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Choosing The Best Running Shoes Of 2024 | We talk through this year's best shoes so far
4.3k Plays4 months ago
In preparation for this year's Best Running Shoes video, we chat through the shortlist across a range of categories: best race shoe, best daily shoe, best cushioned shoe, best all-rounder, and best value.
We also end up having a detailed debate about what each category actually means.
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 Shoe Categorization
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey Tommy from The Runetesters and welcome back to another podcast. In this episode we are going to be talking about our best running shoes guide 2024. That's going to be coming out in a couple of weeks. In this video we're talking through the categories that we have to choose shoes for to give a bit of an idea of how we decide on those shoes and the discussions that go on. Hope you enjoy it.
Running in Hot Weather
00:00:38
Speaker
Evening, gentlemen, on this hot summer's night. How's it going? Beautiful. Amazing. Very sweaty. Very, very sweaty. Too sweaty. Have you been running in it? Yes, today, I did. Oh, yes. Track session today. Very, very disgusting. yeah aching Baking. Well, it went last, will it? No, tomorrow is finished, right? Oh, is it? All right. Okay. I better go sit outside for a bit. yeah Right. Let's kick off by chatting about training and stuff
Keira's Marathon Experience
00:01:06
Speaker
going up. it's We're way out of marathon season now, so I don't actually know what you lot are are planning at the moment. We know what Keira's been up to. We know what Keira's been up to. Just wearing all the gear. The Keira is wearing what can only be described as
00:01:21
Speaker
1990s children's TV, kids TV presenter clothing. The hat's all right. That is the worst shirt I've ever seen. It's it's lively. It's lively. Listen, you you have to you have to consider out in South Africa when you're out there, all of the club kits and all of the clothes everybody's wearing when they're running are mad lively. Like they are full on. It's all like Arsenal from the whatever that black and yellow shirt from the Arsenal team. It's all that kind of gear. So this is actually quite conservative compared to some of the stuff that people were wearing. I quite love it. It's giving off at y African Football Club team shout vibes big time. give it off I don't know if you've seen the sketch. I think you should leave sketch vibes where the ah the cost of the shirt is directly related to the complicated complicatedness of the pattern on it.
00:02:07
Speaker
Well, let's start with ah you there, Gearing, because it'd be a bit unfair to not start with you if you're wearing... I'll do them last now.
00:02:15
Speaker
all the shirt off you go first so So it suggests that you have done comrades. I have done comrades. Yeah. Got my second comrades did the up run. So now done the down and the up consecutive years is how you have to do them your first two times in order to get a back to back medal. So completed that first down run was 848. For the 55 miles, uprun was 850, which I think is pretty solid for... I didn't realise on the uprun that the hill is is like just the first 30, all the hill is like straight away. It's not like it's up and down. It's just loads of up straight away. Yeah, sort of. I mean, there's 45. Basically, it starts with almost like a 45 kilometre. Yeah, I looked at the elevation profile. Yeah, it's just okay. That's ah's a rough start.
00:03:01
Speaker
and then And then everyone says says, once you get to the once you get to about 45, 46 Ks, the rest of it starts to be more runnable. But they leave out the fact that there's, I think about 80 kilometres, there's something called poly shorts, which is probably the biggest and nastiest climb in the whole of the race. And that's the one that really, really hurts people, particularly if they're chasing a time, because you've It's basically when if you need to run it, you're going to be in a lot of trouble. Most people walk it unless they're really struggling for a time. For the elites, it's basically the person who gets to the top of poly shorts in the lead, always wins the race. So this is where people tend to make their move and, and break people if they can run it. But if you're, ah if you're like in the middle lord to the back of the pack, this is the hill that you fear.
00:03:41
Speaker
It's not like a, but compared to like the ones you've done mountain, it's not like loads of elevation in total. It's quite great. That first climb is just digs in the whole way, basically. basic yeah It's not like a one very, very steep descent. No, there but and this is this is this is where I think the race is really interesting and different because it it's almost it almost opens up the potential for you to actually run it too hard in that first 45. You can kind of glide it up and that those kilometers went very quickly. But if you make the mistake of thinking, well, this is all right, I can kind of attack this or run a little bit over your pace, you'll pay for it later. It's one where you have to really, really park the ego. What was harder? I'll put down.
