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Running Shoes We Want to See in 2025
2.3k Plays17 days ago
This month on the podcast, the team is talking about the running shoes we're excited about in 2025. From carbon plate race shoes like the Vaporfly 4 and Saucony Endorphin Elite 2 to updates we're hoping to see made to our favourite daily and trail shoes.
We'll also be talking about loads of other stuff, from our current training plans to the latest products we've been testing.
Perfect for that Sunday long run.
Big thanks to Fear of Tigers for the killer intro music. You can listen to more of his stuff over at https://www.patreon.com/fearoftigers
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and 2025 Running Shoes
00:00:05
Speaker
Hey Tommy from The Run Testers and welcome back to The Run Testers podcast. In this episode we're going to be looking at 2025 and talking through the shoes that we are most excited about appearing. This is all speculative so we don't have any prior knowledge of a lot of the shoes that we talk about on this video. They're just shoes that we'd hope are going to appear over the next 12 months.
00:00:26
Speaker
This is also a video on the channel so if you prefer to watch the video version of this then maybe don't listen to this podcast. Right, let's dive in and talk about next year.
Holiday Greetings and Seasonal Running Trends
00:00:38
Speaker
the season's greetings gentlemen hello yeah how are we doing in this uh well we won't talk too much about the season because people listen to this might actually be listening to it after the whole christmas no let's talk exclusively about the season yeah people shouldn't wear my christmas hat now i'm not allowed to talk yeah uh well it we're really coming up to uh christmas and the new year and uh last year we did our um shoes that were excited about in coming up in the next year and um and there's quite a lot of shoes coming up next year that that should be very good. But before we dive into that, let's let's just have a chat about what we're up to.
Kieran's Training and Race Plans
00:01:17
Speaker
It's a point of the year where ah not many people are doing a lot, really.
00:01:22
Speaker
and Kieran, what's on your roster at the moment? Just for running, i'm I'm just trying to keep ticking over, really. Just get out and try and do four or five miles a day. Yeah, we're just saying it's getting harder to do it when you look out the door and it's dark and wet and black and cold and miserable. And we all know how much I like the cold. so Yeah, just getting out and taking over the miles. I've got the Trans Gran Canaria marathon distance in February, so I probably will need to find some hills somewhere, but I'll be migrating from London... Nah, soon. And I'll migrate from London to the New Forest in the south here in the UK soon and try and find... I'll probably try and find some hills on the trails and go up and down that a lot over the next couple of Man's Grand Canary, is that one, in the marathon, is it like the main one? It's like one massive hill, days. like for the whole uphill and then downhill basically. No, I mean, it's going to be, yeah, it's going to be up and down. I think actually there's more net descent than there is elevation, which, is that possible? I don't even know how that's possible. That's what someone told me on a podcast. You have to... Yeah. Is it point to point? I don't... Do you know what? I haven't actually looked...
Running Goals and Marathon Training for 2025
00:02:27
Speaker
Prepared. I haven't looked. For some of this, I think it's better just to turn up and see what's in front of you, right? They famously say that about mountains. They always say that. Just go with it. No, I will get my head into it. But I've chosen... I'm doing the shorter distance. There is like 100 and something Ks and there's... But this one I've... I'm doing the relaxing one. It should be all right, he says.
00:02:48
Speaker
But we'll see. ah yeah And what's ah outside of that, because it doesn't sound like that is a big plan for 2025, don't even know what it is. What what the yeah what the big um the the bigger focus for 2025, speed, distance, something else?
00:03:04
Speaker
I'll probably mix it all up. Yeah, I'm just going to go run for smiles. No, I'm going to do London and i I think I will probably try and do a fast time in London, probably try and put in some serious training for that. I'm debating whether or not to go back to the comrades again and try and get my silver medal, which would be a big ask. He'll be going back to comrades. Once anyone does it, they all just seem to go back every year. Absolutely addictive. To get silver, you've got to, it's like, I basically like doing two marathons all out and there's no time for it. Seven hours. Seven and a half, I think.
00:03:40
Speaker
some what here yeah It's a downhill year now? Yeah, it's ah it's a downhill this year. Yeah. So I know it a little bit more from having done it once before. So I know what to reserve and how fast you can maybe attack the downs a little bit more, but yeah, still debating, but that would be, ah I think that would be a good one.
Marathon Experiences and Future Plans
00:03:57
Speaker
And then beyond that, I haven't really thought. Okay. Okay. Go on then, Nick.
00:04:02
Speaker
Well, what I've done recently is not run the Valencia marathon because I twisted my ankle first run of the taper. No, you're just shouting at me. I was shouting at Tom. You said it is. Do you know what Tom said told me? Kieran, as he passed me around 32k, he just slipped at me deadpan. I'm not having a good time.
00:04:17
Speaker
I think we should put on a t-shirt. I'm not having a good time. I really wasn't. No, he didn't look like he was having a good time. As well as wondering, the track is the tracker estimates in Valencia, so you know based on your previous time up to that point, he should have been way past me. I thought either I've missed him or he's not only having a good time. He wasn't having a good time.
