Berlin, so did like 30 miles in it at a very, very easy pace again. So that's you know me back in that ballpark where i can I can use those for slower and easier. But I Yeah, I don't know. I just love the fit of it. It just feels great on the foot of that shoe. and i can Ghost Max 2, again, quite like that. But I think the Glycerin Max has come in. And I don't normally pick shoes that have got that kind of big whacking great stack. But yeah, I've been ah've been really enjoying the miles in the Glycerin Max. And I think that's sort of dragged me away from the slightly firmer, more rocket ride of the the Ghost Max, if I'm going to go for something that I really get you know more kind of plush cushion comfort out of. How about you, Tom?
00:24:37
Speaker
did you Did you get through all of the options there, Kieran? And I didn't talk about the yeah the race shoe because I don't feel like there's not a lot to say about it. It's not yeah not my favourite, but yeah, we've got the one in there that I would choose out of of their offering. So yeah, I haven't tried i haven't even tried the race shoe.
00:24:53
Speaker
the Elite. But I would probably say Glycerin Max for me. In fact, Glycerin Max was up until the point of me getting the more V5. I was really, really warming to it as as as a really as a big competitor for the more V4, which I took out the other day just to see if I was actually correcting my and previous obsession with that shoe. And I think the Glycerin Max is just really solid all around shoe. It's a bit softer than the the Ghost Max 2. It's just more comfortable. I think i think it's a more fun shoe to run in. And for me, my easy runs are easy. So I want something that is just as comfortable as possible. And I don't get that as much from the Ghost Max 2. So I would go for the Glycerin Max on that. For the daily one, it's a tough one really. I actually quite like the IP and Max.
00:25:40
Speaker
um Two? It's two, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I do i do like that. I took that out yesterday for a yeah interval session and I do think it's a solid shoe. So I'd probably have Hyperin Max 2 for the daily option and then, yeah, no idea about the race one. I think i think the other thing about the Glycerin Max and the Hyperin Max, that I think there's a hands down the two best looking deb brook shoes. It makes them big letters on one side though. Yeah, well, I'll just forget here though. And and actually I saw that I put the I put the glycerin 21 in here somewhere it's just a bit of a utility someone it was mainly because I a comment someone commented on the channel actually that it often gets overlooked as something that again has a bit of versatility for the and sort of lower up to the up to that kind of not your fastest pace but
00:26:23
Speaker
I'd say to they' both the glycerin and the Ghost are really good shoes, the standard versions. I think we just tend to prefer the slightly lower drop rocker shoes that Brooks are now doing. I think overall, I think the glycerin max for me, the way the rocker is, it it's so late in the shoe that but the drop is like all in the last centimeter. And I find that Campbell a bit blocky as a result of that. But I noticed you haven't mentioned is the standard kind of Hyperion, which is they're very lightweight, no play, pretty, you know,
00:26:47
Speaker
simple daily trainer. That's another good lightweight shoe, but the Hyperion Max 2 I think is a big step up on both that and the Hyperion Max 1. I think it's a really good shoe for long, long training runs in particular.
00:27:09
Speaker
Right, next up we've gone on to Hoka, who I think have had it a stormer of a year and released loads of shoes that I think have gone into you know near my acro rotation, but for their rotation. So the cushion shoe is a bit tricky because I think I've only i' always tested the Skyflow so far, which I think is basically an upgraded Clifton. None of us are big fans of the Bondi, I believe.
00:27:29
Speaker
And then the daily, you know, fast shoe, the kind of super trainery thing, the Mac X2, it may be my standout shoe of the whole year, Mac 6 also very good. And then Ray's shoe got the Rocket X2 and the Cielo X1. I think there are two shoes that do quite different things. Well, the Rocket X2 is the kind of lightweight, very nimble, very fast shoe and the Cielo X1 is really bouncy, really fun. I kind of prefer that as a shoe. So I've gone for that over the Rocket, but certainly a lot we could talk about with this rotation.
00:27:53
Speaker
go game I've barely tested any of these. so yeah you give So again, I've not been in the sky flow, but I guess and i maybe this is one I get called out for. I see people put pin this, but I guess the other one is the Skyward X, which oh yeah people say it's like a fast training shoe, but Hoka will almost say it's like a slow training shoe. I wouldn't wear it for fast. I don't think it's very good for slow. so you know i I think it's a bit too wild. it's not There's not enough stability in it for me. I find it hard to control for wanting to do in those easy, easy days. Mac X2, I totally agree with. I think that's a cracking shoe. It would happily do all my fast training and up to half marathon racing even in it. Yeah, I think it's a really good racing incentive.