00:04:19
Speaker
i would i think know I think coming down that hill was horrendous. you know you have no The one thing I was sort of talking to people about, you have no control over how much you suffer on the down because it just drags you. You're breaking all the time and you can't really control what's happening to your body and it mashes up your quads. On the ups, you can at least decide how much you want to push and how much you want to hurt. yeah your Gravity is working slightly differently with you. But I think if I if you had to if i to run one of them to save my own life, it would be the up. Nice. Well, with that out of the way, Kieran, is that you're doing now for Comrade? You're not going to go back and do it again? I don't know. I mean, I i thought i I wasn't sure I'd go back for the to get the back to back and do the second, but it's it's honestly one of the best events that I've ever run. There's such a good spirit about the race. that My mate goes back every year, two of them because of this, and they never intended to do more than one.
00:05:06
Speaker
It's kind of got me hooked. It's an incredible four
Summer Training Plans
00:05:08
Speaker
days. And if you've got bucket list races out there, or if you're thinking about doing something, it's just immense. It's absolutely amazing. And the best bit is like, if you but i think of something sick or silly, like 60% of the people finished in the last hour. So it's just got this crazy, crazy kind of spirit for everybody helping everybody get through. How far from the finish could you see the t shirt? I mean, I yeah see a lot of people, I think a lot of people were wearing it whilst they were running. Oh, okay. It wasn't a glinting in the sunlight behind the finish line. That's the thing drawing everybody. Yeah, but go and do it. I honestly recommend it. It's like once in a lifetime, it's it's a magic, magic race. So what's the next the next thing on the list? And then I've got, I'm going back to the Danube for a bit. I'm going to go and do a little, just for fun, 45 mile or over three days. And then in August, I'm going to go and do
00:05:55
Speaker
The Berlin wall 100 again, so I'm gonna try and get further than 65 miles this time on my seven miles You gotta talk was it? I don't know. I'm always the video, but I thought it was 67 miles No smaller race is coming up then. I think that's that's it I've just yeah got that one big one and try and survive that and I'd loved I'd love to beat my hundred mile time, which is 26 hours, but we will see I Hmm Mike doing something similar I imagine Yeah, all of the big right now all the small races only small races only for the rest of the year. That's one. That's my plan um Now, I mean, I think basically what I've I've just been going and enjoying my running and I'm not really had any constructs of strengths in my training I think I'm gonna
00:06:36
Speaker
ah what I've decided to get into July. I have got a Sockney and London 10K I'm doing in July. um And then July is a point where I'm going to put some kind of marks down in terms of what I want to do for the rest of the year, decide whether I want to do or will plan to do an autumn marathon that's still yet to be decided. Mainly because I've got a lot of things going on. A real life for Mike and Tom at the moment, it's fair to say. So we'll see, but um yeah, I've been enjoying doing, I've done some kind of shorter races. um I've been doing back into doing some club race as well. and It's just been, it's been nice to just enjoy the run without too much structured kind of training, but there has been a lot of shoes today. So I have been out running a fair bit still and yeah, just, just enjoy it at the moment. I think, yeah, I've given myself, start July, I'll decide what I want to do for the rest of the year, what I can feasibly fit in and kind of the targets I'll have and before the end of the year.
