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The Run Testers Podcast | The Run Testers Awards
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The latest episode of the podcast is our annual Run Testers Awards ceremony. We pick our top picks for running products across a range of categories: Race shoes, daily shoes, cushioned shoes, trail shoes, watches, headphones, and the audience award for best running shoe. This year we're also picking the brand of the year for a running shoe company that has wowed us with its wares over the last 12 months.
Download, stick your headphones on and make the best of that 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 and Overview
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey, Tommy from The Run Testers and welcome to the sixth Run Testers podcast. In this episode of podcasts, we're doing something a little bit different because every year we do our annual Run Testers Awards and this year we're doing it as part of the podcast as well as a standalone video. So we'll also be talking through the training that we'd be doing, a bit of running news and some of the newest kit coming out.
00:00:27
Speaker
as well as all the questions and answers that we normally have on the podcast.
Running Awards and Best Kits of 2022
00:00:31
Speaker
But a big part of this podcast will also be the running awards. So we'll be running through some of the best kits that we've tested that's been released over the course of 2022.
00:00:42
Speaker
from shoes and trail shoes to headphones and watches. So we hope you enjoy the awards and if you enjoyed this podcast please give us a follow on the podcast provider of your choice or if you really liked it please leave a little rating and maybe a message for us because that would really help. Thanks a lot for listening and we hope you enjoy.
Marathon Training Plans and Apps
00:01:16
Speaker
Okay, so guys, training over the past month, what have we all been up to? Mike, do you want to kick us off? I do not have any races booked in, so right now I'm kind of just keeping my mileage kind of ticking over. I will be planning to do a marathon, probably a spring marathon. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I have been trying out actually an app that you mentioned, Tom, called Run With How, so it's one I'm looking at.
00:01:41
Speaker
to kind of build my marathon training out with. So at the moment I've just been kind of running, building, looking at that training app and yeah hopefully by the time I'm on the next podcast I will have a race sorted for next year. But yeah that's kind of where I'm at. I'm just kind of enjoying my runs at the moment which you know it's been good after the kind of racing from the autumn. So yeah that's kind of where I'm at at the moment. Have you started using the room with her lap?
00:02:04
Speaker
I have, yeah. So there's a free and there's a paid for version. I've been kind of using the free one first just to kind of get a taste of what it's like and it's all kind of very relatively straightforward. It's quite nicely designed. It does connect with Garmin as well. So my runs are kind of getting pushed through to that as well. So yeah, so far so good. I've been kind of sticking to the kind of runs that they've suggested. It's kind of just building up at the moment in terms of the training plan and then I think it's going to get a bit more
00:02:28
Speaker
precise a little bit you know a little bit more into the into a couple of months you know into it so but yeah it's all so good so far um see how it kind of compares to the kind of training we did with the uh one track out that's kind of what i'm intrigued to kind of see really hmm i'll be interested to see how it goes it's because it's very different than one track one because it's very much based on pace which is
00:02:49
Speaker
I found quite hard actually, because it would whack in a quite strict marathon pace run, temper pace runs, and they got faster quite quickly when I was doing that.
Experiments in Running and Personal Achievements
00:02:59
Speaker
OK, so Kieran, how's your training going at the moment? Anything you're working towards? Well, I'm a bit like Mike, really. I'm sort of winding down for the end of the year, really, after kind of running in the summer. And I guess I've been sort of jumping between a few sort of races where I've got quite a big aerobic pace. I've been doing sort of experiments to see
00:03:17
Speaker
if I can be faster running on feel. So I'm really out just doing my runs, lots of low and slow heart rate stuff, and then trying to roll that into local races, really just halves of marathons that they're not really sort of fully planned in A races. They're kind of B races where I'm turning up, covering my watches and just running entirely on field to see what kind of results I get. And of the four races I've done so far, they've gone pretty well, actually. I've I've run my third fastest marathon.
00:03:45
Speaker
run a PB course on another marathon course and just last weekend at the run through Battersea half I did eight crazy dizzy loops and did a 127 half which I think is my I think it's like my third or fourth fastest half marathon
00:04:01
Speaker
ever and all just done entirely on field didn't look at the watch once so yeah i'm kind of enjoying just experimenting and running with a bit of freedom to be honest yeah we'll see how that pans out over the christmas period yeah yeah it's gonna get more difficult i should imagine yeah yeah and nick you've gone from quite high mileage marathon training what are you are you still training like you've got valencia
Recovery and Upcoming Races
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, well, I haven't been training because after London I got COVID and then fell over and smashed up my ribs. The last couple of weeks have been picked back up, got back up to a decent mileage last week, did a couple of good runs actually over the weekend. It was weird actually. COVID was terrible. Well, it wasn't bad. It was just, but on the run, I was running really badly. Heartbreak was really high. I was having to take everything really easy.
00:04:43
Speaker
And then just suddenly it stopped and I was fit again. So I don't really know where my legs are in terms of long distances. I'm going to race the serpentine last Friday, the month 5k next week and then the avalanches week after, but here we go. I have a good hard run. I don't think I've really got PB chance because A, I didn't really roll free training after but in London because of all the stoppages and injuries and that, but B,
00:05:03
Speaker
I don't think I can fight again because I'm so happy with Berlin. I don't think I've got the grit to fight the last 5K of the marathon for another PV or get close to it. So I'm going to go and have a nice enjoyable time, just have a good run, see how it goes, and a nice week's holiday in Valencia.
00:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very jealous about this trip to Valencia. It was a fantastic end of the year. Yeah, well, do you all be out there? She's going for a PB, so that's going to be exciting. A few other people I know is a good party atmosphere heading out there, actually. Nice. Well, I'm pretty much in the same vein as you. I've actually gone from massive Chicago marathon training to enjoying not training so much, and I'm struggling to get back in
Struggles and Future Marathons
00:05:36
Speaker
now. It's with the weather.
00:05:38
Speaker
I keep looking out the window thinking, oh, I might do a long run tonight and then gets to it. Yeah, I'm struggling to. You did do a very good 10K. You just blew it by a second, right? Or you got exactly your PD time. Well, dead on. Yeah, I'm desperate for that 10K PB this year and ran that whole 10K in Brighton, dead on exactly the same as my PB. A little bit more of a sprint, mate. A bit more time down the track. Well, based on my pacing up until about the last couple of kilometres, I thought I was a few seconds off, so there's no point in even trying.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah, I must have picked it up at the end without noticing. So yeah, but yeah, I've got Barcelona in March, but I still can't decide if I'm going to train properly for it. And if so, when I think I'd start in about three weeks, if I'm going to be doing it properly. Exactly. The risk that all your mates from home will beat you. Well, it's not a very big risk that they'll be. If they do, I'll be very upset. Yeah, so we'll
Running Shoe Quiz
00:06:30
Speaker
see.
00:06:30
Speaker
All right, well, let's let's jump into we're not going to do this is the awards episode. So we're going to make it a little bit more exciting, a bit more fun for people. So we're going to do instead of running facts, running a reading quiz, a reading shoe quiz. What could be more exciting than running facts, Tom?
00:06:47
Speaker
Well, trust me, when you're looking for running facts for about three hours, it starts to lose its enjoyment. And I think I needed another an extra month to get back into them and start finding some new ones. How many people did you get on Google? I mean,
00:07:02
Speaker
Well, it got to the point where I was actually having to find my own. Because the ones on Google are basically just copy and pasted from other pages. There's just about 100 running facts that exist on every website. So yeah, there's, I might need a few more weeks so they get replenished. Right, so running shoe quiz. Oh, I see. It's the running shoe quiz.
00:07:26
Speaker
This is one for the listeners as well. So I'm going to read you a bit of blurb about shoe from a brand's own website. You've got to tell me what that shoe is. Pretty clear. It's not on here. It's actually, it's quite, when I started pulling together questions for this quiz, it's quite hard to find blurs that don't consistently mention the foams and stuff in them. So I've had to,
00:07:52
Speaker
find some that know a little bit. The blurb's designed to tell you about the shoe, so that would make sense. Yeah, but the ones I found don't mention it at all. All right, so it's your first one. Is there a prize, Tom? What do we win?