00:28:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I have raced in and done done fast times. it So I've not run in the Cielo X1. I do like the Rocket X2 though, and I think the way you described it kind of speaks more to the way that the shoes that I look for in in running shoes, so something a little bit more nimble and a bit more yeah bit more precise. But yeah, I haven't had the experience of the Cielo X1. And then the Max 6 is such a good shoe. And I think i you know i think we talk about this a lot. we We tend to not necessarily go for big issues. I would be very happy using the Max 6 as my easy run shoe in a rotation. like Right now, actually, I'm picking between the Max 6 and the Skyflow a lot for easy runs. And I use the Max 6 a lot recently, and I think it's very comfortable. But the Skyflow is probably the one that I think will be seen
00:29:17
Speaker
as more of an easy day shoe by people at large in general, and I think it probably is better for that purpose, but that is a great all-round machine. And that would sub in for the Mac X2 if you don't want to plate it shoe, I guess is how I put it. It's funny, they've all all the brands have got these shoes that actually, if they're almost in that kind of bottom chunk of your training from easy up to a certain pace, there's a shoe that could, if you only want to buy one, could do that job, and the Mac X6 feels like that to me, you know? Yeah. If you don't, yeah. I wouldn't use it for free easy days.
00:29:42
Speaker
Okay, but Sky Flows is quite similar to the Bitmore cushion, basically, so it probably fits the Bitmore. Clifton's probably slightly squishier, but it just feels a bit lower to me a little bit. Yeah, but but the Clifton's not a really good shoe, again. Yeah, there's a lot going on. I think the racing end of things, CLX1's a bit heavy, the Rocket Wax 2 maybe is a bit too kind of direct and firm for marathons for some people, but yeah, a couple of really good shoes.
00:30:14
Speaker
And then, Nike, I've got next. we're at We're completely out of the realms of alphabetical now, because Nike, next so nike we've got another another brand that we don't necessarily get to test everything with, and certainly not all of us get to test it, but I think each of those shoes, one from last year, that I think Kira and I both really liked, which is the Vomero 17, which I still think is a bit better than Pegasus 41, but that is also a very good shoe. And in the daily slash far shoe,
00:30:38
Speaker
I think the Pegasus Plus is a step up on the Pegasus for that. They've just launching the Nike Zoom Fly 6, should be a plated trainer that will hopefully be a good shoe. Like the Zoom Fly has been a bit of ah a bit of stinker, I think in recent years, it's fair to say. And I think with the new version, they're hopefully going to have a bit more actual real Zoom X foam and stuff like that in it. So we'll see how that is. But for the moment, Pegasus Plus is in there. Then you've got VapeFly or Alfly for race day. I pick the alphaly i prefer the Alfly. I prefer the Alfly. I prefer the Alfly probably for marathons in particular. but I think that's what the area where Nike is strongest, it's fair to say, is the racing shoes where they really excel. um What do you think to this rotation, guys? Another one I think we haven't really all done many... Yeah, another one that I can't really... The only one I can comment it on is the ratio, the which I think is a tricky one. I mean, I've always been a massive fan of the Outfly 1, still bang on about that shoe all the time. Outfly 3, not as big a fan of.
00:31:28
Speaker
but I actually think I prefer it to the Vaporfly 3, so I definitely think that the Hourfly is the strongest one. it For most people now, I think ah if you look back at the old days of Vaporflies now, Fly 1, maybe 2, you were getting 2 quite different experiences in those shoes, I think now they're quite comparable and the same sort of people are going to, you know, be looking at those two shoes for the same thing. I just think Alphaly's just got a little bit more bounce and than the Vapefly for me. And you destroyed the Vapefly in 7k, was it? Yeah, I think I've got a good relationship with the Vapefly 3. Yeah, it's just completely ruined it. But I still prefer the Alphaly. Kieran, you've out-tested a few. What are your thoughts for Mero versus Pegasus?