00:07:29
Speaker
Mmm, enjoy the summer. Yeah, I will. What, Nick, are you doing the same sort of vibe? Short stuff for me at the moment. I did the Essex 10K a week back. I ran pretty well. I managed to get under, get a sub 33, not a PB, but in good shape. I was pretty comprehensively beaten by ah by ah Ben, Ben Felton, who had a terrible day, but still beat you by a good 30 seconds. That's kind of the disparity in our abilities these days. but I've got a half marathon Battersea. I've got short races as well. club races half marathon I want to go after a sub 70 um but obviously a lot will depend on the weather in July and then after a while the build for Valencia will start but I'll probably try to do some more halves in the um I won't do some more 10ks try and go for a PB but there's not really anything around in the summer so apart from um just run through so I might try and get some of those in the autumn along with half then
00:08:15
Speaker
because I feel pretty good. I'm, um, yeah, my just back up. Everything's feeling quite good, feeling pretty quick at a horrible 20 times 400 meter session today where I ran some of the faster reps I've ever done. So that's good. Everything feels okay. But, um, it's just, it's just, I think it's quite hard to find a lot of races in the summer for good reason. It's very hot sometimes when you race in the summer and that's a risk. So but I'd have thought there'd be more 10 Ks. You can get for a 10 K if it's right in Phoenix 10 K. When's that? It's a Wednesday evening in July. Oh, okay. Well, maybe that one, and yeah, that'll be quick. Stay at mine. Phoenix actually stacked with good runners, so that'd be pretty good. Yeah, gosh, do give me the details for that, depending on how late it is into July. It's just it's just a risky one. it's Sometimes it's it can be, you know, if it's good weather, it's a perfect PB course. fact If it's normal, well, you did the 10K with me. over they Surely it's windier in October. There'll be enough touff lads quicker than me at that, I'd have thought I could probably tuck in and do no work to help the group. That'll be my aim, basically.
00:09:10
Speaker
I think I did it in the Kinvara Pro's last you that there oh year. The whole year. The whole year. Kinvara Pro has a funky choice. It was windy. I was coming off injury and I was wearing the Kinvara Pro's. It was not my finest day. Imagine the scowl on his face every step. I was not enjoying that. Still though. Big news in Tom's world tomorrow. What's happening tomorrow Tom? Yeah, I'm getting some doors in the house. It's very exciting. A lot of listeners that are on the edge of their seat finding out. mean They're not in yet, so I'm worried he's going to turn up and they're going to be the wrong size doors or something. That'd be amazing. Too small, like saloon doors or something. Which I'll just take. I'll take anything. Why doesn't your house have doors already? It's a fair question. I don't know. I don't know. ah is I do. They sit there with them and I and i don't know don't know why you do that. They burn them just outside your house. Or they never had doors. Either way, it's a strange scenario. Really, really open family. I mean, that's... You don't want to take doors with you. You might take, like, lampshades and... Unless you really annoyed them in their process of buying. What's gonna really annoy them? Take the doors. Go on, take the doors. And they take some of the very nice doors. Take some of the skirting.
00:10:16
Speaker
Yes, I'm going to treat myself some fancy doors tomorrow. so Fire doors? Yes, of course fire doors. Nice. Cool. Well, my running pretty ah lame at the moment. Yeah, it does look it. Just struggling to make 50k a week. Your 10k looked like ah like ah an exercise and disappointment at the weekend where you run a pretty good 5k and then look like, oh, I hate this. Basically, I did the e-spawn 10k and at the moment, my only aim is to see if I've still got the speed. I know I haven't got the fitness, so I'd just like to see at least 5k go, yeah, I've still got the speed, then I can work on the fitness another the time, but yeah, I'm a couple of minutes off my PB at the moment, but training starts in July, so... Well, you think this, you didn't realize yours already?
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, but you won't say, okay, nice. We should get some half lined up. When's the big half? I've got a big half. I'm doing a big half. I'm doing this 10K. You suck a new 10K with... Oh, I can't do that. My wife's racing that day. That's going to be a tough one. I'm not going to be racing for that. But by the big half, I should be quite fit. I like the London 10K because it's one of the few races where they put me in the elite section. And it's undeserved, but it does mean I get to hang around people who are visibly confused as to why I'm there. And then I get a little little vest of my name on and then they all run away from me. It's great. We won't need to worry about that. actually There's quite a fence. All right, well, let's talk a bit about kit we've been testing.