00:08:03
Speaker
I will find, I'll give the winner a pair of my shoes that I don't want. Now I'm in business then. Yeah, yeah. So now I'll decide those based on who it is, who wins. Right, okay, it's first one. This shoe has the same super soft feel that lets you feel the potential when your foot hits the pavement. We created the shoe with plenty of snappy responsiveness and incredible support to help keep you feeling secure and competitive.
00:08:30
Speaker
It's one of our most tested shoes, still designed for you to stay on the track and away from the sidelines. That's incredible. This is a pretty big shoe. This is a pretty big shoe, so... Not like the Infinity. Okay. What are you going for, Mike? I'm leaning towards something from Brooks. Is it something from Brooks? We're not giving you a clue. I don't know. I don't know.
00:08:57
Speaker
Go on, just pick anything. Pick the Gelkiano. Yeah, so that's not going to get you. Gelkiano. Not the newest one. Last year's. Not the newest one, apparently. I don't know. It's not, but I'm going to say the on cloud monster. It's not. I know. No, it is the Nike Invincible 2.
00:09:15
Speaker
So close. I would never get from that explanation but... I know Nike talk about the sideline stuff with the infinity and the invincible but I thought... There's a few clues in some of these but not in that one. I hope you've got the peg turbo nature in because that blurb calls it both a mare and a stallion which is really... No I didn't put that on in because I knew that you would know that instantly.
00:09:35
Speaker
Okay, that's the first of those running shoe questions. Let's dive into a little bit about running news, what's gone on over the past few weeks.
Uncle Chen's Smoking Marathon
00:09:46
Speaker
Probably the most interesting bit of news that has been picked up by quite a lot of people have been mentioned. It's been plastered all over the various running websites and channels. A 50-year-old man ran a marathon while chain-smoking cigarettes the whole way. I'm guessing you all know about this.
00:10:01
Speaker
It's nicknamed Uncle Chen. He placed 574th out of more than 1,500 runners in the Zhang, I can't even know, Xin, Anjiang marathon. And he got 3 hours and 28 minutes. Pretty good. Yeah. I mean, he's run quicker than me, so I'm thinking I might try this method instead. I was going to say, Mike, how many do you smoke in Chicago? Not enough. Not enough, clearly.
00:10:24
Speaker
he's he doesn't smoke normally apparently he only smokes during the marathon marathons how does he light them all up as he's moving i mean yeah there's a photo of him like lighting up on the cigarette constant lights yeah i don't know i couldn't find any information on how many he actually managed to have in the marathon i think that's more of an interesting stat than his time um it'd be much better if he had someone handing him a cigarette
00:10:45
Speaker
every time the other one had burnt out, right? So he's basically got, you know, five- Yeah, like at the water stations. Yeah, just, yeah. Well, interestingly, he's done it a few times now. And in 2018, he did the Jiangzhu marathon in three hours, 36 minutes. And another one after that, a bit quicker than that. So he's actually improving with every one of his marathons.
00:11:06
Speaker
I'm gonna get used to that to be fair, it's quite hard to do that training. Yeah, I just don't know why he doesn't, I mean he must do, his tempo training must be smoking.
00:11:16
Speaker
not running just smoking yeah yeah just to get used to it um all right so uh interesting one that um there are some there are studies that say that actually if you a little bit of um smoking actually does open up airways but not that much well i used to smoke quite a bit when i started running and it did not help me at all yeah
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean I think I think when they mean a tiny little bit not not like, you know, not full 20 pack a day Yeah, yeah, there's there's probably a limit to that That efficient get out of it. Okay, then so another interesting bid and use the New York marathon winner Sharon look look at II look at II probably wouldn't wearing the underarm of flow velocity elites running shoes, which We've we've been desperate to get hold of it. We don't think they're coming out here until next year. Are they? Yeah
New York Marathon and Under Armour Shoes
00:12:08
Speaker
out in the US, but yeah, just interesting. I mean, that's the first time, well, I mean, it's just under Armour, they've kind of been quite behind in terms of sort of performance shoes, but it's interesting to see them sort of jump in on the podium for once, maybe a step forward. Well, it's definitely, whenever you see those shoe lists of all the winners, they're certainly getting a bit more mixed these days than they were six years ago.
00:12:34
Speaker
You've got to turn up one of the slightly bigger ones. Once you win at Berlin, when everyone's selling their best athletes, it's a bit more of a bigger deal, I think.
00:12:44
Speaker
Well, hopefully we'll get to try these soon. Will we find out about Flow? What's in Flow next year? I reckon they're changed Flow and they must have. Fairly under wraps, mate. Fairly under wraps. All right, they're new products then. Let's just jump into what's coming out over the next... Or what has come out and what's coming out over the next few weeks. ASIC Super Blast. Big, big shoe. Big shoe. We haven't got it. None of us have got it. We shouldn't have talked about this. Everyone in America's got it.
00:13:11
Speaker
None of us have got it, but it's got the FF Blast Turbo and FF Blast Plus foams, both of them. It's kind of a big cushioning one for long runs. It's going to be an interesting one. I think hopefully we won't be waiting too long to have a look at it, really.
00:13:28
Speaker
It looks very exciting. I mean, A6 has been doing some great stuff over the past year. Me and Nick did that versus where we were talking about the
Polar Ignite 3 Watch Features
00:13:39
Speaker
A6 Metaspeed Sky Plus and how we've sort of forgotten a bit about it whilst all these other new shoes came out. But yeah, this Super Blast seems like hopefully it's going to be the one that really makes us turn heads or makes heads turn. I think it's gone too far. You don't need that much cushioning for long runs.
00:13:54
Speaker
Chill out, everyone. Well, you say that now, I bet you're going to be banging to it. All right, then the sort of going anything about Polar Ignite 3? Yeah, so this is what I mean, the Ignite is really much it's more of a fitness focused watch of Polar. But I mean, we were I was, you know, you in the announcement as well, Nick, and obviously, a lot of the stuff they talked about was sleep and bringing in a lot of the fitness test elements from the more expensive Polar watches. But I think the biggest thing for me is that it's got the dual frequency GPS that we're starting to see.
00:14:22
Speaker
in kind of more running focus watches and it's landed in the Polar Ignite III out of all the Polar watches. I assume the other Polar watches will, that means it's coming to those next generation watches but I think it's interesting that Polar put that and the Ignite III first over its other kind of more running focus watches. They said on the launch that that was down to the fact that it's basically the size of the tech, right, to get it into the
00:14:44
Speaker
into the kind of slimline design that that was the, because of the size of the chip, that was the easiest way to get it in. So yeah, it's interesting because a lot of people raised a lot of questions or a lot of eyebrows about why they'd put it into a watch that maybe wouldn't be making the most of it rather than some of the watches that have come previously.
00:15:00
Speaker
interesting to see if they've got what dual band they've got as well because Garmin and Apple's dual band is very very good and Chorus's dual band is not that great and Huawei's dual band is not that great so it does seem there's a lot more to it than just having dual band so it'd be interesting to see that but it looks fantastic in photos only thing in photos it's not sure how big the bezel is going to be so we'll see when we get the watching hand
00:15:19
Speaker
All right then, well, you've already just mentioned it there, but the Coros Apex 2 and Apex 2 Pro, we've been testing, we've got video on the channel. I think it's an interesting one because I think ultimately when the Coros have had the pace too, and I think that's really been a standout watch for them. And I think with the Apex 2 and the Apex Pro sits in the middle of that and the Vertex, maybe it
00:15:43
Speaker
where it's kind of sitting against other watches, whether it's doing enough, I think that's ultimately what I'm kind of seeing in my testing, particularly with the Apex 2 Pro and the Apex Pro, how much you're getting on top of that and you're actually paying more money. And I think maybe potentially based on my kind of testing so far, the Apex 2 is looking like the kind of more kind of standout watch of the two watches, but it's whether, you know, I'd say the problem there really is the Pace 2 is a really strong watch. I know it doesn't have all the features that you have in the Apex,
00:16:11
Speaker
two watches, but in terms of price and what you're getting for that money, it's a hard act to follow, I think, ultimately, even if it's got more features. Okay, so from- Prices jumped as well, and they put them really up against the 955 from Garmin and the 255.
00:16:29
Speaker
It's tough to go up against those watches and they're maybe ahead on build quality if you're really into those materials. But if you're not on features, I don't think it's really matching up. So it's tough. Okay. So jumping onto another new watch that's just come out and one that I'm very interested in. I think they're gone in instant crossover. Mike, have you got this now?