00:32:06
Speaker
i you know I like the Vermeiro when we first used it. Now when I put them sort of side by side, I actually she's had a really good time in the Pegasus 41. What you doing here? I mainly ran around with the day heat in Italy in it. and it so Maybe it was part, we we we had like an Italian romance, but i um yeah, I just, I don't know, there's something in my head like the, I think the Vermeiro just feels like a little more shoe on the foot if that makes sense it's a bit more kind of fun heft to it and I i don't know there's a there's a lightness a bit of an area to the to the peg there's a roominess in the toe box and more flexible uppers and all those kind of things I i really like I just found it again just a really easy shoe to to put on and go and run
00:32:51
Speaker
I mean, when you're on holiday like that, just sort of casual miles where I was, I didn't really know what I was going to do. Some days I did some faster stuff. Some days I went out and, you know, basically melted in 30 degrees and had to go really slow. And it was really struggling. And I just felt that the peg 41 looked after me a bit more for that. and So i'm I'm very happy to run in that as my easy day shoe. And again, I also think this kind of ticks that box where I can, I can do a little bit faster. It's not particularly punchy shoe. It's quite sort of vanilla.
00:33:19
Speaker
But it's quite a sort of utility shoe. Yeah, anything about Nike is, I think they're the... probably I was thinking about this today at work, actually. Their shoes are all quite similar. they but They're still quite sticking to quite traditional drops and geometry. They haven't got that kind of rocker's design. They haven't really had a big plate of shoe. There's a training shoe for a while. So there's a lot of similarities, like the Vomero, the Pegasus the Pegasus.
00:33:42
Speaker
you know they all have quite similar drops, quite similar silhouettes, so there's not that much. And the Invincible is one we haven't talked about, just because Invincible 3 were not particularly big fans. If I'd say 1 and 2, I think would have been straight in as the Easy Day shoe, but I didn't like the 3 very much myself. so that is yeah That's going to get comments for sure, because there's a lot of people love that shoe, right? i mean But I prefer the Romero and the Pixis. It's our podcast. so Yeah, I can't run into the Invincible I don't get. I can't and i don't quite.
00:34:08
Speaker
2 was a good shoot. I did like the eventful 2. Good job James, not on this then. Yeah well this is it.
00:34:24
Speaker
Right, next brand is, it's all going to be Tom, so we we can sit back here. It's new balance time. So, easy day shoe is a tough one here. Because obviously Tom's just got the more V5, that's the potential here. The Balos' shoe, that is great fun, but really expensive, but very fun for easy runs and pretty versatile. 1080 I've not tested, Tom has, so we can talk about that. Daily, slash fast, I put in the ST Trainer V3 here. Kira and I just finished up testing that. I think that's a particularly good all-rounder shoe for marathon training. There's pretty much every kind of marathon training model. It's not necessarily got A lot of express, top-end pace, but a great shoe for grinding out loads of miles. That's a plated shoe, that is. And then for the race day, we've got the Pacer 2 and the S-C Elite V4. I think the S-C Elite V4 is probably the most... It's a shoe that most people get on with the Pacer V2. It's a bit lower stack, bit firmer. I probably slightly prefer the Elite myself, but I think the S-C Elite V4 is probably the one to put in. Tom's got about seven pairs. He can talk about that as well. Go on then, Tom. Here's with your new balance. What's the easy day shoe here then, Tom? Because this is tricky. Easy day shoe is a tricky one because there's a few that crop up in the new balance realms. I would say if you, it's going to be between the, um, I wouldn't put the balance in it for easy day. I put that in a day as a daily shoe for me because I use that for a lot of my interval sessions and stuff. That's sort of my.
00:35:35
Speaker
Sort of my equivalent to the talking endorphin speed range or something like that, but without a plate. Yeah. So for the easy day, I would go for definitely the more V5 if you like cushioning. That shoe is really, really comfortable. is It's probably my favorite easy day shoe after one run. We'll see how it goes after the more. but and So I put that down for easy day. But I think that something like the 1080 V14 is probably more accessible for some people. There's a lot of cushioning than more V5.
00:35:58
Speaker
I think the 1080v14 might actually be better for some people. Like you, Kieran, you might prefer the 1080v14 because it's a bit firmer. Still got loads of cushioning in it, but it's just a little bit more accessible, a little bit more stable. So I'd go for one of those for the easy day shoe. For the daily shoe, I would go for a Balos or the Rebel.