00:04:36
Speaker
I was going to confirm that for you. Yeah, better time than me, though, because I didn't get to run at all. But I have now secure, I think, probably going to secure the spot at Seville Marathon with Essex, because they look after that. So that'll be of got quite fit. I mean, I've just been running again. I've lost a bit of fitness, just been with a week and a half of not retarding my legs over properly. but So that and London will be in the first half of the year, then second half of the year, probably fairly relaxed. Might go and do a kind of fun marathon, something like Loch Ness or Kilda Water or something like that.
00:05:05
Speaker
um And maybe some, you know, kind of try and do half or something like that. But yeah, I just want to round this block. I had a really good block of Valencia. So I think, oh, I might as well try and capitalise on that by carrying on for a bit. And I always just run worse in the winter, though. Like, training runs are always a bit worse, aren't they? So I don't know. But you, Tom, giving up mountains now or are you still doing one more? Oh, just... He kept telling me he was going to give them up.
00:05:32
Speaker
Well, Valencia wasn't... not I'm at the point now where I know what I need to do in order to do a fast marathon, and I know if I've not done enough to get a fast marathon, but I so always like went to Valencia thinking, because I did a couple of good times. I did 125 at Manchester Half, and I did a 37 minute something ah in Brighton. So technic took from that, you sort of think, well, I might be able to get a fast time. I'm not sure, but I just hadn't done the the endurance level stuff. What did you do when you got to Valencia on the first day there, Tom? First full day there?
00:06:02
Speaker
What did I do on the first full day? Well, I got a text saying you were three points in at about a midday, so... Oh, yeah, yeah, but it was nowhere near as bad as Barcelona. I was fairly well-reserved. Yeah, OK. I know, I didn't actually know that so much. I did have quite a few, but it was about two days... I'd had two days before Valencia with no drinking.
00:06:18
Speaker
So that was relatively safe. How all the elite's do it, I think. In a day and a half, I'd rather race myself without drinking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you drink more than me and I wasn't running? Yeah, yeah. Well, I can't help it. This is my mates, isn't it? It's the Lincoln crew. So yeah.
00:06:35
Speaker
I sort of knew. I got i got to halfway point and I was on for a sub three and then I just just knew I just couldn't be i couldn't be bothered to kill myself trying to maintain the pace for another half. So just ah slowed down a bit for the second half and then ended up with like a 3.15, which isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. But um yeah, I think, well, I was basically telling you, wasn't I? I'm done with Marathends now. I can't be bothered to train for him. I'm just going to do fun ones. so But I think next year, because I've got to buy in three weeks. I thought you were changing that to 10K. I was going to, but I'm going to run it with my mate who lives over there, really just going to jog it with him and chat on the way around. I couldn't face going down to the 10K when you're going all the way to Dubai, so I thought I'd better do the marathon.
00:07:18
Speaker
Nice and easy, nice and easy. And then Manchester, I'm just not sure if I, I'd hate training over the winter, don't I? So I just, I don't even think I'm going to bother going through life still through in Manchester. So we'll see, we'll see. But I think what I'm going to do after Manchester is not book another marathon in for quite a while and just focus on, cause I like half marathons and I like 10Ks and I like getting faster. I just can't be able to put in all of that, the time at the moment to doing the, doing the mileage at pace.
00:07:47
Speaker
the The three hour thing is a funny thing as well. I think the sub if you're like, I've done it a bunch of times when you think you're you're kind of almost on it. Yeah, you know, it's it's like on a knife edge and if it can either go right or 315 or three i just but so many times been yeah. When I did Chicago, I really cared. I was nervous about it. I was doing every run perfectly, did Berlin pretty much spot on. Now, I'm not going to beat my time in Berlin without putting in a load of effort. So I don't really even care about the sub 3 anymore. It's like you you get to a point, you're well i'm probably not going to get it. I can't bother to.
00:08:19
Speaker
to then destroy myself for the next hour and a half just to get a time that I'm not bothered about.
Spanish Marathon Majors and UK Series Ideas
00:08:25
Speaker
Got all your Boston stash now, so that's forever. That's done. All the clothes you bought. That's done, yeah. So yeah, I think I'm going to be taking next autumn off marathons. I think Spanish majors, Tom, that's our next target, isn't it? The five Spanish majors, I like that. What are they called? The five grons or something? Yeah, I've got Valencia, obviously. I've done Barcelona before they started calling it this. Have you heard about this, Kieran?
00:08:48
Speaker
No, I thought they should do one of these in the UK actually, but they don't got one in Spain of theirs. It's a smart move, yeah. They've got, annoyingly, we've done most of them, but you'd have to redo them all because it has to be done after, I think, 2020 or something. They're all great events, like Seville, Valencia, San Sebastian are all pretty fast, I think, and nice times of year. San Sebastian got called off because of the weather. It's Barcelona, which we've done, which is okay. Barcelona 10k and half really fast, but the marathon's not that fast, is it? It is Madrid. It is Madrid. It is Madrid, and that's one of your favourites, isn't it? It's probably one of the hardest marathons, road marathons in the world. So it's not PB race. What time of year is that? It's at the start of April, so it's pretty warm. But it's got the most elevation out of any marathon I've ever done. You're basically running up a hill for quite a long time. So Seville slips in very nicely in February, because you can do that in London as a double. Yeah, Barcelona and Madrid are a bit too close to the big ones in spring, so I'll have to probably have to not do London one year.