00:16:47
Speaker
I haven't got it. I mean, I will have it at some point. Don't you worry. It will be on my wrist at some point. What is it? Is it just like a nice looking watch that's got some... It's just the interesting with hands on it, isn't it? Yeah. Well, essentially it's a bit, you know, like Garmin have got that kind of Vivo kind of move range, which is a kind of analog hybrid kind of style. They've essentially taken that and put it, you know, matched it with the kind of instinct. It's more expensive. I think it's like £529, £30.
00:17:12
Speaker
which is expensive and it's obviously going for, it's very much built on the kind of style side of things. It's got a lot, pretty much all the features you get on the Instinct from a running perspective as well. And the kind of that claims of kind of infinite battery life as well, like you do with the other instincts. I mean, price-wise, yeah, I mean, it's, it's an odd one. I'm not sure this watch necessarily needs to exist, but it'll be interesting. I will have it at some point and you know, I've been intrigued to see whether throwing some analog hands on there is really going to make this a better instinct than the current ones.
00:17:42
Speaker
Yeah, so it's a strange move for the instinct range, which is meant to be that the affordable watch that has loads of the same stuff as on the other watches to sort of make an expensive one has less stuff than the other watches. Well, it does. It does do very well. The instinct faith. I'm sure there's a big market for this that we don't realize, but yeah, because it doesn't really have much terms of running features. But that design, I guess must be a big, a big draw. The G-Shock crowd. Yeah, G-Shock plus hands. Finally.
00:18:08
Speaker
All right, and then lastly, something very close to my heart. I wish I had them on there. The New Balance Fresh Foam X. Is it Fresh Foam X more V4? Yeah, I think so, yeah. You're the expert, mate. Yeah, I believe it is.
00:18:25
Speaker
I've just said it wrong, the Moore V3 wrong all the time there. So this is the updated version of my favorite, yeah, my favorite ever cushion shoe, the Moore V3, which I'm very excited about getting hold of and trying, but I have heard mixed reviews of it in a lot of people who love the V3 aren't as excited about the V4, but I'm hoping that's not.
00:18:44
Speaker
That's not going to be true. I think I can take your heart being broken this close to Christmas. I don't know what to do about it if this happens. I hope I get it before Christmas and it does everything I want it to do. We'll see. Okay, there's a finish off this section. Got another running shoe blurb quiz question for you. Oh, I see. It's the running shoe quiz.
00:19:07
Speaker
This shoe is designed to give runners the optimum level of stiffness and energy return. The new lightweight upper provides specific support to where athletes need it most, finish off with a continental rubber outsole with traction to help take corners at a fast pace. Oh, you know, you're just continental, don't we? I told you some of them had a clue in. What's it say to them? An updated upper? It's got a... The new lightweight upper. Takumi Sen.
00:19:33
Speaker
I wouldn't say new for that. There's only been one version of it. I think it might be the Prime X. Mike? Terrex? Parley? Ultra? Have you gone trailshoe? Your use is the Adidas Adios Pro 3. The upper is lighter, I suppose, I guess. Yeah, it doesn't really... I'm not sure about the cornering. Yeah, I wouldn't have got it off corners. All right, another one of those coming up shortly.
00:20:07
Speaker
So let's delve in to the Rundstedt Awards and see what we all picked. Okay, so our first award is the Best Running Watch category. Mike is the resident watch expert. You can take this one. How did we pick our favourite running watch?
00:20:25
Speaker
I mean, obviously there's a lot of watch launches where you test a lot of watches throughout the year. And I think there's some kind of consistent things that we're looking for and that we kind of cover in our reviews. And I think first and foremost, we're looking at something that's going to perform in terms of that accuracy. I think also in terms of innovation as well. So any kind of new software or hardware that's going to really improve the running experience. And also just having those kind of core elements that you would look for for a moment, things like battery life,
00:20:55
Speaker
Being comfortable to wear I think those are the kind of things that we would look for ultimately in terms of picking at You know, I'll kind of stand out running watches. Okay, so let's Let us know then what what won the best running watch of the year for the run testers So the watch that we picked as our best running watch this year is the
00:21:23
Speaker
Garmin 4Runner 255. So obviously the 255 is kind of that mid-range 4Runner in Garmin's range. I think the main thing, I think price-wise, it kind of always hits a sweet spot, I think, for most people. I think you're
00:21:38
Speaker
you're looking at kind of more advanced features but you still want that very kind of simplistic kind of experience in terms of their running watch as well. I think from a performance point of view, a design point of view, I think a level of battery life you're getting for the money I think it's been you know I think all of us would kind of agree it's been very solid.
00:21:55
Speaker
I think the kind of key things that have come from the 255 that we haven't seen in the 245, you're getting that kind of new multi-band mode, which we've kind of said it's not been as good as it has been in the kind of top-end going watches, but it's been good to see that there on the 255. You're getting a lot of the kind of software features that we've seen in the top-end watches, so race day and the HRV status, not the training readiness. There's an enhanced interval training mode as well, which I think is really good.
00:22:19
Speaker
and then you're still getting that kind of strong level of battery life that's going to get you through a week's worth of training. So I think in terms of an upgrade from the 245 and also just a watch in general for people to look at and what you get for the money, I think it was quite of a resounding kind of win for the 255. Excellent. Yes, it's a fantastic watch. I was testing that at the same time as the 955 and I thought they were both
00:22:42
Speaker
Really good, which which Follows up quite nicely because the 955 was our runner-up in the best watch category I'm assuming for the same reasons almost Mike
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, I think also, obviously it's much more expensive than the 255, but I think when you're looking at that top end and you are looking for kind of value for money at that top end, I think we'd probably agree the 955 is the kind of watch to go for at that price point. You're getting everything you get from a Phoenix,
00:23:13
Speaker
in that kind of smaller, more, I would say, running friendly kind of design. Things like mapping and navigation. Garmin pretty much stand out in terms of that support on their watches and you're getting that on the 955. You're getting very good battery life. You're getting that training readiness feature. I think it's been one of the strong software features that Garmin has introduced to its range and a lot of its watches.
00:23:33
Speaker
And then all the things, the training analysis that you would expect from a kind of top end Garmin, you're getting there as well, along with the good battery life as well. And I think just all around, as I said, it is expensive, but I think if you look at what else is at that top end, it's a very good value running watch if you want those kind of more advanced features. Anyone else want to add anything to that? Yeah, I can agree, but I mean, the i5-5 is...
00:23:55
Speaker
out it got cheaper from the previous model in the UK anyway and the value of getting there when you're looking at what you're gonna have to pay for those features and other watches is pretty great you know it's not cheap but it is very very good value if you are chasing things like Garmin's navigation and all that so yeah very impressive pair of watches I think there's a couple of other great ones to share I mean the epics too we all kind of love the start of the year and Phoenix 7 and the Apple Watch Ultra has been a very strong new entrant I think into the
00:24:19
Speaker
of proper sports watch realm. You still not got great battery life, but you are getting fantastic GPS accuracy in Apple's kind of nice design. So a lot going on at the very high end. And then, yeah, not so much at the lower end this year, I think I'd say overall has been to even the 255 kind of got a bit pricier and became a full triathlon watch, but maybe next year we'll get a load of strong, very good beginner watches. Excellent. Well, congratulations Garmin with the 400 255.
00:24:41
Speaker
So more tech now, we're going to run through the best running headphones for 2022. Nick, how do we pick headphones? What goes into the decision making? So we probably approach headphones a different way to a more tech-focused brand. We're really very keen on how they're going to work for runners. So that generally means a very good fit. We do like good sound quality, obviously. I mean, you know, a nice ANC mode for general life, but a transparency mode is also really important on the run if you want to hear what's around you or
00:25:08
Speaker
maybe have a completely open design, sometimes that can help with awareness. And then battery life's got to be strong. And ideally they have nice little case, you can slip them into charge them on the run and keep getting a little boost so they can last for longer multi-day events or something like that. But in general, you want a good battery life, just to make sure your headphones aren't dying on the run. And I really like a good quick charge feature actually, because if you haven't got charged headphones, if you can do them for five minutes before a run and get an hours running out of them, that's very handy. And I would say that 2022 has been
00:25:34
Speaker
There have been headphones out, but it's not been, it wasn't the easiest one to pick from the ones that have been released because there weren't loads of headlining headphones that released this year. Yeah, I think it's been loads of very, very good high-end lifestyle headphones that kind of cross over to sports a little bit, things like the Bose QC earbuds 2 and the Apple AirPods Pro 2 and loads of amazing headphones that kind of work for everything. But yeah, really like top-end sports headphones, obviously seen nothing from Jaybird and stuff like that. So there hasn't been too many released. Okay, so let's
00:26:03
Speaker
Let us know what it is then. What won best headphone of the year? And the winner is...