00:36:15
Speaker
Yeah, Rebel is a brilliant shoe as well. They've got a lot of very good daily trainers I say right now. you haven't For me it would be a ballast just because i like there's a bit more bounce to it in that foam but I'd be equally happy with either and I think some people wouldn't like the amount of foam in the ballast for daily runs if you're going to do intervals and stuff.
00:36:30
Speaker
Rebel is probably the the top option for a lot of people, and it's a lot cheaper. And then, yeah, I see the Elite V4 for the top slot for me. I mean, it's not my favorite complex shoe, but it's definitely the best one they've got, which I would use for a race. Yeah, I'd say that's probably the the weakness in the rotation. It's also, their race shoes have tendency to cut people's heels up, Kieran, don't they?
00:36:49
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's always been a bit of a disappointment for me, because I didn't, I didn't, wasn't the best carbon ratio I've run in, but I didn't mind it otherwise. But again, it's, yeah, say, come home and you've got holes in the heels, I couldn't have never really been able to put it back on. I think I probably ah should have sized up or half sized up. I think that's a really interesting one, actually, with the um SE train of V3 or some of New Balance's shoes actually around the sizing. They are terrible. Yeah, some problems about finding what what fits right. I think the SE yeah trying to be three is great though. I'll definitely put that in that slot. I probably, if I was going easy day as well, I would have, I haven't tested the the new balance 10 ATV 14 just yet. I would have, but I definitely would have picked the 13. So if the 14 is more of the same with a little bit more cushion, I don't know. Is it? Yeah. Did you say it's more cushions? I think you'll like it.
00:37:37
Speaker
Yeah, that that will probably kind of definitely sort of firm feed into how I like the shoes as well. So that's yeah, I would kind of agree with those. Yeah, don't know about for the it's a difficult one for the race shoe, because again, it's one of those where everything else I think sort of felt felt good apart from the fact that it makes holes in you.
00:37:55
Speaker
Yeah, interesting brand. I think their race shoes are not quite as good as the other brands, but definitely the Daily Trainer. They've got three great shoes that have come out this year. Pricing's a bit wild on some of them, particularly the ST Trainer, but um good actual performance for sure.
00:38:16
Speaker
Next up, we have Puma, um who have had a lot of shoes come out this year. I think it's been up and down. I think there's a couple of crackers here and there's a couple I'm not so keen on. So, easy to issue. I think we can probably debate this because I've got the Velosti Nitro 3 in there at the moment, but I think there are some more cushion shoes to magnify Nitro 2, the Mag Max. I don't really like the Mag Max. I didn't put it in, but ah Tom might argue for that.
00:38:40
Speaker
In the daily shoe, I've stuck in the DV8 Nitro 3 so far. Another shoe I wasn't a big fan of, plated, daily trainer. I think you could actually put in the Velossi Nitro 3 there if you think it's not cushioned enough for an easy day shoe. I think for the race day, we're all going to agree probably on the DV8 Nitro Elite 3. The fast R2 I've tested is good, but I think the DV8 Nitro 3 is better. It's cheaper. It's lighter. just I think a better race day shoe. Tom just ran a very good half in that, so we can talk about that. But I guess the easy day shoe might be a matter of debate here if we if you've got fans of the Magmax or the Magnify. Yeah.
00:39:09
Speaker
It is a tough one. um magnify I really like the Magnify. I think it's solid, ah very stable, very comfortable cushion shoe. I think the Mag Max has a little bit more to it. It's got a bit more foam, a bit more bounce in it. It feels a bit softer. it's not it's ah im not I think Mike's a bigger fan of the Mag Max than me. he He talked about it being a very versatile shoe. I don't think it is. I think it's fine as an easy day shoe. I think it's solid. It's a little bit too firm for me. ah I like a little bit softer shoe.
00:39:38
Speaker
Such a soft shoe Tom, come on. Yeah, but it's a very sturdy, all-round, well-balanced, chunky shoe. Definitely nice and accessible. In fact, all of the Puma shoes are accessible for easy days for for most people. yeah um I would probably, for me, I'd put the Magmax in because I think it's probably the the nicest ride for me out of all of all those three. The Daily Shoe, Yago for Puma and Velocity Nitro 3, which is a good one because it's so because it's so cheap.