00:09:45
Speaker
Obviously, Valencia is an amazing time of year, but I ah can't Facebook it again. like but i Basically, I went to do Valencia. There were four dads involved. We joked at the start, ah we're not all going to make this marathon. We'll see if any of us make it. One of us actually made the marathon. Only two of us made Valencia full stop. so actually We can't really book in these four and ones. It turns out you're st there's too many things in dad life that make it impossible.
00:10:05
Speaker
Well, i did i didn't i was looking what you actually i I was wondering if you get like a medal like the the marathon majors, you get a wristband for the five Spanish ones. I don't know. It's nice. We'll get a tattoo, I think. They should definitely do like a non... I think the UK should do it. Maybe London's obviously got it sitting in the majors.
00:10:24
Speaker
I reckon it's like a Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, the UK would be great. Well there's a few, they've got the super halves now that are trying to work on that sort of major thing. I'm surprised more people don't do it because as soon as I saw these five grandes or whatever it's called I thought I won't do it all of those and then I realised that I had to do three of them again and I can't be bothered to do that. So what would the UK ones be? So we'll exclude London, do you think?
00:10:47
Speaker
Yeah. Manchester. Manchester. Just as obvious. Brighton, I think, for the south. Yeah. Yeah. And Edinburgh. It's Cardiff. Cardiff's half the big thing in Wales, though, isn't it? But there really obviously is the Wales marathon, which I guess would... Or you could do Snowdonia,
Nostalgic Marathon Memories and Challenges
00:11:01
Speaker
it'd be cool, but pretty brutal. Yeah. But then it's Madrid's hard. Yeah. And then I guess just Belfast. I don't really know anything. I don't know any more Irish ones that well.
00:11:09
Speaker
No, no. That'd be quite good to do the like the proper UK. Belfast. I think Belfast. Is that the one that has like a really long stretch along quite a grim motorway? nothing these I think. it's basically run up a hill on a dual carriageway, then down the hill on a dual carriageway. I've not heard great things, but that might have been a while ago. I don't know. you sir Someone will correct us in the comments. Well, you could definitely do a half half one would be fantastic in the UK. Just because you've given off a marathon stop doesn't mean everyone has. I'll be back for the You don't get any UK Majors medal for doing halves, mate. No, not at all. I think we should do the most remote ones. You know, like the real kind of small sort of local, the most local. Yeah, but then it's going to really annoy the locals. Yeah. Lock Ness should be in there. That is an amazing marathon, but it only takes four and a half thousand, I think, because it's... I think they told me when I was there for 10K that they used basically every single coach they could possibly use in the area, and that's as many as they could actually take. It's the bleakest start. It was so old and wet. It was so wet, wasn't it? I think it was a nice year. It was probably a lovely start. You have amazing views. We could barely see the Portaloos because there wasn't any, but... You were disappearing into the bushes. Everyone just disappeared into it. Lovely mossy ground. A lot nicer than the Portaloos.
00:12:22
Speaker
so You see the buses sort of driving away and they're leaving you there in the grey web. Oh, I do a lot of those days. That was such a good marathon. It's quite hard though, because it's a big net downhill, so it looks like it'd be quick, but it isn't. It is quite hilly. It's hard. Yeah, ah but it killed me. i I definitely went too hard, too fast on the first bit, and then... I ironed negative spit in that marathon. I was the only person who did, because I was just having a lovely time in the first half, when all the downhills are, and then I caught a load of people the second half.
00:12:48
Speaker
Did you get a good position in that race, Nick? Oh, second in that race, too. No, I was just waiting for you to... I was surprised you hadn't already brought it up. It was great. Like a little cash prize. I bought an extraordinary amount of Loch Ness tat with that cash prize. and We still have it to this day. Nessie stuff all around
New Running Gear and Shoe Excitement for 2025
00:13:02
Speaker
the house. Highland coup things. Lovely little holiday that was with the family. All right, well, should we talk a bit about a kit that we've been testing? I guess.
00:13:19
Speaker
So it's December, not a time where there's loads and loads of releases, but there are still a few things popping up at the moment. I've not really been testing anything new to talk about, but Nick, I think you've had quite a few things in, haven't you? I've had a couple of Nikes in, I've had the Zoom Fly 6, which is incredible, and the Nike Pegasus Premium, which is, eh.
00:13:39
Speaker
Not so great. and It's a big old Frankenstein shoe with three different foams in the midsole. All the comments are, it's a lifestyle shoe, not a running shoe. I mean, I ran in it. It's quite fun to run in. It sits at the top of the new Pegasus range, but I think it's the the least good running shoe in the range compared to the 41 Pegasus Plus. But know it's the bounciest Pegasus ever, and it's got loads more foam underfoot. It's just end up quite heavy, but also quite weirdly narrow. like i don't know why i because Obviously, they don't want it to get any heavier, I guess, but it's got like quite a narrow mid-foot for a 45-stack ah shoe with quite a soft foams, and I think it's a bit rolly-rolly-polly. I was quite scared of coming back to use it after my twisted ankle. That's been interesting. Zoom Fly 6, though, I think is um amazing. it's It's quite similar to the New Balance s SC Trainer V3, which you've tested here, and it's quite a relaxed Super Trainer, but it's still really quick.