00:26:14
Speaker
Jabra Elite Four Active Buds. Excellent. Fantastic pair of buds. Yeah, very strong set. Why did we pick them? I think most of us put them in the list, didn't we? This was a pretty easy win for the Elite Four Active. So why did we pick them?
00:26:34
Speaker
Well, they're just really good value. They almost came in on, they came hot on the heels of the Elite 7 Active from Jabra, which are very good. And we really, really like them. Very good sports buzz. And the Elite 4 Active came out and they were basically the same headphones, but like 50, 60 quid less. So they're 120 quid, $120. And that's really good value because you are getting
00:26:50
Speaker
a really great set of headphones with really good sound quality, ANC and awareness mode, really good battery life, and they're quite small. We've got a small case. They kind of give you a bit of everything, but the only real doubt about them is the fit because they're in earbuds without a wing, but I find them remarkably secure given that nearly everything falls out of my ears and the Jabra headphones always stay in place without a wing or anything like that. So they end up just being fantastic sports headphones first and foremostly running, but they are really good for general use as well. I think you're getting a lot of features that are close to
00:27:17
Speaker
not far off the standard of the big hitters around 250, 300 pounds. So you're obviously getting a little bit of downgrade of things like A and C and sound quality, but not too much. So they really are very well-rounded set of buds and massively reduced the back photo sales actually. So that's something to look out for. Fantastic pair of headphones. Yeah, I think we all agreed on that one. There's a few categories that we completely agreed on, but I think headphones was definitely the one. And what was the runner-up, Nick, headphones?
00:27:43
Speaker
The runner-up is the Shox OpenRun Mini. Now, Shox released a couple of sets of headphones, the OpenRun and the OpenRun Pro this year. I think we're kind of all in agreement that the OpenRuns are just as good as the Pros in pretty much every way, and they are a bit cheaper. But we've all been very taken with the mini size, I have to say. Didn't really consider these before, but the smaller Shox buds really do create quite a nice experience because they fit much closer to the head. You can fit them under a headband, which I know is very important to all of you.
00:28:08
Speaker
And you just get a slightly better fit, I think. And otherwise, they're completely the same as the full-size versions. You get the same battery life, the same sound, everything like that. So I would say, unless you've got a huge head, strongly consider the smaller OpenRud Buds. I think I've used them for a couple of marathons. I'm using them for a marathon as well. I think they're just really good headphones, smaller headphones. If you're in the bone conduction area, these are about as good as it gets.
00:28:31
Speaker
It's amazing that probably the original versions probably wouldn't have made the list, but just by making the headphones slightly smaller, they'd suddenly become like a fantastic pair of headphones to buy. And what I would say about them as well is you sort of expect a level of sound quality when you get bone conduction headphones anyway. So can't really compare the sound of these headphones to like the Jabra Elite 4 Actives. But I do think it's perfectly fine for what you're getting and you get those benefits from bone conduction headphones like the fact that you can hear ambient sound. I used it in a trail race on
00:29:00
Speaker
Saturday and I think they work really well. I'm of the massive heated plan. I have got a big bonsa and they work absolutely fine as well. Even if you are, that's a sort of slightly larger head. Yeah, it seems strange that those, I can't think of any reason why you'd get the bigger ones unless you really did have a enormous head. Because I've got a fairly big head as well and I've still got a bit of space in the minis. Maybe massive hair, massive hair maybe. Well maybe, yeah. Yeah. Okay, does anyone want to pick up, what else did we have in this category?
00:29:30
Speaker
Well, me and Mike loved the new very cheap JLabs that have been firing out, the Go Air Pop and the Go Air Sports, which are like 20 and 30 quid and they're really very good headphones, aren't they, Mike? That's all Mike ever talks about. Well, I think for me, I know, Nick, you kind of summarized about what's launched. And I think actually in terms of what stood out for me, it's actually been at the lower end. And I think we've almost been waiting for those kind of
00:29:51
Speaker
almost expecting there is those kind of cheaper headphones but you always think when you go and you look at those prices you're going to make compromises. I think the JLab stuff particularly, I don't think you're making huge compromises in terms of what you're getting overall, in terms of fit, in terms of the sounds, in terms of battery life and I think that's kind of what I found in my testing. I also would say I've tested a lot of other bone conduction headphones as well. I know we've talked about shocks but I think there is
00:30:17
Speaker
are the bone conduction headphones worth considering? I think that is a good thing in general just for the space because I think it's good to have other alternatives out there that I do think can kind of match the design, the sound quality and even improving the sound quality as well which I think is one of the limitations of bone conduction technology in general but I do think, I think we will see and potentially next year, the sound performance will be better than what we're seeing in bone conduction
00:30:44
Speaker
in general for the last couple of years. I think that can only be a good thing as well.
00:30:48
Speaker
All right, let's break it up a little bit with an extra, a new grilling quiz fact. Oh, I see. It's the running shoe quiz. Okay, this is a good one. This is a good one. If we only made one running shoe, that shoe would be the, whatever the shoe is, what makes the shoe unique isn't just that it's the best running shoe we make. It delivers the top of the line performance of the best running shoe we make to every kind of runner. Whether you're training for world-class competition
00:31:17
Speaker
or catching a rush hour train? I have seen that before, definitely. I've written an article on this one, so I knew it before I searched for it. I want to say this is outside of the main brands. It's in to something like an Allbirds or something. Is that your choice? Yeah. Okay, Nick?
00:31:39
Speaker
Well, you're throwing me there because I was going to guess, but I don't think you've written an article about this issue, so I don't want to say it now. I was going to say the on cloud flow. Get closer. New balance, fresh foam, 1080 V12. Oh, I have seen that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:31:56
Speaker
There we go. Another one of those in a bit. Right, let's delve into shoes. We've done the tech. Now let's delve into a category that's a little bit different from the other shoes we've got on the list. So normally with road shoes, we will call it the best of that shoe. But when it comes to trail shoes, there's so many out there that we don't want to call it the best trail shoe. We're actually calling it our favorite trail shoe. So we voted on the shoes that we
00:32:20
Speaker
that we like to really the most. So Kieran, how did we pick our favorite trail shoes or how do we judge trail shoes? Yeah, I mean, I think that we, I mean, you've moved a little bit now, Tom, so you live a little bit closer to sort of coastal trails. The rest of us kind of live in and around a little bit more urban space. We have access to kind of sort of, I guess what you'd probably call light trails. I know sometimes Nick goes to Scotland on holiday and gets to test it in these shoes in more difficult circumstances. But I think the way that we're
00:32:48
Speaker
sort of testing and using trail shoes tends to be not in the mountains. You know, we're not in Colorado putting these things through really, really technical trails. So I guess when we're looking for a good trail shoe, we're probably looking for things that are a little bit more good road to trail, but we're looking for, you know, we're still looking for good grip. We're looking for overall comfort, good stability.
00:33:09
Speaker
you know, good performance on, I guess, sort of lighter rolling trails, maybe in a little bit of mud, those kind of things. And actually, I think the other thing that kind of stands out as well, in a big way for us, will be kind of durability. So we test for those things rather than, you know, we're not getting necessarily into the nitty gritty of digging into whether or not they've got rock plates and how they cope on, you know, steep descents where you're dropping 500 to 700 meters in a short space of time. So that is really what we're looking for here in this category.