00:40:06
Speaker
in comparison to other the shoes. So that's a nice one to have in there. And I i do you still use that shoe quite often. And I don't need to. I've tested it already. And the Puma Losty Nitro 3 Elite. Deviate Nitro Elite. Deviate Nitro Elite 3. When I started testing that shoe out, I wasn't very fit. And I i think I used it for one or two 10Ks. And I immediately liked it. It wasn't until I did the half marathon at the weekend that I really, really but understood how good that shoe is.
00:40:32
Speaker
and Maintaining my marathon pace was four minute kilometres was just so nice and easy. It felt very bouncy from the off. It just feels like the Vaporfly 2 for me, like which is exactly what they should be going for. That sort of feel, which you didn't get from the earlier versions of that shoe. So definitely it's by far the most superior carbon plate shoe that they've released so far. but I haven't tried the FastR2, but apart from that, it's a fantastic carbon plate shoe. Ritli outswith that one as well, haven't you?
00:41:02
Speaker
ah No, I haven't. Oh, okay, good. I haven't, yeah. Keir, I'm not sure what you've tested on the Puma range this year. I i don't like any Puma shoes. No, literally haven't put my third of Puma shoes for a while. They forgot my address. I'm carrying some of those, but yeah I know you'd like the velocity, so well just say that's the best one. That's always good to see. Yeah, I agree with you guys. yeah
00:41:35
Speaker
Right, Saucony next. Brand of a lot of very, very good shoes. So I think there's some debate to have with the Easy Day shoe. I think we can choose here between, I think, the really, really cushioned Hurrican 24, which is the big, very cushy shoe. I really love it, actually, and I don't really tend to go for such cushioned shoes, but I really like that. Or you could go for something a bit more kind of a versatile cushion trainer, like the Ride 17, another very good shoe. I think none of us are huge fans of the Triumph 22, so that's not in the contention here.
00:42:01
Speaker
Daily Fast seems an absolute no-brainer here with the Endorphin Speed 4, just seems to have that locked down you know as one of the best options from any brand. And then for race day, so the Endorphin Pro 4 has obviously you come out this year, the shoe we like a lot. ah The Elite V2, the Endorphin Elite we haven't tested yet, but it is out there now. They are still launching new colors of the Endorphin Elite V1, which is the other option you could look at here, which is more expensive, I think faster than the Pro 4, but maybe a little bit less accessible. So I think it's a bit of a toss up there, but I'll let you guys decide over that. And I think Kieran's going to tell us why the Ride 17 should be hidden.
00:42:31
Speaker
ah right well like care Yeah, I mean, i've not I've not run in the hurricane, actually. But for the same reasons, I quite like the Pegasus 41 and a few of these other shoes, I just think it's, it's another shoe that if you don't want something that's really big and over cushioned, it just feels a bit more, it's not they're not minimal. But you know, in the in the world we're in now, they're kind of ah a bit more direct and a bit more natural. I think it relies on a kind of nice rock of ride. It's got a really easy fit. It's just another one of those shoes that I ah find very, very so it instantly disappointing. It's very easy to put it on and just go and run almost anything in it and not un forget that you're wearing it. i'm It delivers for me just enough cushion without sort of feeling like it's a too big a shoe on the foot or too heavy or
00:43:14
Speaker
too clunky and and it soaks up enough of the road and I can run slow, I can run up to kind of mid pace in it. And I think it's pretty you know it's pretty well priced as well. love Love the way the uppers feel, all of those things. It's just, it ticks those boxes for me. It could be, and if you don't want to use platages, that could slip in as a daily as well. I think it's fair to say. Yeah.
00:43:33
Speaker
Tom, do you have a preference on an easy day shoe here? Triumph 21, I guess. Well, if we're going for the most recent ones. Actually, the Hurricane. Yeah, Hurricane. I really like the Hurricane. Great shoe. What about the racer? What would you guys pick out of the Pro 4 and the Elite V1? I guess we haven't tested it. It's tricky, I don't really like the Pro 4. I've raced it like twice now and I only did that for testing purposes. I've never wanted to pick it up again for any sort of race. I just don't think it has. And that's coming from somebody who was obsessed with the Pro 3. I've got all my PBs in the Pro 3.