00:14:25
Speaker
ah comfortable, reasonably good value, and just basically they made all the changes that everyone had asked them to make to what had been quite a bad shoe the last two versions. And I think, yeah, I put it in my one of my top five shoes of the year, used it again yesterday. It's been um it's been a real treat, actually, using that shoe, I'd say. And then lots of launches have started. We haven't had yet, which I'm really, and I've been waiting by the door, really hoping it's coming. It's the Adidas Evo SL, which obviously everyone's very excited about, but might haven't turned up yet. um Hoping to get those in time for Christmas.
00:14:53
Speaker
I'm hearing very good things out of that shoe. Yes, although I think there'll probably be a kickback against it because people are too excited and nothing can be good for too long on the internet before people get angry. so and But yeah, that's the main thing. And i'm yeah up in scott I'm going to Scotland for Christmas and I'll be putting in some miles in the Innovate Trail Talon Gore-Tex version because it's actually not that cold there because because of because of events. Yeah, don't say Well, I won't say anything because people get very angry when we're talking about that, don't they?
00:15:24
Speaker
too angry they are when the Gulfstream disappears. Anyway, but yes, I'll put i'll be up in the Pendlands doing, it's great in the Pendlands because it's like, um it's really hilly and you get a lot of elevation. So over the 30k route that there is there, the race route is like, it's almost 2000 meters of up and down, but it's it's really up and down. It's not like one big climb. And that means I don't get too high and scared. So that's perfect for me. So I'll be doing some nice hilly hay runs in the trail talent. I think Kieran, have you got a normal version maybe? I i do, so I'll be doing similar down in the in the new forest in that one. Nice. Have a little play with that. Not quite so hilly, but... Well, I haven't really got anything else to add. I suppose the only thing that we've covered recently a lot, and we'll be covering a lot more, is the NoviBlast 5. I worry we haven't got enough videos on it. at yeah We'll have to start comparing it to other stuff, other running shoes soon, because I think we've covered more flight. Compared to the more flight, we've got done that one. That's just not fair. What's the point, yeah? Why would we bother?
00:16:16
Speaker
Yeah. no waste of Waste of our time and the viewers, Kieran. Yeah. All right. Well, if there's nothing else of that much excitement, let's talk about 2025 running shoe excitement. hey Let's do it.
00:16:37
Speaker
So we're coming to the end of 2024, great year for shoes, some fantastic releases and and as Nick keeps telling us, and but 2025 is going to be here very soon and there is a lot of shoes that we've heard about possibly getting released, a few websites have talked about release schedules for shoes and shoes that may be We don't know about yet, but we would probably guess that there would be a new version of them coming out. So guys, what are we excited about in 2025 in the running shoe world? um let's Let's start off with, I'll break this down to categories so that we're not just floating throwing shoes left, right and center. Let's start with race shoes. Nick, what race shoes are you excited about in 2025?
00:17:23
Speaker
Well, there's a few. I think I'll probably go with the ones that have been confirmed. So I think a lot of issues get confirmed at the running event in Texas, which we've not been able to go to yet. Our emails are open for invites, for sure. So a few that. I think the one that really stands out to me is I'm super excited about it. It's the worst named shoe of all time. It's the Hoka CLO X1 2.0, which is... I was going to ask questions, have you, about that, a navy protocol, but Hocus Yellow X1 was one of my favorite shoes of last year. I think we all, anyone who's running it, have loved it, incredibly bouncy, really fun, a tad heavy, and now they've brought the weight right down, the second version, by all accounts. They've changed the cutout to move it to the other side of the shoe to hopefully increase stability. I was talking to Hocus about this a little bit as well. They've changed the plate shape a little bit, so
00:18:09
Speaker
If it can retain the incredibly fancy, fancy, fun feeling of the first one or making it lighter, I think that's going to be a really, really top choice for marathon racing in particular, but races in general. And I think that's definitely the ratio I'm most excited about. Intrigue to see if we get any Vaporfly, Vaporfly 4, and what exactly they do with it Nike, because the three wasn't universally well received. You guys didn't like it that much, I think. and I liked it, but the Alphafly seems like before there was lots of lots of different choices, I think, between people between Vaporfly and Alphafly. I think the Alphafly 3 pretty much the choice for most of Nike's elites now. So being able to play for changes that a bit. But I've got a couple of others, but I'll let you guys pick them because those are the two that are top of my mind. Yeah, Karen, what have you got for race shoes? Yeah, I mean, I guess there's one that we've been waiting for for a while or it feels like it since the first gen came out and it was a bit of a shoe that divided opinion. But the soccer and endorphin elite two looks really interesting. And not everyone liked it. I used it for quite a lot of sort of big races. I did the comrades in it. I did um
00:19:05
Speaker
a long kind of ultra tunnel in it. But I guess the big news is a phone that I first heard about a couple of days ago, which the incredibly run photo iran which is I know the name. Yeah, it just sounds like a yeah sounds sort of gimmicky. But and apparently incredibly soft and incredibly bouncy. And from what I've seen on the videos, the most amazing thing about this is just how far this phone squeezes down if you do that kind of finger squeeze thing that people do with their shoes.