00:33:37
Speaker
And also probably say that all the run testers are a bit, when it comes to trail shoes, everyone's a bit different and they're always running on slightly different areas. So yeah, we can't, we can't decisively say it's the best trail shoe out there, but what did we go for as the winner of this category? So the winner of the trail shoe category is
00:34:00
Speaker
the Hoka Speedgoat 5. Nice. Do you use this shoe, Kerry? I do. I use this shoe, I love it. I've got to ask you about this stuff. Yeah, I really like it. For me, it fits that bill. It's got the right combination of being lightweight, grippy enough,
00:34:19
Speaker
good kind of rolling from that kind of late stage, kind of meta rocker. It copes with the kind of runs that I think a lot of us do, which is, you know, a little bit of road, a little bit of trail. I'm off and on kind of light river paths, sometimes into sort of grass and a little bit of mud, but nothing too crazy. And yeah, it's the kind of shoe that I think runners can go for long miles in. So it also sort of takes you over into that sort of ultra trail world.
00:34:43
Speaker
And just all round, I think it's got a really well-balanced package. Yes, it's got a very nice natural feel to it. It's a big O5, big fan. And what came up as the runner-up in our favourite trail shoes? So the runner-up we chose was the Innovate Park Claw G280. And why is that? I've never tried this shoe, don't know anything about it. Why do we pick that? Well, I personally went for something else, but I know the other... Who went for this? Mike, you like this one, don't you?
00:35:10
Speaker
I have run in it, and I think it has got a good, you know, again, it's got a lot of the same elements we found in the speaker five, but I think the other boys might might lend a little bit more of an opinion on those.
00:35:19
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I've spent a lot of time running this shoe. I think in terms of the trails, definitely for me, the runs that I do, I have to get to my trails. And so a road to trail shoe is a shoe that I will always favour in terms of my trail shoes. And this is one that I think to look at, for me, I didn't think it would run well on road and trail. I think it runs lighter than I thought it would. And actually it worked really well on a road.
00:35:48
Speaker
The elements that, you know, a lot of the elements you get from Innovate's trail shoes, you know, there's a lot here that works that, you know, you've got that kind of outsole that I think is nice and sticky, you know, you get that kind of really good strong grip. But I think the ride in it for me was very, very good and it really kind of stood out. And it's a shoe that I'm still grabbing and using for those types of, you know, those types of trail runs. And it kind of really stood out for me from that point of view.
00:36:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think we'll talk to us about some like this and bring some really serious trophy launches for big long races. But actually, the day to day of life, I think the Innovate Parkour is just a good shoe. It's a great commuter shoe. It can handle like, you know, running down a canal or in the winter, you're running on slick roads and bit of canal to get to work and just a very accommodating shoe. I think it just really handles that road to trail kind of lifestyle well.
00:36:30
Speaker
which I think is probably an area that sometimes you just forget to think about so much your trail shoes when you are looking at those big dramatic shoes in the mountains, but this is just a very, very good performer day to day that will serve loads of runners very well. And any of the notable mentions we've got from the trail shoe category? Anyone feel free to pick these up if you'd like. It's gone carbon, gone carbon crazy on the trails.
00:36:49
Speaker
Yeah, so we probably just raced in the endorphin edge didn't you? I just raced in the endorphin edge and I absolutely loved it because when I was talking about it in the race test I did I'd only ever used the endorphin edge for training and never used it for actually an all-out trail race and it was really quite good. There's a lot of long hard
00:37:07
Speaker
rock downhills on it and it just dealt with them really nicely like this Speed 3 would if you're running on road. We've also had the Hulker Tecton X came up quite highly and the fantastic Socanee Peregrine 12 solid reliable rotor trail shoot. The Tecton X I think is basically if you're willing to part with a little bit more cash for a little bit more kind of punch a bit more pop then that's a good one to look for. It runs I think very similar to the Speed GOAT 5 but just with a little bit more energy so and but you've got to pay for it.
00:37:36
Speaker
Nice. Okay. So the next award we've got is one of the big ones, the best all rounder running shoe or daily trainer. Now this category is quite a tough category to this one because there's so many different overlaps with other shoes. But really what we're looking for in this category is the shoe that a versatile shoe that you can use for going out on a daily run. You can
00:37:58
Speaker
It's nice and comfortable if you want to go at an easier pace, but if you want to go a bit faster, you want to do a bit of speedier training, it can probably do that. So when we look at these shoes, we're looking for versatility. And for many people, it may be the shoe that they pick up and it's the only shoe that they have and they want to do all of their running in. So this was no surprise, I think, when I pulled together the numbers for this one. So the winner of the Best All-Rounder running shoe or daily trainer
00:38:33
Speaker
was the Hoka Mac 5, which I think will come as no surprise to you guys either. I think it's an upset Tom. I think it's just the first year the Endorphin Speed doesn't want it. Well, we ended one year.
00:38:49
Speaker
Speed 2 wasn't last year. Yeah. But I think the thing about Huckleback 5, and I've spoken to so many people commenting on the channel, but also racers and things, and they've just loved this shoe. The Mac 4 was fantastic, but I think Mac 5 has not really made any major updates to it. It's still a similar kind of shoe, but there have been some improvements made to it. But there's no plate in it. It's just a very natural feeling, comfy, lightweight shoe. And I did a lot of my marathon training for Chicago
00:39:19
Speaker
wearing the Hoka Mac five is my sort of tempo shoe and interval training shoe and I loved it as a partner to the soccer the endorphin pro three because I didn't want to be training in a plate all the time. But yeah, it's just a fantastic versatile shoe and just very accessible to lots of people I think. Any other views on the Mac five? I know we're all massive fans of it so feel free to watch.
00:39:42
Speaker
just an easy shoe to pop on and run in, I mean it's a delight, you know, it's one of those that disappears on the foot really nicely and you can just go and do pretty much anything, you know, I really love it. There's a few shoes that come along that you just look down and go, if I had any choice I'd run in those today and that's one of them I think.
00:39:58
Speaker
And the runner up for this category, which is, again, no surprise, Sock and Ian Dorff in speed three, which was, I suppose, I remember when I was pulling together the numbers, I knew it was going to be one of these two, but didn't think it was going to be in that order. But it's often speed three, very similar to the speed two, but a lot of people prefer the speed two because of the fit and some of the design changes to it. You guys, any thoughts on the speed three over the speed two?
00:40:23
Speaker
I lean speed too, just because I've got a narrow foot. And yeah, they made a few changes to speed, so they made it a bit more kind of stable than wide, which just did make it rub my heel a bit. So actually, still a great ride, but I probably don't look at it quite as fondly. So maybe it's got a bit of speed fatigue and probably why I voted for the Mac 5. Well, you used it quite a bit, Karen, didn't you? I did about, I mean, I did about 1500 miles in a couple of months in it or whatever it was.
00:40:46
Speaker
and I actually started that run along the Danube in the Speed 2 and I think the Speed 2 for me is just a better sort of racier shoe it's a better faster shoe but the changes they made to the Speed 3 made it better for that kind of sort of easy to medium end with that kind of sort of wider platform and just felt a little bit like a bit more roomy in the toe box but
00:41:07
Speaker
Yeah, so again, another one that I think I'm sort of happy to go kind of to plodding as well. It's got a good kind of, I think that kind of bottom end, it comes into its own as well.
00:41:16
Speaker
Yeah, and then there are quite a few other shoes in this category that cropped up. ASX Nova Bass 3, Puma Velocity Nitro 2, and the Saucony Ride 15, or great solid round of versatile shoes. Okay, so let's jump into my favorite shoe category, the best cushion shoe category, Mike. You've recently, you never used to like cushion shoes, but you seem to be wearing them all the time now.
00:41:41
Speaker
I think cushion, I think, you know, again, a shoe can kind of fall into some other categories, but ultimately I think, you know, this is about level of cushioning, you know, offering a lot of comfort, something that's going to work. You know, if you want to log a lot of mileage, this is the kind of shoe that kind of work and prioritise that kind of comfort from that point of view. And I think, you know, there's been a lot of shoes that have kind of come out in this category that I think have stood out. But ultimately, you know, we've picked one that we think that's really been our kind of standout choice, I think.
00:42:11
Speaker
Mmm. Go and hit us then. What is it? So our winner for best cushion shoe is the
00:42:23
Speaker
Saucony Triumph 20, which is a shoe that I've spent a lot of time in. I think a lot of changes have happened from the previous Triumph in terms of what Saucony has done with this shoe. It's still very much an easy run shoe, but I think the level of cushioning, I think
00:42:43
Speaker
how the level of running you can do in it, I think it's been really strong. I think the outside was very strong on this shoe as well. I think it's got a good level of durability as well. I've done a lot of running in it myself. I still use it for those types of runs when I want to go out and log a lot of kind of distance that I don't particularly want to go all out and kind of quicker in it. And you know, I think, you know, soccer here have done a lot of good shoes this year and this is definitely one that has stood out of those kind of new launches.