00:44:04
Speaker
And I still take the Pro 3 out sometimes if I'm doing like a fast session and I'd much rather wear that than the Pro 4. I would say that for most people, I think the Pro 4 is the best option of the current generation of shoes that they've got um because the Elite is really weird shoe to run in. I think if you were a beginner or if you're not used to complex shoes and you put on the ah Elite, that's going to be a very dangerous shoe to wear. i But I would say that for me, I would definitely put the Elite as my race shoe just because even though I find it a bit uncomfortable,
00:44:34
Speaker
I'd still much rather wear it at the Pro 4, which I don't really enjoy wearing at all. Yeah, i I don't feel like there's enough difference between the Pro 4 and the Speed 4. It's just, there's not enough of a um yeah of a difference. i would If I was going to race even that, I'd probably go speed four in it for me. But the yeah the elite, I've done, I have run long miles in that and raced in it as well. And I would, yeah, I think it just feels more like, the it's a more energetic shoe. I think it's a bit more harsh. And I think, yeah, Tom's right. There's there's you know some people might not get on with that over longer distances. I think if you're a newcomer to the marathon, I can see the the pro four being less of a risk.
00:45:12
Speaker
i mean But I don't, yeah now now actually, even sort of, I think about the Pro 4 up against shoes like the and New Balance SC Trainer V3. I'm like, actually, you know, the SC Trainer V3, for me, ah if you're a first-timer going in to run a marathon, you're looking at four hours plus.
00:45:30
Speaker
you know I would say I'd rate the Pro 4 a bit more higher than you two. I think it is a pretty fast shoot. I've done some very hard marathon sessions in that shoot and I was pretty impressed actually by the ah pickup of the forefoot. I think the Elite is a faster shoot though, but definitely harsher. I'd agree with you on that. so The Elite V2 is meant to be really soft, almost dangerously soft. Now we're talking my language. Some of the squishy know the squish videos on that look pretty wild, so that might end up being inaccessible in a different way. and But yeah, I think, but the rest of Sockney's rotation, daily, easy, some of the best shoes on the market, race shoes. I think the other brand may be a little bit ahead of them, but pretty good though.
00:46:19
Speaker
All right, let's go on to on. Now, this is I haven't actually put in a complete rotation for this as yet, because I think they've got a bit of a hole in the kind of fast daily trainer era of their rotation. I think the new cloud boom zone, which has been leaked and well, not leaked, but it seems to be popping up on the website now looks very interesting as it has the the foam from the cloud boom strike and no holes. So probably probably quite a good shoe. None of the pods. But anyway, at the top end, you've got the so the kind of comfortable shoes here. A lot of good shoes here. I think the Cloud Clips is pretty good. I like that shoe a lot. We've got Cloud Monsters and Cloud Monster Hypers. So we could put the Cloud Monster Hyper in as a daily. Basically, I'll leave you to decide on that. Kieran, you like the Cloud Monster Hyper a lot, so you can decide where we put that in the rotation.
00:47:03
Speaker
I think the race day shoe is clearly the Cloudbeam Strike. I mean, none of us have tested the standard version. I've tested the LS version, which is an amazing shoe. I think it's one of my favorite carbon shoes. So I think that's a big step up on the Cloudbeam Echo 3 for me. But yeah, where are we putting the hyper here? And which category do we put that in? Well, the hyper is another weird one. It's like a sort of skyward X situation where it's like, I think it was sort of described as being like a punchy super trainer. And it's, to me, it's not, that's not what it does best. I, you know, again, I used it during an ultra. I used it for sort of,
00:47:33
Speaker
long, really long cushion runs, you know, six, seven, eight hours on feet. And it was brilliant, you know, nice roomy toe box, good cushion without feeling sort of sloppy and sapping. And I would definitely put it into the easy, but then you look at the price and you're like, okay, well, you know, Mike, do I want to pay that much for for my easy shoe and then up against some of the competition? You think, well, there are probably better options out there. Better easy shoes are going to cost me, you know, two thirds of that price.
00:47:59
Speaker
and So I think it is a really good, easy day shoe. There's probably, you know, some people may be able to run faster in it, but it's probably not at the price point that you want to pay for for an easy day shoe. Cloud Monster 2, I really like the shoe, Cloud Eclipse. I think there's too much to choose between these two. Both of those, I think, make good, easy day shoes as well. But we've put in two easy shoes. We've put in the Cloud Eclipse and the Cloud Monster Hyper and then the Racer. What do you think, Tom?