Shoe Reviews and Comparisons
00:11:49
Speaker
Well, you boys, big day on the channel today. Superlast 2 launched. Hit us with some thoughts. Ooh, so Superlast 2 is... Every time I've talked about it as the original Superlast, I've said it's like one of the best shoes that's ever been made. I love that shoe. I think it's phenomenal. They used it for a lot of runs. They haven't really changed a lot with the Superlast 2. They've updated the midsole foam, one of the midsole foams, so the bigger piece of midsole foam with the new FF... Blast Turbo Plus. I keep getting these names wrong because there's quite a lot of them, but it's not massively different. It's a little bit, I think it's probably a little bit bouncier, but that's not the bouncier shoe around anyway. So it's it's a minor change, I think. And the uppity, I don't really see any difference from it. I think there's some people commented on the channel saying they had some fit issues with the first one, and hopefully that's to fix that. But overall, i my if I picked up the Super Blast 1, it's not going to be a massively different run. Okay, and interesting. is Because the new foam obviously has been amazing in the Metaspeed Sky Paris and Edge Paris, but it doesn't have the same kind of lift off in terms of changing the feel of the shoes this time. No, I think you can get a fit a slight feel of of maybe it's a little bit poppier, but it's not a massive difference. It's not like when you see a shoe change the foam and suddenly the shoe becomes a completely different, faster shoe. I think it's just a ah slight upgrade to to the previous.
00:13:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'm not running in the first one, so this is the first time I've run in it, and having spent a fair amount of time in the Met Speed Sky Paris, I do think there is some elements there, particularly in the front of this shoe, and I think that's what I kind of like from the new Met Speed Sky Paris, particularly in terms of how it feels, and I think there is some elements. I think ultimately what it feels to me is that you know they didn't get a lot wrong with that first shoe. They needed to keep that weight relatively similar, you know upgrade to the new foams that are in the other shoes around it and ultimately deliver a similar experience. And I feel like people are probably going to get... you know I haven't had a bad run in this shoe. And I think every time I've wanted to go out on it, I've looked forward to it. And I think that's the main thing. And it is expensive, but I think think if people can get hold of it, i mean
00:13:49
Speaker
they're going to enjoy it. And I think it's going to be a shoe for everyone, I think. I thought the one thing in the outside of the first one would catch very small stones for me occasionally and little gaps. So maybe that's changed. But it's nice when a very expensive shoe at least feels different to a not very expensive shoe, which isn't always the case. So it's good that you like there is a few now, like even this gold X, which is not a shoe necessarily that I would use my rotation. It does feel quite different to lots of other things. All right, Nick, what have you been testing? Well, we've tested some fast shoes in this week. We've got the but Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 and the Metaspeed Edge Paris, finally, which I've used today for a really hard track session. I've used it for a hard road session at the weekend. I like the Edge of Paris, but... I don't think it feels that different to the Sky Parrish. I don't think it feels quite, it feels slightly slappier to me maybe, but it still feels brilliant. But yeah, I think someone made a point to me on other things. It feels a lot like other super shoes. The Sky Parrish genuinely feels like, to me, the best super shoe. So yeah, I've enjoyed testing it so far. I'll do some more stuff in that. But the Puma, we're all enjoying, right? it's um
00:14:47
Speaker
like to pouncier Yeah, the Elite is really, that foam they have is really good. I think the new aliphatic TPU, that is an example of a foam that's changed things quite a lot. I think it's one of those ones that's a little bit firmer to deliver a bit more energy return, but not in an unpleasant way. It's just really, yeah really nice. well I said in my e-spawn 10k video that even though it didn't get me a PB, that was not the fault of the shoe, that was the fault of my body. yeah um But I did say that I think the previous two versions, I i thought they were good shoes. I just very rarely picked them up. If I was ever going for any sort of race and thinking, right, I'm going to go for a PB now, it would not be on my list of shoes. Whereas this one now, I think it probably is getting there now. I'd be more than happy to use that, probably up to marathon distance.
00:15:28
Speaker
Yeah, I want to get a race in, but for me, it does feel like a shoe that you know could be right up there and like competing. And I did deviant nitro elite two at a of a great moment for me when I was in Poland in February. And ah I used it for a park run on like icy pavement has gone up. There's not many super shoes I could use for this and I used it then I took it in an icy forest the next day. And it's like, Yes, that's, I guess, its main use case scenario is the fact I have an amazing grip. But this new one still has puma grip. but You've got a much more impressive fight. I've got a... Actually, I've got a mixed terrain race next week. I might use it there because it's, again, kind of perfect for it. But in fact, it's lighter. I did find it slightly longer on me, so I'm hoping I can get halfway down just because when you've got a race, it was always nice to have it, I think, a bit tight to fit, have the plate really underneath you. But otherwise, as I said, to more of you like the fact that it's a bit longer means the plate sticks out a bit in front of my foot, much like the puma fast R2. So it could actually be the design they're going for anyway.