00:43:07
Speaker
definitely that was a tricky category to pick winners from because there's been some fantastic cushion shoes that have come out over the past year so yeah it could have gone there's a few ways it could have gone. What did we get as the runner up then?
00:43:21
Speaker
So the runner up is the Puma Velocity Nitro 2 and obviously we're massive fans of the original and I think the thing that really stands out about this shoe in general is the price, how much you're paying in terms of what you're getting for that money. I think versatility, most importantly, it's a shoe that you can do a variety of different
00:43:42
Speaker
kind of runs in I think with the Nitro 2 it builds and a lot of the qualities that we got with the Velocity, the original Velocity Nitro, the uppers kind of change you've still got that really strong outsole I think as well which you know I found you know it's very strong in terms of grip and you've got that kind of Nitro kind of infused midsole foam that Puma has used and I think used to get effect in the Velocity Nitro 2. It's just a very solid daily trainer kind of shoe with that kind of good level of cushioning
00:44:06
Speaker
I think it allows you to do a lot of mileage in it, but also if you want to use it for some different kind of sessions, I think it works well from that point of view as well. Yeah, I think what I really like about Puma at the moment in general is it where a lot of brands are skimming a lot of their outsides off to bring down the weight of cushioned shoes and they're putting quite a thin layer of rubber on. Puma going the other way and whacking great big outsides on that really work well and great conditions and it adds a little bit of weight, but it becomes more of a real world, useful running shoe. Just as the UK turns the water, I'm very aware of this. And I think, yeah, it's a really strong area of all their shoes.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah, so as I say, there were a lot of competition in this area and we've done quite a few videos recently of comparing some of these shoes because deciding between them is quite tricky. So we also had on the list the Saucony Tempest, the Brooks Glycerin 20, the Nike Invisible 2, and the Saucony Endorphin Shift 3. So videos for all those shoes up on the channel if you want to find out more. Right, let's have another running quiz.
00:45:03
Speaker
Marketing blurb. Oh, I see. It's the running shoe quiz. A shoe, that's the definition of swift. Designed with a new winged plate that helps support your run from toe-off to landing. It's everything you need to push your pace with ease. I think dolphin speed is a winged plate.
00:45:22
Speaker
I would say that. Yeah, because I made a mistake earlier and you knew that was going to be one of them. Well, I don't know if there's any other winged plates on the market, although maybe sketches has, but I didn't think you'd go for a sketches. No, you're right. It is the soccer, the endorphin speed through. That's quite an easy one, mainly because I ballsed it up earlier. Cool. Okay. More of those in a bit. Let's jump back into the awards and we are doing
00:45:45
Speaker
Oh, the big one. Very big one that everyone's going to be waiting for. The best race shoe, Nick.
00:45:53
Speaker
Oh man, what a year. What a year of racing shoes. So yeah, this is going to be a carbon shoe. I think that's clear to say. Everyone's now racing in carbon shoes and it's been a very strong, every brand, I think, released a carbon shoe. I'd say every brand pretty much has released a better carbon shoe than they've had before. Maybe not a couple of them, but in general, they've all released really strong shoes. You know, we've raced in as many of these as we can. We've done lots of races this year, tried out loads of different carbon shoes to put them through their faces and
00:46:18
Speaker
Yeah, fair to say, I think nearly all of them are very good. I don't think we've had one that we really think has been a bad carbon shoe this year, but there have been a couple that stood out a little bit more. Cool. Okay, so let's not delay. What was the winner that everyone's waiting to hear? Well, probably won't come as much surprise if you've watched the channel lately, but the winner of the best pricing shoe this year is the
00:46:43
Speaker
Saucony Endorphin Pro 3. Thank goodness. I think Tom would have cancelled this episode if he'd picked anything else. Well, luckily I didn't need to doctor the votes. So this is valid. This is just a huge jump from the previous generation. I like the previous generation, the Saucony Endorphin Pro 2. It was quite firm. I don't think many people liked it that much, but this is just a straight into the top tier carbon plate racing shoe right up against things like the Vaporfly.
00:47:09
Speaker
Fantastic for every distance. They made it softer, higher stack, bouncy in the previous version, but also making it lighter and giving it a slightly better outsole. It's about as much as you can improve a shoe, and it's superb from 5K to the marathon, every distance you want. Tom's got all his PBs, except 10K, right? Tom, you've blown that one, haven't you? I've blown it, yeah. I'm going to have to keep trying. It's not going to happen now around Christmas. Well, I'll hand over to you just to give some impressions of this shoe because I love it, but I think you like it more than anyone.
00:47:36
Speaker
Yeah, I wax lyrical about the shoe on many, many occasions, but I think it's just, it just has all the benefits that you want from a high performance, calm plate shoe, but just feels really comfortable and natural as well. And if you put the shoe on and go for a nice, easy day run, it's great. If you wear it for a 255, 15 marathon in Chicago, it's still fantastic. Not to mention it.
00:48:03
Speaker
Oh yeah, I forgot, I just put that in there. So yeah, and that was a pretty clear winner from the voting. But the runner up, Nick, what did that get? Well, this might come as a bit more surprised. A shoe that's not looked upon so fondly, I'd say, in general, but I think it's one of those shoes that you kind of go, I don't really like it, but you keep using it, you realize just how good it is, and it's the Nike AlphaFly Next% 2.
00:48:26
Speaker
Now, it's surprising to say that this is slightly under-loved shoe, given that the world record was set in this year, but it's got a bit heavier, a bit more stable than the previous version of the Alpafly. I think it makes it a more accessible shoe. It's a more democratic shoe, and really, it's one of those shoes where you kind of almost forget about the weight and things like that, because once you put it on and start running quickly, it's mad. It's ridiculously bouncy. I've raced, I think, over five miles and 10k in it.
00:48:49
Speaker
I was surprised both times just how quick it really is. It's, you know, it's not an easy shoe to love the Alfa Flight. It's so big. I have no idea how the stack height is on the 40 millimeters because, you know, it's my size. There's no idea that. I'm a UK nine, but it is a raise your balance here. I saw it a few times on the streets during the marathons run this year. I think it will become more popular over time like the original Alfa Flight did, which again, wasn't beloved at first, but it's, yeah, it's just crazy springy. Kieran, you love this shoe, right? Yeah, I've come to love it. I wasn't a massive fan of the one mainly because I couldn't get them on, but
00:49:18
Speaker
These, yeah, I've learned to love them. And I think once you put it on and you start to actually moving it, it just delivers power and fun and speed and energy into the legs, late into marathons, is everything that you're kind of looking for, particularly in those sort of race over longer distances. I've actually run my fastest ever unofficial mile in this shoe as well when I was really knackered. So yeah, it's just one of those that just feels like it's doing what you need it to do when you're going out to race all out. So I've become a big convert.
00:49:47
Speaker
Nice. Well, this category inevitably had quite a lot of entries into it. So, A6 Metaspeed Sky Plus, Adidas Prime X Strong, Adidas Adios Pro 3, New Balance SCL 8V3 and A6 Metaspeed Edge Plus all cropped up in our voting. I'm going to say it's on as well. I think if New Balance released their shoes early in the year, like everyone else did, I think the SCL 8V3, they're a stronger contender because I think I'm loving that shoe. I've done 100K in it now and I'm loving it every time I put it on.
00:50:13
Speaker
Yeah, new balance often do release, especially quite late, which makes it harder to get forward, because after marathon season, we're all napping. Yeah, we'll have to do the awards in the summer, thanks.
00:50:23
Speaker
Okay, so now time for the new award in the Runetestis Awards. Each year we talk about, or last year, one year before, we talk about all these products, but we've added a new category now, which is brand of the year, where we talk about a standout brand that we think has really made some massive improvements over the course of the year. Kieran, I've sort of explained how I was going to ask you what it is, but I've already done it.
00:50:49
Speaker
End of the year, what did we go for and why? So the brand of the year for 2022 is...