00:48:27
Speaker
It just made me realize how far up I am on shoes. I haven't tried loads of these ones. ah um Cloud, yeah, I mean, the the main one I'll test is the Hyper and I would put it in Easy Day. With the Cloud Surfer, actually, which is the Cloud Surfer neck we haven't tested. The Cloud Surfer is a a lot lighter than a lot of the other shoes, so it does have a bit of a pickup speed, but it still, to me, feels best cruising around as a daily trainer. but Yeah, if if that if if that was...
00:48:53
Speaker
Yeah, class in this that that is a shoe that we could have based on this generation, then I would probably more likely use that as an easy day shoe than a cloud hyper. I've definitely more like to buy it than the cloud hyper. So um yeah, but I haven't tried any of the more recent ratios. So I think we're crying out for a fast trainer, basically, from on. I think the CloudBoom Zone might be it. We'll see. they've I think they're carbon shoes. We can get a chance to test the normal CloudBoom strike soon, I think, as well. I think they have vaulted themselves right up into the kind of contention with that. So that's good to see. And CloudBoom Zone, whatever the CloudZone is called, again, looks like a good shoe. So we'll see you see on that.
00:49:36
Speaker
And then ah we've gone to the best of the rest category. So there's a few brands here that I don't think we've tested enough to have to fall rotations. So seriously, we've got Mizuno, Ultra, Under Armour, Kipron, Salomon. So I think there's some really good shoes from these brands. And I think we can talk about a lot of different things here, but I don't necessarily think I could name a good rotation for each of them. So a couple of, I think, a stalwart pick from these groups. I think the Mizuno Neo Vista is an amazing daily shoe or even easy shoe. I think that's right up there. It was one of my favorite new shoes of the year. So that's, I think, going in this best of the rest rotation. okay I've got the Salomon S-Lab Phantasm 2 as a racer here. I think it's a really good racer. It's a bit overpriced. I think it's a really, it does have a Veyperfly 2 feel to it. It's like lowest. Well, not slow it's not lower stack, but it feels a bit more direct than some of the shoes. Really good shoe that. Easy day shoe. I've not got anything in here. I mean, the Under Armour Infinite Elite is not bad. Kiprin have got quite a good KD 900, but I haven't picked an easy day shoe here yet. So I thought I'd leave that to you guys too. And also to choose obviously the other categories if you disagree with my picks.
00:50:35
Speaker
What are we choosing here? She's all of them, mate. You went so quickly through all that. Well, I haven't picked an Easy Day shoe, so you've got to pick one from those brands, and then you can debate my other picks. I've not tested a Mizuno Easy Day shoe for a long time, so the only one I have frame and reference on is the Neo Vista, which I would use for Easy Days. I would use it for most of my runs. It's a fantastic all-round shoe. What are the other ones you had there? For ultra-forward experience, that's quite a good shoe. Yeah, I tried that.
00:51:03
Speaker
not bad. Kipron is actually a Salomon. Oh, we would be Aeroglide from Salomon, not a bad shoe. Yeah, there's another shoe called the Hylo Impact, which is a more sustainable shoe, which I think is a pretty good, nice, soft, easy day shoe. Got a slipper-like feel, and nice amount of cushioning, can can go up the gears a bit as well. That's potentially interesting if you're, yeah, but it's more, I would put put it a bit more into the sort of casual use shoe. What about the Condor? I've only used that once. That's not that's a fairly okay easy day shoe. Actually, the Condor 2s, that's one of the, yeah, in terms of a bigger cushioned softer eco-friendly shoe, actually, that one does drop in as a, yeah, it was the first time you put one on and thought, actually,
00:51:46
Speaker
at the Hilo and the Condor both shoes that before you'd put on sort of eco-friendly shoes and they felt like bricks, you know, they're very firm, very hard even for me and those two buck that trend for sure. That's the Veja. That's Veja, did you say Veja? Is that right? I think it's Veja. Veja, okay. It can't be Veja. I think it's, yeah, I think it's, yeah. It's the Veja shoes.
00:52:10
Speaker
And then racers from other brands, what do you think of this? You haven't tested the Salomon, I know, but you have tested some others. Mizuno, I love the Rebellion Pro 2. Yeah, his ah it's a very good shoe, but it's a shoe that I think even you as someone who loves it say you don't necessarily want to race in it that much. I've used it, I mean, it's it's just a bit of a risky shoe. I've used it for Half Marathon, I liked it.