00:19:31
Speaker
it kind of goes right down then returns. It's going to be ah've still got a full length kind of slotted carbon plate. They've now changed one thing which I think did divide opinion which was the uppers were quite fiddly and fussy on the old endorphin um elites. They've made them a little bit more simplified and they've got an integrated tongue now so you're going to get like a bit more of a sort of booty fit which I think should make them feel a bit more comfortable overall. But it sounds to me like they're going to be softer and much more bouncy. Have you have you seen them in person? I've just seen them online videos. Yeah, I've seen them. I've squished them and they and I mean, it's unreal. Remember when when I remember when I talked about the ah the ballast when we first heard about it and I remember I got a feeling that it was going to be the perfect view for me. I've got I think the endorphin only two is going to be my my ratio of choice. I really
00:20:22
Speaker
I've a love-hate relationship with the Norfolk Elite 1. I've got like a few PBs in that shoe, way beyond what I expected to get in the races. I think it's a fast shoe, but I don't find it very comfortable. I think i think this may be in my shoe of the year if it's... ah if it if it's think I think it might stray too soft. but just judging It looks so soft. and i've seen I know some people who have tried an early version, but they're a little bit scared of it because it's so soft. and I guess that makes it a little bit wobbly, but if it returns in the right direction, then it's going to be a lot of fun. i mean Tom's going to lose his mind if it's as soft.
00:20:52
Speaker
Well, I need a new soft bouncy race shoe. Why? You're not doing marathons anymore, mate. Don't worry about it. Well, I can certainly use it for half marathons if I want. You know I'm going to end up signing up to a marathon in August. As soon as you feel how soft this shoe is, you're going to sign up to like an ultra. It doesn't matter. Yeah, cool. Well, that yeah that is a that is one that I am very excited to test out. For me, one shooter, I would say I'm so excited about it. i I would be if it it comes out like I wanted to, but the Sogney Dorfin Pro 5, because, you know, the Pro 3s are my favourite running shooters of all time. Didn't really like the 4 very much, so I'm really interested to see what what they do with have the 5.
00:21:33
Speaker
um And if they if they, you know, shift it a little bit more towards what people expect from the earlier version. Yeah. Any other one we should call out is Brooks finally moving to Piva Foams next year with a Piva version of the current shoe, and which I think comes out quite early in the year. And then they're going to be all new. Hyperion Elite 5 will have, you know, a redesign with this. so So, I mean, they are, I think, now the last brand to move across to Piva Foams or ratios, or at least, you know, an equivalent very soft springy foam. So,
00:22:00
Speaker
maybe because I think there's women did our carbon shoes this vid this year but every brand pretty much has caught up and is in a similar level now in terms of quality except but maybe Under Armour and Brooks so maybe Brooks will be joining the pack ah with they with a with a redesigned shoe. All right
Training Trends and Super Trainer Innovations
00:22:14
Speaker
let's have a look at trainers and super trainers so that's you know sitting under the race the race day shoes what are we excited about?
00:22:24
Speaker
i've I've got one. I love the mac Brooks Hyperion Max 2. I found it like a really nice versatile shooter run. And again, I did a lot of different sort of runs and races in it. I'm quite excited to look at the Hyperion Max 3. And again, they've basically added a bit of a bigger stack height. It might change. I'm a little bit worried because I quite like the fact that it wasn't overkill on the last shoe. And now I've got DNA gold, pure based mid-sole foam. As a top layer, you're going to have ah DNA flash, which is in the V2 and the old shoe in the bottom layer, and keeping a P-Backs plate, but they've kind of changed the geometry as well. And it's mainly, they've got a massive, you know, they've actually but added quite a lot of extra stack to it. So it may well change that, which I'm a little bit worried about, but it might make it a bit more of a lively shoe for a daily trainer, put it into that kind of super, super trainer territory where the other one was, you know, maybe a little bit dull for some people's liking compared to shoes like the Super Blast or whatever. so
00:23:18
Speaker
I think that one could be interesting. I think Brooks could have a really interesting year this year. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, big year for Brooks, because they're bringing the DNA-tuned foam from the Glycerin Max into a few other shoes as well, right? So, be interesting to see. New foam's across the board. I think I'm very excited about the Hoka Mac X3, which basically looks like the same shoe, but with a less fiddly heel design, which I think will make it. That was my shoe of the year, pretty much this year. I didn't mind the heel, but you know a slightly more comfy heel for what is a training shoe really will be well be great. Looking forward to that in the Super Trainer realm, for sure.
00:23:46
Speaker
Hmm anything else Well, he's we talking just fast trainers or super is that the plan here? I think we just love them together fast trainers super trainers into no even add diagrams Are we talking about?
00:24:00
Speaker
and what's the socrate endorphin trainer Yeah, that looks It's weird, that, isn't it? Because it looks like it wants to redesign Kinvara Pro, kind of? I don't know. It feels like a shoe that doesn't... I mean, it already has the endorphin speed. It's going to replace the Kinvara Pro, right? Is it? Okay. I think so. There's a Kinvara Pro, too, I thought, coming out. There's too many Kinvara Pros. Yeah, yeah. You need one. And it's got like a half carbon plate as well, I think, in the forefoot. So it's got a slightly different... That's what the Kinvara Pro did as well, wasn't it? Yeah.