00:16:18
Speaker
Anything else, Kieran? You can test something interesting recently. I've missed out on a few of those shoes. I'm not getting any nice. Maybe it's kind of hunting around the world doing races. yeah Yeah, I guess for me, I mean, I've basically gone back into some big old sort of cushion dailies. I've been looking at the adidas supernova premium, which I know Mike's done a first run on the channel. That one, relatively impressive. I've quite enjoyed it. Not particularly groundbreaking, but I think as Adidas tries to plug that gap of having a good cushion daily trainer and it's lined up to support its sort of best sort of fast race shoes. I think it actually does a really nice job. it's um It's one of those shoes I think you can just clip along kind of nice and happy easy and it's got a good balance of cushioning.
00:16:58
Speaker
It's not too heavy. It's not too soft and sinky. There's quite a good kind of um sort immediacy to it. And another one of those, I sort of whack into that sort of group of shoes that if I don't really have an intent for that particular run, I'm just going to go out and plod around low heart rate. This shoe I think does a really nice job, kind of much prefer it to the um to the Supernova Rise which is an odd one for me because normally I'd go for the firmer shoes but I think this one on balance just has a little bit more to it so yeah I've enjoyed that one and I'm going back I've i've been digging back in the in the now in the archives from what you guys have already been testing I've put on the Gelcano 31 which we've already reviewed but that's a new one for me a shoe that I never really expected to be particularly excited about but I actually have enjoyed my runs in that one as well which is certainly
00:17:44
Speaker
that feels lighter and a bit softer than last gen but I'm doing a few more tests in that but that's my that's my not so exciting testing I've been doing. I've done a lot of headphones and a lot of other bits and pieces but shoes wise it's been a bit quiet because I've been off. Well one other shoe that we should mention is the Mizuno Nio Vista love Incredible shoe. i would speak that one On the video we did the review I mentioned that I was a bit worried about this shoe because it was one of those shoes that gets seeded out to the influencers of the world and everyone says it's amazing but it's generally getting used for people taking photos and sort of walking talking about so I was a bit worried but
00:18:26
Speaker
Got a hold of it. Absolutely love that shoe. It's absolutely phenomenal. and it's like for For someone like me who likes a bouncy, fun shoe with a bit of versatility, it's really, really, really good. and Nick, I think you like it as much as me, Nick. I liked it. I loved it. and we we we talked but yeah I think it's a really good shoe, really versatile, like ah one a super trainer that leans to the mellow, easy side of things, but can do a bit of everything, like really good daily for sure. I was just surprised when I asked you, Tom, like, because I haven't tested Super Blast 2 yet. You still say Super Blast definitely overhead of it. So that makes me excited for the Super Blast, for sure. Because we gushed over the Mizuno for a solid 12, 30 minutes. I think it's the different shoes. that Somebody really likes the Mizuno Nio Vista for something. It's probably liking it for different reasons than somebody would like the Super Blast 2.
00:19:11
Speaker
So I would like both of those shoes for different runs. I'd definitely use the NeoVista for more of the easier fun stuff where I'm just doing my usual miles and just want to go enjoy it. Super Blast, I want something that I can do marathon training in, basically, and harder safe runs and things like that. I think you could use both for variety of runs, but they are very, very different. So overall, I'd probably say Super Blast is the one that I would go for if I had to have the choice. Okay, well yeah, I really enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to a yeah get maybe test Super Blast, but see what else Mizuno do now. They're tapping into quite a nice little vein with their shoes of late. It'll be good to see what goes on. Okay, so we shall we talk about some best shoes then?
Selecting the Best Running Shoes
00:19:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, carry on with it.