00:52:33
Speaker
It was fun, it felt fast in it, but I don't think I'd use it for a marathon. It's a bit too awkward as a shoe to for that. So i I don't, yeah, then maybe they haven't got a, and well, have they got a complex shoe? They've got the Flash, which is a training shoe, but um but I mean, it's it's a good shoe. It's one that pays in sales quite a lot as well. It's just, um it's a pretty wild ride and it's harder one to recommend because it is so wild.
00:52:57
Speaker
no as we through So, let's go. So, Vejik on the three, Mazin on the Evista, then the Salomon, I guess, racer. It's quite a nice little rotation. We could have done a sustainable rotation, although not a lot of sustainable carbon shoes, I guess. No, it's one gap. That is one definitely gap. Chuck in the single-use Pro Evo 1. Yeah, perfect. Yeah, let's go for that. That's our that's our a sustainable racing shoe because you can't buy it. So, you actually, it's a thing to production.
00:53:25
Speaker
and That is all I've got, boys. That's long enough, I think, right? I think that'll do us. I think that'll do us, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Good good work. It's good. It didn't degenerate into like the ah the carnage of the picking the best shoe categories. I thought it might end up there where... Well, it's good that Mike was busy tonight because this would have gone on for another 20 minutes. I know, yeah. That's true. Yeah, and another person's opinions. They would have been hitting the hour mark, but yeah it's a fun discussion. Please dive in ball below. And then ah the last thing I was going to finish you with, if you had to stick with one brand, what brand would you pick?
00:53:53
Speaker
Oh, if you had to pick one of the rotations only. Yes. Ooh. Well, you want to start with that now? I want it right now. It's a tricky one because it's like, I'd go for New Balance apart from the ratio, so I can't have New Balance. It's probably going to be... Oh, Christ, yeah. I think it's going to... Oh, there's some real frantic faces here. I haven't tried enough of Hocus to know it. It's probably going to have to be Sockney for me. Not Assix? Oh, I'm going Assix. It's a big shout, I'm going Assix. What was easy to actually be had for Assix? Yeah, you're right, Assix. Assix, all the way. It's a trick for me because... I, for all the trading shoes, I would pick the Hoka shoes, like as my first choice, even if it wasn't, you know, this thing, but the racing shoe, I obviously pick the Aztecs, and it's the thing probably I care about the most, isn't it? Also, if you do race, if you're a runner that doesn't race, then... I need to get the Rocket out again, just in case it's shoe underrated. Yeah, I think, I think Aztecs probably just about leads the way just because we're all quite led by the race shoe here, which is maybe not the best way. Well, no, I just want the Super Blast. Super Blast obviously is amazing.
00:54:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's Attix or Hoka. The Mac X2 is so convincing just because it's so fun to do so many miles in, but yeah, and the Metas Beatical Apparices. It's funny because they've all got gap they've all got gaps, haven't they? When you look at them, there's not one that you just go, oh, actually, that's got, everything's nailed there. Well, that's the best of everything. It's... Sockening been nailed, I think, for Tom a year ago in everything, pretty much. Yes, yes. And then, obviously, Nike have always had, I think, slightly dodgy training shoes, but great racing shoes. I don't know. I think racing shoes are more of a pass. Yeah, I think I'll probably join you on that, it's just because, yeah, superlot Super Blast, Matt's piece of my parents is an unbelievable one-two punch. And then there are loads of quite comfy shoes and the Nova Blast as well. So you're, yeah, it's pretty nice. Well, this has been a very good precursor to the awards. Oh my God. I can't believe it. I mean, we just hold this to the end because the most utility shoe here has been holding it. The whole the whole whole let's go to the final rotation, the rotation killer, if you will, the Merrell more flight, the rotator shoe, it's a hundred pounds. It can do everything. There you go. I still haven't got it. You haven't got a more flight now. What are you doing?
00:55:57
Speaker
The Mighty Morphin' Knight. I mean, that is, I think, one of the best value shoes in the market. I do love that. Celera colorway as well. Nice. Are we done? so Yeah, we'll call it there. Yeah, I think. Right. Well, better start to getting our dicks in for the awards then.
00:56:18
Speaker
This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley, Kieran Elgar and Nick Harris Fry, who was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.