00:24:35
Speaker
So yeah, I don't know where that sort of slots in, but. Hoka have redesigned some, u made big changes to stuff like the Clifton as well. It looks like high and fairly high drop, which would be, because Hoka's basically across the board, five millimeters, more or less, except Cielo, I think, but Clifton's going up a little bit. And and more stacks, right? Yeah, more stacks. I think that's good in a way, because there is a sky flow in the Mac, and and they're a bit more different now, I think, because the sky flow felt just like a like a better Clifton, very similar, but with a nicer foam. so and the Bondi's getting a supercritical foam, so it'll be interesting to see how that feels, because that was not a shoe we were huge fans of in the past. Well, let me throw another one at you, Nick. The, as you know, Neovista 2. Excited about that one? I am excited about that, but they've also released another one that, just very recently, right? A race shoe. No, no, not a race shoe. There's another Neovista style shoe that's like ah a little bit less aggressive, and it feels like they're now packing that area a bit too tightly with shoes, but I mean, Neovista was
00:25:28
Speaker
more or less in like a perfect reintroduction of Mizuno to that area, I think. So I don't know. i don't I don't know what they'll do with that. I mean, the new race shoe, I'm annoyed by a little bit because it's like 60 millimeter stack height, just slightly away from where they measure it. And that is out of hand, isn't it? That's one thing when you look across all these shoes, and even on from road to trail as well, it does feel like we're now in the world where 40 is small. It feels like everything's pushing now all the across all of the shoes. The stat kites have gone higher and higher. Actually, the training shoes would be better than the legal racing shoes. And where will we be then? and um I don't know. i like It's a serious point. if you Even from the test that we've been doing recently where I've gone from an overblast five and back into something like a supernova rise two,
00:26:19
Speaker
got some so You just really feel it. And I do worry like there's a bit of bit that where none of those shoes will, none of the more traditional shoes might might exist. It feels like they're they're all being kind of... But even the Rise 2 is nearly 40, isn't it? Yeah, yeah but it it feels it feels more, that now feels more traditional compared to a lot of the others, you know? Well, some of them, even when they're really big, don't feel great. Like Novostomy doesn't feel like a 42 millimeter shoe. It feels quite regularly, it feels relatively normal compared to some of them. But then the Pegasus Premium feels so high at, forty feet you know, two more millimeters. so it I think we're getting used to being on the higher stacks as well though. Now I've noticed, like um i back in the day that would have been ah it would have felt like a big shoot to me. And when I flip back to something that isn't quite, it does I do notice. but
00:27:01
Speaker
All right. Well, let's say oh other ones that in this category that might appear, you'd assume that there would be another version, ASIC's Magic Speed 5. Oh, we didn't test the 4, did we? No. i think it's test i think There's been lurky rumors online, um you know, around around the forums. I love a good forum ah about ASICs going for a Pro Evo style sheet. As in a very, very lightweight mostly focused on elite style shoes, which is a development I am very against and I'll be really unhappy if brands start doing that more often where there's shoes that basically people can't really access and and they're too expensive or they're not really out there. So if it's on general sale and it's not a silly price, fine. You know, make a crazy light shoe that doesn't last very long. Like people don't have to buy that. I think I wouldn't buy that, but you know, some people want to. But if it's a case of you can't run in the shoes that elites run in, which would probably be the pretty much the first time in running history that's been the case. That would be a bit of shame, wouldn't it?
00:27:56
Speaker
Amazing marketing from Adidas though in the last few releases of shoes based on the existence of the the Pro Evo. People like bit obviously love the as pro Adios Pro 4 and it probably is the most suitable shoe for most people but as a keen amateur I would never go and get that shoe because well that's not their best shoe so I'll go to a brand that is selling their best shoe like the AlphaFly or the Normwet Speed because ah don't want to I don't want to feel second best.
00:28:22
Speaker
I've got one for you, Tom, um which is one that we haven't done. Actually, this is another brand that I think is going to be interesting to watch. I know you tested some, I haven't tested their recent shoes, but On got and the Cloudboom Max. Yeah, that looks fun. They're bringing their paper phones a bit more stuff, right? Yeah, and that's that's but that's an interesting one because it's it's a shoe that's it's not carbon plated. it's got They've gone back to having, what do they call it? Their speed board. or yeah They've got a slightly more flexible speed board.
00:28:48
Speaker
But it's going to be a big stack of PBAC's phone. And they're basically aiming this at people who run marathons in four or five hours. But they say that it's going to have like a super shoe feel for the four and five hour marathon runner. So that's... I never like when people say that. That's never come across well in shoes I've tested. I mean, yeah, I don't need to do that. I think people who run marathons in those time are using super shoes and I think they're doing perfectly fine. I mean, they're asking for a lot of money for a stub sandwich shoe sometimes.