00:51:03
Speaker
This should be, this will probably come also as sort of very little surprise. If you look at it, I think the reason we've sort of chosen this brand and that we probably all sort of voted in very similarly on this is just the high quality across the range in their shoes and how they've continued to kind of, they've basically built on a very good platform from last year and just added more shoes that are just even better almost in all of their kind of key areas. They've taken things on a notch with the kind of, I think in many ways with the Speed3 made it a little bit more
00:51:33
Speaker
Timogata useful, you know, obviously the pro three is a whole different ball game now as well. And one that I think a lot more people are going to like to race in. I actually am enjoying the shift for three a lot more as well. But I think when you kind of look across the whole gamut of what they've done when it comes to their shoes, they've really excelled and produced quality in a way that many other brands maybe have done it in kind of fits and starts in certain places, but not across the whole range.
00:51:59
Speaker
Yeah, it's interesting with Saucony. We've tested so many Saucony shoes out this year, and some of them have just really crept out of nowhere. Things like the Saucony Tempest, which was a massive surprise when we started testing it, but it's very quickly become one of our favorite cushion shoes of the year. And also things like the Endorphin Edge. It just seems like
00:52:18
Speaker
all of the shoes that Saucony has been releasing over the course of the year have just been fantastic and improved on previous versions. So yeah, well done Saucony. Probably not a surprise to many people listening this, but well deserved. And what was the runner up in this category, Kirill? And the runner up here in this category was Garmin. So we've gone for a tech brand here. And again, I think with Garmin, you've just got a brand that continues to
00:52:42
Speaker
I guess to kind of set the pace, sort of awful pun, but to kind of really just kind of push the limits on software, I think on hardware. And again, just across a range of products that I think give runners the kind of best selection, they continue to kind of to basically lead the way and other watches while they have in certain areas come in and kind of made some challenges when you look at the breadth and the overall kind of quality output of Garmin and the way they're innovating, it kind of makes them stand out.
00:53:12
Speaker
And then other brands that we had in this that cropped up were Puma, A6, and On. But yeah, not loads of brands in that category. So it was pretty clear who people thought were making big changes this year. Okay, so the last award is the Audience Award. So we asked the viewers and listeners to choose their favorite shoe of the year. Now this is just their favorite shoe. It's not a specific category. It's the shoe that they think is the standout option this year.
00:53:37
Speaker
and I spent a long evening counting through comments on YouTube and Instagram and there was an amazingly standout winner from this one that got by far more votes than anything else and that was
00:53:59
Speaker
the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3. So backing up our own views on the shoe is our audience. And yeah, that was not a surprise, but well deserved. The runner-up, interestingly, was the A6 Novablast 3, which was actually quite far behind the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3 because it was just so far ahead of any other shoe in the voting.
00:54:21
Speaker
But yeah, a lot of people really loving the A6 logo bass 3. I know it's a bit of a divided shoe amongst the run testers, but yeah, definitely hitting the mark for the run tester audience. Now there were loads of shoes in this, mainly because there's loads of different people voting, but other shoes that cropped up were the Endorphin Speed 3, the Hoka Mach 5, the Puma Velocity Nitro 2, the Nike Vaporfly 2, Sauvignon Tempers, and the New Balance More V4. Vaporfly 2 was ineligible.
00:54:48
Speaker
so yes strike that from the record tom i'd like that struck is that what it did with anything anyway i want it struck i tell you i struck a lot of stuff off of that list hey well because you have to fix it for your favorite shoe a lot of people give voting on watches i want to know how many of those comments for the pro 3 headboard from tw yeah
00:55:12
Speaker
I think what it also says about the Endorphin Pro 3, and I think from people that I know that have bought the shoe, that I know that are running and racing it in this autumn, is that I would say it's a very accessible performance shoe. And I think that's really what stood out for the people that I know that have bought it and have voted in our all-in shoe vote. So I think that's a really important thing. And that's the thing that stood out for me. I think it feels good.
00:55:35
Speaker
Really kind of accessible performance shoe for a lot of reasons and I you know It's good to see that that's one that it's kind of resonated with the our audience as well I'd also quite quickly on the indoor project you always get this comments is like why people what why didn't our elites use it then a lot of the elites are sponsored and I think so it's fair to say they're mainly sponsored by a couple of bigger brands and something you don't tend to sponsor those Lee so Yeah, I might be a shoe that's been more democratic but also I wouldn't just go more elites are wearing because 19 a that's do a very good job of
00:56:04
Speaker
OK, well, there we have it for the 2022 Run Testers Awards. OK, guys, let's delve into the questions that the audience has sent us over the past few weeks. Let's just dive straight in. I know you love this section. Nick says, how do you compare the Mac 5 to the Ringcon 3? I don't think this is cropped up before, actually. I think there's only been Kieran who tried the Ringcon 3. What do you think, Kieran?
00:56:34
Speaker
I think that, you know, if I'm sort of picking between, I'd say the ring contrary is still a little bit more, and it's not a minimal shoe, but it's a little bit more direct. It's a little bit lighter. There's a bit more kind of ground contact. There's a little bit less shoe overall than the MAC5, which I think is just, feels a bit more kind of cushioned, a bit more kind of protective, really. That'd be my kind of main difference. I think the MAC5 probably comes in slightly heavier, although off the top of my head, I'm not 100% sure, but that's how I would kind of separate them.
00:57:02
Speaker
I'd probably run more long in the Mac 5 maybe. I think the difference for me is the Mac 5 has a slightly firmer, more responsive mid-cell for me. It just does a bit more. It means you can sort of pick up the pace a little bit faster. That dual layer foam is it in the Mac 5. It just feels a bit different for me and I definitely feel like I can run a bit faster in that shoe. But yeah, both fantastic shoes.
00:57:30
Speaker
Okay, so Barry, he says, oh, this is for you, you and me, Nick. Hi, Tom and Nick. In your opinion, what is shoe like the SE Pro 3? Sock of the adorable Pro 3. Offer any benefit for someone running a four and a half hour marathon, or would the Speed 3 be a better option?
00:57:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it will. It will benefit. I think it's just whether you want to make the decision to spend that money and if it's going to be stable enough for you, I would try it on. But if you have no problems with it, I think the issues kind of benefit every time I go through kind of looped courses now, if I am lapping anyone or going through the field, you see everyone's wearing these shoes now. So if they're comfortable and you don't find them unstable and you don't mind the cost, go for them. I think they're great fun.
00:58:12
Speaker
It's a tough call actually between the Speed 3 and the Pro 3 and it really, larger comes down to your own, how you enjoy the feel of the shoes. But I think that the Pro 3, as I mentioned earlier on in the podcast, it's just so applicable to everyone. It's just an enjoyable, comfortable shoe. I do easy day runs in it and I just think it's fantastic. So definitely. Yeah, it's actually more cushioned than the Speed. I think I'd probably prefer it for a marathon. I'd pick it on base of that base, more comfortable, which is surprising to think, but I do think it's a bit more comfy.
00:58:40
Speaker
Okay, Astro Man, he says, which one would you recommend for a 5K on the track? The Alpha Fly 2 or the Vapor Fly 2? Both illegal. I just knew Nick was going to say that. Let's ignore the fact that they're illegal. Maybe Astro Man isn't racing, he's just training. Okay. Which would you go for? I'd go Vapor Fly 2.
00:59:01
Speaker
Yeah, same. All right. Daniel says, how do I know which one to get with regard to the edge or the plus? This is because I don't know. All right. Which one's the cadence one? Oh, right. Cadence one is the edge. Yeah. So that's if you run slightly faster or your legs are moving faster.
00:59:21
Speaker
Just shuffle. Just shorter shuffling. So the edges for shufflers, the pluses for striders. Yeah. The sky class, they're both plussed on. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's different, it's different in drops. The plates are slightly positioned differently, but I say, personally, I mean, based on my experience, I think the edge plus kind of worked for me a bit better on the short stuff. Personally, I know it kind of works across the
00:59:43
Speaker
board but I think for me the Skyplus feels like it feels nice that I think the longer distance is personally and that's kind of how I've kind of seen it but a lot of the a lot of runners are running the shorter stuff in the Skyplus as well so. I would say this is an area where it makes sense what Asik says it all tallies up but experience of the two shoes and I'm the most distinct cadence style runner of all time and I prefer the Sky I think it so I think
01:00:10
Speaker
You don't know, I think mostly when it comes to actual people racing, a lot of people pick the sky if they're ethics athletes and they can pick between them. So I wouldn't worry too much about designations and just maybe try them on if you can. Okay. Arnold says, is the Outfly 2 good for beginners? My pace for half marathon is six minute per kilometer. Will I benefit from it? Still think everyone benefits from them. Again, it's whether it's comfortable to use. I was talking actually to a podiatrist about this this week. He said, anyone can use these shoes, but try them if they're comfortable and you like them.