00:20:01
Speaker
Okay, so we are about to do our best running shoes video, which is by far our most popular video on the channel, where we talk about all the different road shoe categories and we pick our top three picks and some additional options that you can look for. from all of these different categories. So what we're going to do in in this video or podcast is talk through all of the options that we've got, talk through the categories and give a bit of an overview of why we've chosen the ones that we're looking at and for what reasons we put things in these categories basically. Is that clear?
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, first question to answer is why are we doing it in July? People always ask that. Oh yeah. A year since we did the last one. So that's one big reason. The reason we do this in July is because, in one, because we do the awards in at the end of the year, which is all of the shoes that come out over the course of the year. But the main thing reason we do it is because there's so many shoes that come out over the course of the year. By the time we get halfway through the year, we've already tested an awful lot of shoes and if we leave it until the end of the year to do it and do the best shoes of the year nobody watches that video because they're all trying to watch best shoes of 2025 by the time that comes around and it no longer needs anything it's also not just the best shoes of this year it's the best shoes in these categories so a lot of the picks will be older shoes yeah and the award is just for the ones in the year exactly yeah also you want to buy a shoe in 2024 yeah good to know about it in july i think Yeah, basically you get two you get you get two videos. one One is the best shoes video, which comes out now. And then you get the awards that comes out at the end of the year. So you get two videos covering the best shoes that are coming out.
00:21:29
Speaker
Not fair? It's very fair, Tom. Excellent. Okay, so let's start by looking at the first category. So how this works is we all vote, give our top three shoes in a category, and then I work out based on a point system, which one is first, second, and third. Very shady point system. It is shady, and it's quite biased. There's an algorithm that no one understands. A lot of votes get nullified in the old algorithm. A lot of lost votes. Well, the first one that we do is the big one, and that is best race shoe, which is probably the most obvious category to talk through, but somebody you want to pick up, what is the best race shoe and how we pick it? It's got to be a carbon. It's a good year for it this year because we've all done marathons, we've all raced lots, and this year we just picked the shoe. We like racing in the most, which is now always a carbon plate shoe. I think it always has, actually, since the start of our channel. It's always been carbon, hasn't it? Don't think we ever... Yeah, so this will be from any year.
00:22:23
Speaker
And is it is in fair to say we're kind of thinking it does cover our races, but a lot of these would be marathon worthy? Well, I think most, well, especially this year and when the, probably the big target for most of us first, obviously is a marathon. And then even like your big target second after you're here and you're probably not as fussed about the shoe so much as the experience, I guess. um Whereas we, yeah, when you go chasing a time in the marathon, we are quite marathon focused, it's fair to say. yeah and But nearly all these shoes work for short distances as well. Yeah, and it's it's it's quite general as well because we do have other videos throughout the year where we talk about specific distances and things like that. So this is more a personal preference towards if you could only pick one ratio for your running career, which would you which would you go for? Yeah. I think that's fair to say.
00:23:05
Speaker
All right, so I am going to go through some of the options we've got, and we're going to talk through them. and Okay, so one that's cropped up a lot is the Asics Metaspeed Sky Paris. And I think, yeah, it's safe to say, we've all tested that now, I think. Yeah, two three question yeah think yeah so yeah two of us PB's in it, so quite clear, clear vote, doesn't it? Yeah, I think it's probably safe to say that that shoe has probably been the most surprising in a good way shoe this year. It's really, every time any of us have used it, we've gone, wow, Asics has really done a good job with this shoe. They've really developed what they had previously and and and really improved it. Yeah, sensational shoe. And we just started testing the Edge, which in the moment we feel we're probably, I think me and Mike are testing it, we're probably leaning still towards the sky, even though I think we're both Edge runners according to Asics, but the sky feels a little bit special still.
00:24:01
Speaker
And they and theyre ah they're almost merging into the same shoe so I think it probably says a lot about where things might go but I think my experience has been so far that you know the sky feels like the standout shoe and it feels like it offers something slightly different from the Edge Paris so far. All I like about the Sky in general is that it's exceptionally light and I think that will hopefully prompt other people to start pushing their carbon shoes in that direction because I really like a light racing shoe, even if it is going to be big and bouncy, you can make it really light, as Asics has shown and Puma's done now as well and even Nike's racing shoes are getting lighter while they make the rest of their shoes heavier. So yeah, I like that trend. Okay.