00:29:19
Speaker
But it be I think it's an interesting one because they they sort of say this is going to be like the super shoe dream for those people. And then they've got it from going and watching lots of people run those times at marathons and observe them and see that they're maybe not moving as as well as they might do in a shoe. They're still different massively in how they move, right? But all those people don't have the same running style. That's exactly what Solomon said with the Spectre, which was just basically a super trainer with the price of a super shoe. And maybe
Upcoming Shoe Innovations for Trail and Road-to-Trail
00:29:43
Speaker
they'll pull it off. I mean, I'm really excited by the on cloud boom zone as well. I think that's going to be We haven't tested that yet. It's kind of been out, but I think that'll be a pretty fun shoot. If this Cloudboom Max is the Cloud Monster hyper what I wanted from that, like a full Piba kind of mid-sole, that'd be great. All right. Well, now you completely messed up the ah the system there. We might as well mention the Hocka Rocket 3, if that's going to appear next year. This is just a vague like speculation from a website, right Tom? Because there's no sign of this yet or anything. No, I mean, um a so a lot of these ones, we haven't like got confirmation and... Okay. I took caveat that now out of the end of the and the end of the video in the podcast that we're not confirming that these are going to be released. We're we're talking about rumours. Some of them you may have seen, some of them are like the the Texas ruling show. But yes, a lot of these are speculation and we're not confirming release states really states or anything. Yeah, we haven we haven't got any scoops here to give you, I'm afraid.
00:30:37
Speaker
and So, the Hoka Rocket X3, if that does appear, I've i never tested out the two, so I'm assuming that's quite an exciting shoe. Well, it wasn't at the Texas show, was it? And they did have most of the Hoka shoes into next year, so I guess it may be maybe won't. but And then, added us to keep me saying 11. That might be enough. Yeah, that would be... I guess often go on a two-year cycle. I mean, there should be a new Boston, right? That would be great. Yeah, yeah. and I don't know. I haven't seen anything like this. What I'd love next year is a real Super Blast competitor. I was just going to say Super Blast stuff. Yeah. I don't think there'll be a Super Blast necessarily itself, because they often, I don't know, they release it right at the end of the year if they do it, don't they, Tenty? But lots of brands have come out with Mega Stack, like with great phones, and they've all ended up being more like kind of like the Hoka Skyward X than the Super Blast. You know, heavy, cruisy, big fun, you know, daily trainers. No one see, I mean, the Super Blast is lighter than most of the plated Super Trainers we
00:31:31
Speaker
like test It's a pretty incredible combo. So it'd be interesting if anyone can really have a go at that.
00:31:44
Speaker
All right, well, let's move on from the faster shoes and let's start talking a bit more about the ah the world of cushioned and daily shoes. There's one that's probably going to be quite exciting for you that might be appearing next year. Nick, you guys know what that is? People lost in Nitro 4. Well, I don't know, because that was but that.
00:32:03
Speaker
Last time, they only released that right at the start of this year, didn't they? The velocity nitro 3. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that'd be good. I'm not sure. I've not seen anything on it yet, so I don't have to know. but As long as I don't mess with it too much. Well, so far it's been a pretty consistent line, hasn't it? um Yeah. some changes to to that version is being released but like Kira said that's still 36 odd millimeters so that will now feel like a low shoe yeah yeah okay any of the cushioned or daily cushioned shoes uh we're excited about seems to see if they resurrect the triumph after what we did not enjoy that one this year right oh yeah yeah
00:32:42
Speaker
What about, I saw i saw something, i not I don't have any detail to share on it, but I know you guys love, you like enjoyed the hurricane, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's going to be, I think there's an update for that one coming as well. Yeah, there's going to be. Yeah, that's under 40 millimeters and that feels like a massive shoe. and Yeah, that was a really big, pleasant surprise this year. Just a really enjoyable cruiser, probably one of my favorite cruisers of the whole year.
00:33:02
Speaker
Well, I would say this about the the hurricane. i I did actually know it existed before we tested this year's version. So the fact that it's such a long line of shoes, is it was really surprising. But you'd assume that if you have a shoe that's got 26 versions already, there will be another version this next year.
00:33:19
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be, um I think I did see something about this, but I can't remember what what changes they make, but I guess it was quite a drastic change this year, so i don't issue most yeah it won't change it too much. The Novablast 6 will obviously go back to being quite firm. so that would yeah Every year they change that, they flip flop. Yeah, it's fully one of the Novablast range, isn't it? It does actually change quite a bit, whereas it doesn't just have a lot of consistency. It's good for us because it makes it more fun to review something that's changed a little bit. but um yeah Anything else in the cushioned world?
00:33:49
Speaker
day the shoe world. I mentioned already the Bondi going to a full supercritical foam will be interesting it'll basically be a Mac Stack Skyflow or Mac 6 so interesting how that feels. Brooks Glissman 22 I've seen that now isn't it or some of the people have got that. People have got that in America that's got the midsole from the Glissman Max but I assume it's slightly lower stack so that should be quite nice I think.
00:34:14
Speaker
um've had a little I've had a little run in that, but I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. Well, I did a little, just like up and down outside in a car park. oh didn' You had little chatter bricks in you. Yeah. yeah and it Yeah. So it's, I guess I'm allowed to say it. I ran the longest I've ever run in a car park. I can't run a two minute mile in this shit. I think it will bring, if you if the glass room has lacked a bit of life, this one might come to life a bit more, I think.