01:00:38
Speaker
There's no reason not to use them, but they are still, our fly's more stable than the previous one, but they are still less stable than other shoes, and it might be that you just find other things more enjoyable, in which case, use them, and you'll also want to spend 280 quid. Yeah, I'd say the main thing there is 280 quid is a lot of money for a beginner if you find out you don't like it after a few runs. So it's a bit of a risky move.
01:00:57
Speaker
And there are some more studies coming out that sort of suggest that the slower that your pace, the less benefit you get out of these sort of shoes as well. So that's kind of interesting. But yeah, for me, it's really about the money. It's like, do you want to go and drop that much cash straight away? I think there are shoes out there that you can get much cheaper.
01:01:14
Speaker
do what you need at that point in your running journey. Well, if you're a beginner, you're probably going to be seeing quite a lot of gains with your training over time. So maybe save the 280 pound spend to get those marginal gains after a few years of training. Okay, so last quiz question. Slip it in here. Oh, I see. It's the running shoe quiz.
01:01:34
Speaker
Reworked with a premium performance knit for improved fit, this endurance racer is engineered with the same responsive carbon fiber plate and aggressive metal rocker. A formidable competitor, this performance shoe is finished with bold asymmetrical colouring for a statement-making finish. Asymmetrical colouring could be the clue there. Hoka Carbon X3. Yeah, it's a carbon X3. Yeah, it's a Hoka, yeah. Nice! That was good, I didn't think you'd get that one.
01:02:02
Speaker
I didn't think there was any clues in that. Metarock is just Hocker, isn't it? Only they call it that, I think. There you go. Very good. That's the top run testing knowledge there. Well done. Everyone else just makes rockers, Tom. These guys take it to the next level. They make it a bit meta. I don't think anybody's actually won this because I think you all got the same ones right. So no old shoes from me.
01:02:24
Speaker
All right, last few questions. Will says, planning on winning a half marathon in the Saucony Endorphin Pro 3, I have the Speed 2 and the Tempest. Is there any reason or benefit in getting the Shift 3 to train in? No. No. If you've got the Tempest, I don't think you should get the Shift 3. No, if you have the Shift 3, I'll tell you to get the Tempest.
01:02:45
Speaker
Hold on, Kieran likes to shift through. I do. I mean, I haven't run in the tempers, so maybe I... I would say if you've got the tempers, there's no point getting the shig three, even if you really wanted another pair of shoes, because it's more superior, but it's also quite similar in what it's designed to do. Okay, N.A. says, what's the fastest shoe on the market for a two-mile race full effort? I'm going to say that kind of distance.
01:03:09
Speaker
it, I think it'd be very difficult. If I go and do all our reps of short distances like that, it's very similar, but I'd probably just get quite a light, but still can't force you along the Takumi Sen, something like that. But Takumi Sen, Vapefly, any carbon shoe, I think would all be very, very close. I'd still go Vapefly. Okay.
01:03:29
Speaker
Not for two mile races. No, it's a limit. 5K, nothing really. I haven't got a PB in two mile. B says, great review. Can't remember which one this was. How is the grip on the Endorphin Pro 3s? I found the Pro 2s quite slippy in even just slightly wet conditions and much worse than other brands. Grips better. I found the grip very good. Yeah, I've run in the quite treacherous conditions in them and they've been very good for me personally. Yeah, I think they're quite good.
01:03:56
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's weird, they improved the grip on the Pro 3, but not the Speed 3 compared to previous one, which is always fine, but it was slightly slick sometimes, but I think the Pro 3 is pretty good, pretty tacky. Publicly says, what do you think of the Alpha Fly V1 versus V2? I've heard many say the V1 is better for faster stuff, but perhaps V2 better for marathons. I think there's so much personal preference in here.
01:04:19
Speaker
It's one of those things like when the, when the, uh, our flight came out, no, I want to use it once he's about fly. I really liked the outside from the start. I loved it. And now everyone likes the Alpha fly. And then the Alpha two comes out and people don't like it. Like Alpha one is got with art issues. It's a bit more unstable. It's a bit lighter. I think it.
01:04:35
Speaker
is great. I think the Outflow 2 is also great. I don't think this, I would say they're both more marathon focused than anything, but they both can do every distance. It's really, if you want a little bit more stability and less kind of that arch digging in feeling that you had on the Outflow 1 would push you to the 2, I'd say. And I know you didn't like the feeling of the 1 right Tom. I didn't, but that's what I raced it when I did the 10k this week and I do quite like it now. I think it might just because the first time I'd probably worn them, probably shouldn't have done that on a marathon.
01:05:01
Speaker
I love the Alpha. The Alpha one's the only one. I've gone out and bought myself another pair just because I had such good memories of that shoe. And I do think it's incredible, but the Alpha 2 probably worked for more people. Cool. Okay. And the last question from Samuel. How different do you find the Pro 3 versus the Speed 3? Granted, the Speed 3 isn't a carbon shoe, but I've heard some people reviewing it as better and grabbing it even for speed work. Yeah, it's fantastic shoe for speed work.
01:05:24
Speaker
I mean, the only difference really, they're both fantastic shoes for lots of different things. But I would probably veer towards the speed three for training because I don't want to ruin my pro threes because they're still quite expensive. But I think if you had unlimited money, I'd go for the pro three for training and just because I think it's it just feels nicer. I like the softness of the pro three.
01:05:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, last year you could have got the Speed 2 and I think you'd have had very minimal performance difference with the Pro 3 even for racing, but I think Pro 2 this year, I think the Pro 3 is a step up on the Speed 3, which is also a great shoe. So, but I think certainly for racing, it is a lot quicker.
Monthly Questions and Christmas Season
01:05:57
Speaker
Cool. Okay, then that's the questions done for this
Enhancing Apple Watch Ultra for Running
01:06:00
Speaker
month. It's coming up to Christmas soon, so there's not as many big videos we've got planned, but what have we got coming up over the next few weeks, guys? Oh, Mike, we're going to do something about Apple Watch apps, right, for the new Ultra?
01:06:14
Speaker
I tested a new one today called Footpath. Yeah, I think that was a conversation that we came after I think that from our review video which is up on the channel is that you know potentially I think if you get the right apps in place on this on the Ultra you can make it even better running watch so we're going to kind of go into the apps, the actual apps, go through a selection of the ones we think that are going to kind of elevate how you can use the Apple Watch Ultra as a running watch as well.
Puma Fast Track Nitro Review
01:06:38
Speaker
Cool, and then we've got the Puma Fast Track Nitro. Yeah, interesting shoe this. I'm hoping it's going to be an even better gripping velocity Nitro. It's got like an all-terrain outsole, so it should be good for light trails. I talk a lot about things like slush and snow, but this should be such a good commuter shoe for me right now with the muddy canal near me on the way to station, so I'm hoping it will be.
Christmas Gift Guide for Runners
01:06:58
Speaker
And for the festive fans out there, we do have the Christmas gift guide coming up.
01:07:02
Speaker
We do indeed. We're going to have lots of ideas for things that are cheap and very expensive for you to buy runners who've been naughty and nice.
Naked TR Trail Shoe Introduction
01:07:10
Speaker
And I've also got in the naked TR trail shoe, which is naked who do vests and running belts and stuff, have ventured into making shoes. And that's going to be an interesting one. More apparel brands making shoes. It seems to be the theme of 2022. Yeah. And they've chosen a hard market to break into really. So they're going to be interesting to see how those hold up.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:07:32
Speaker
Okay, then, well, that does us for this episode of the podcast. If you want to email us with a question for the next podcast, or just want to send us some praise and that's, that's emails at team at the runtesters.com. We can also, you can find us at the run testers on Instagram or forward slash the run testers on YouTube, but you probably already knew that. Thanks a lot for watching. We'll catch you next time.
01:08:01
Speaker
The Runetester's podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley, Kieran Algar, Nick Harris Frye and Mike Saw. The music for the podcast was by Fear of Tigers.