00:24:37
Speaker
Another shoe that's cropped up quite a lot in this in this list is the Alpha Fly 3. To be honest, i'm not I've talked about this a lot. I much prefer the Alpha Fly 1. I actually found it tricky to choose shoes for this one because there's not many I've tested the past year that I really, really liked. but The Alfa 3 did crop up quite a bit. What are our thoughts on the Alfa 3 so far? I'm still here to run it. so yeah i'm going yeah favor to yeah I think it's pretty great. i think it's very I was very surprised when I tested that shoe. I didn't think there'd be anything that I'd like more than that this year. But then, ah yeah, obviously, the Essex Metaspeed Sky Parash has come along. The Alfa is fantastic. I think it's bouncy, springy, AirPods give it that extra punch.
00:25:14
Speaker
Smooth the ride then past alpha flies. Yeah, you trade some of the bounceness of the outflow one But you get I think a faster turnover for someone like myself who is a high cadence runner I think it's a brilliant. She would be very happy if that'd be my ratio all year long after testing it I've done a lot of miles in it now some really hard sessions racing it, but I think it's a spectacular shoe I think it's the best shoe Nike has made but the outflow one is still pretty special as well. Hmm. Okay. I think you and me, oh Mike, you've got you've tested the Vapefly as well. I have, yeah. So the Vapefly's cropped up obviously quite a bit. Vapefly's still sticking around list, isn't it? Yeah. So Vapefly, why is that on the list? Go on, Mike. I mean, I think, and um but I probably, I guess, got other guys who test it. I think it's a issue whenever I put on and I've wanted to run quick in or race in, it's felt amazing to do so. It gives you all that you would want from a
00:26:06
Speaker
from a racing shoe it's very you know the upper in terms of the weight I think in terms of that kind of propulsive feel you won over this you know over shorter and even a little bit longer distances in it as well too you know I've just always if I've wanted if there's a shoe i've I've looked to you for running or racing a little bit quicker you know I've never been disappointed putting this shoe on and I think that's why it's still around and kind of in this and discussion about kind of racing shoes. Still the shoe I see the most at races around me as well, like, it's either Vaporfly 2 or if they've gone through those, Vaporfly 3. I think it's still got that whole reputation of runners and it's not disappointing them at all. and um They made it slightly more cushioned as well, which I think makes it a bit more accessible for probably a wider group of runners, but for me, I'm i i'm at the sort of the opposite end.
00:26:50
Speaker
I kind of think they softened it too much and I think they took the the fast edge off it, which is what I really like actually about the this Sky Paris. It just feels a bit like the old Vaporfly 2 used to feel. The vapor just lost a bit of its edge for me, but I know why people like it. I think it gives you a little bit more protection later into races if things aren't going particularly well. So I'm not surprised that lots and lots of people now lace it up across the kind of different pace ranges. all right okay so no surprises there we should uh with big big throw a boner to the hocus clo x1 which i think has been one of most surprising and enjoyable shoes that i mentioned the shoe i've done the most miles in this year probably i think just because i used it for so many training sessions because it's such a fun fast bouncy shoe
00:27:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, a lot of my bigger kind of London marathon train runs was in that shoe and um it was just enjoyable to go out on it. I mean, I don't love everything about it. I you know i think Nick, you've had some, you know, interesting experience with the lacing, I think, which is quite clear. There's maybe something needs to be rectified for a next version. But I think in terms of what you're getting, in terms of that ride, in terms of experience, in terms of being out and just kind of, you know, getting through that mileage in that shoe, it just feels like a really nice shoe to get at. You know, and I've never felt that my legs have been wrecked after running in that shoe. And I think, you know, Hawke has had a good year. I think they've had some very strong shoes and the Seattle X1 is definitely one of their kind of standout shoes for this year.
00:28:13
Speaker
And do we think that the Puma DV8 and R3 is going to appear? I mean, I think if we get a couple of races in, I think I want to, you know, you still want to see those results, don't you? That's the problem with racing shoes. You need to race with them to really learn to love them or what you think about them. But ahve sorry there's nothing I haven't liked about it yet. Yeah, I've done a 5k race in it and what I really wanted to see how it's going to handle over longer distances but I think I just got a good sense of what it's going to offer and it just feels like a massive step up for me from the previous shoe in terms of being a more racing kind of centric shoe for me and I think Pima's got a lot right here with this shoe.