00:34:44
Speaker
Okay, no idea if it's getting released, but the Ride 18, if that appears, that'd be an exciting one for us. Yeah, I like the rides, but yeah, I think I'm pretty sure I've seen somebody already put that out there. Oh really? I saw some of them in the guide for sure, so they usually come together, don't they? We should probably know more about it after our job.
00:35:05
Speaker
yeah yeah It's a bit like the surprise. It all appears. Yeah, it's true. Also, we're in the UK. we We get stiffed a bit on some shoes. Occasionally, we get stuff ahead of the US, which is quite nice, but it's very much occasional. Yes, yeah, yeah. And then there's probably going to be updates to shoes like the Keanu range. there's There's always an update to that every year, isn't there? Well, we've got the Nimbus in, so what have they done to the Nimbus? Slightly higher stack height. Mostly the same. They'll do the same with the Keanu, I guess. Okay. What shoes am I missing? Trail.
00:35:34
Speaker
Trail? of Yeah, let's do trail, Kieran. Trail shoes. it what what Would you be excited? you're ready Only if you're ready, Tom. Only if you're ready. I don't want to just hadn't thought about trail shoes. So so i'm I'm shocked. i haven't got any I'm not going to prep for it. So go for it. There's only there's one that I'm... Again, I've kind of seen it on videos from the running event and that's the and North Face Summit Vectiv Pro 3. I wish they put more names in the names to make it easier for us. But yeah, so you've got... ah like a nitrogen infused peab of midsole but there's a dual carbon plate system which is interesting. So they've got one carbon plate at the bottom which is supposed to give the kind of this the speed and propulsion and they've got like another sort of cage. There's like a drop-in insert and then a cage that sits across the top which then is supposed to provide the stability. So they're trying to do this kind of dual system so you can have speed and stability on the trail. It's gonna be fascinating to see how that how that if that actually works out and because it's a big it's it's it's again it's like another big old sort of stacked shoe
00:36:33
Speaker
for the trail, probably put on the lines of the meta Fuji and those kinds of things where we're getting higher volume, but how that runs will be, you know, it'll be interesting. probably I think the second version was actually that the wing on the side rubbing, the like the wing on the carbon plate actually rubs. So hopefully that's, but yeah I quite enjoyed the ride of it, but yeah, I mean, you don't want that in a shoe you're meant to be running long distances in.
00:36:54
Speaker
and And then there's Hoka Mafati 5, which I've not actually run into Mafati for a long time, and I don't think, but they've done something which they've, they're basically going to flip the phones around. So normally you would have the,
00:37:06
Speaker
firmer foam on the bottom right and the softer foam on the top. They're going to flip it the other way so you've got the softer foams on the bottom and the firmer foam on the top. The idea is that this can almost like absorb the trail so it's kind of molds itself or deform as you hit bits of the trail so you don't feel the lumps and bumps. It's got a high drop as well is it? Or higher drop than the usual? for hope Yeah I think yeah again that yeah.
00:37:29
Speaker
They're all added. Very interesting given that so much of the industry has spent the last 5-10 years moving towards the shoes that Hoka originally bought. The kind of low drop rocker shoes. and Now Hoka is moving towards the high drops that everyone else is doing. It's intriguing to see what happened. The momentum and patterns we see in the running shoe world, except Nike with this resolutely 10 millimeter drop with no rockers, always the same.
00:37:52
Speaker
who So I suppose there might be new versions of the Tekton out next year. That came out, ah it's right a lot of the trailers released around UTM but you don't know now. Yeah, especially the big racers. Yeah, so we might see a new one of those. do Do you want to keep the gator on it?
00:38:09
Speaker
I didn't mind the gator actually, I have to say. did I didn't need it because I nearly was running in like, it's more kind of like grassy and stuff. It's not really like rocks and stuff, but didn't mind it. Just when I'm looking through possible shoes, but I mean, there's ah there's nothing really on the trail side. I'm not really that excited about anything. Maybe another of those, what's that one I like? The A6 Metafigi Trail Max or whatever it's called.
00:38:30
Speaker
Uh, gel trabuco. Gel trabuco, that's it. Yeah. Getting me stuck with the, uh, I still haven't tried the moor trail. Need to get me to get hold of that. Anything else on the trail world that you're excited about? Oh, the road to trail world. There's only one name in the road to trail world right now. And that's the moor flight, but I can't imagine there'll be a moor flight too. But they won't need what would you do with it? What would you do with it? Exactly. Yeah. So it's different colors. Just need new colors of it. That's true. Yeah. Just bring out more colors, keep reducing this already incredibly reasonable price.
00:38:57
Speaker
Nice. All right. Well, I think that probably covers as if most of the stuff for it that's coming up that we with we hope is coming up or we've heard rumors about on the on the on the internet. um So, yeah, we'll hopefully get to test a lot of those shoes and they will appear in 2025. Another fun year, hopefully, and a big year on the channel. Lots of fun stuff to come.
00:39:20
Speaker
Well, in ah advance, or depends on the people listening to this, Happy New Year. Oh, yeah. a Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Catch you later, guys. Catch you on the 50 flip, Tom. This episode of the podcast was presented by Tom Wheatley, Nick Harris-Fry and Kieran Algar. It was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.