00:28:53
Speaker
Let's move on to daily shoes. Now, we it's tricky could we have a daily shoes category and an all
Daily Shoes vs. All-Rounders
00:29:00
Speaker
-rounder category. Nick, what is difference to you or what is the difference that we give for daily shoes and all-rounder shoes? probably i For me, there is much of a difference. I guess it's the problem, but I like to use all-rounder shoes as daily shoes. but I think all-rounder shoes are talking more like things, you know, on the super trainer, but shoes that you can use for everything, so including fast running. And then I think the daily shoes, people would probably more think of a slightly more cushion feel as in your daily runs are often very easy, tends to, I mean, but it is a bit of a, it's just a tough distinction, but I guess there's probably slightly more cushion than all-rounder. All-rounder is probably a bit more of an edge than if you are going to use the fast runs. You can kind of use an all-rounder as a daily. You can't necessarily use all dailies as all-rounders.
00:29:39
Speaker
um Nicely explained. All right, well. Clear as mud. I picked the same issue in both categories, so I don't know what you want to make. This is a good explanation of it. We talked in the in the podcast about the Mizuno Neovista and the Super Blast 2. I put the Neovista in daily and Super Blast 2 in all rounder. I put Neovista in all rounder. Did you? Yeah. Yeah, you're an anomaly. You're just confusing this process. I don't think it's my fault. I think it's a confusing, fusing section of categories. Well, no, I guess this is the whole point is that people might use shoes for different things anyway, so it's good. It's kind of this what constitutes an all-rounder for Nick might not be the same for Tom, so it's all good.
00:30:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's fine. It's just the problem is that we pick three and then people get confused. But it's fine. We do our individual picks. But I think there's a lot of crossover, basically, put it that way. But I think what we don't have in our daily trainers, because none of us really do this, is we don't put in something of what we call a cushion shoe, which is another category. So if we're for shoe, we think it's completely easy day focus, very cushion, all that. Lots of people that is a daily trainer, but on our channel, it kind of isn't because we like a shoe that has a little bit more versatility than those very classic cushion shoes like the Aztecs Gel Nimbus, for example. Okay, so some of the shoes that we've got in this category are... Yeah, six gel Nimbus.
00:30:57
Speaker
The Sockety Endorphin Speed 4 has cropped up. Yeah, so that's an all-rounder, isn't it? Let's be honest, we should probably take it out in this category. I think that is an all-rounder. This is good, we're actually just do having it basically a meeting. I think give it i think we give it two awards in the past, but maybe we should just we should change it up. All right then, so what about the New Balance Rebel V4? Yeah, it's a really good shoe. Yeah, i I think that I would class that as a daily shoe. I think a lot of people disagree because I wouldn't say it's cushion enough, but I agree it's a daily shoe. I do you think it's quite cushioned though. I, personally, for me, I think on the easier stuff, I don't think it sits that well. The easier stuff compared to some of the other shoes we're talking about here. But I think in terms of if you want a more uptempo faster focused day train, I think absolutely. But me personally, I found it really wants you to run a little bit more uptempo in that shoe. That's kind of just been my experience of it. So, yeah, definitely. We should just put the list out. We're trying to explain it. Yeah, we'll put some of these shoes in the comments and then any of the viewers or listeners can comment and say what they think.
00:32:01
Speaker
yeah sheiously debate about it because i like complete i disagree a i put the speed for because i use the speed four for lot of my easy miles as well right easier ah great easier and i really good how you try and get i find it yeah i find it kushten didn never of the kind get get rid of the at all but three minutes ago this be was goingnna win this because me and kien both number one yeah how would How would you put these in a rotation then? So race shoes quite obvious in a rotation, cushion shoes quite obvious in a rotation, what are the daily and all-rounder shoes in a rotation? Well, I think we, I think we basically, I think what we should do is we should call the daily, the shoe that you would have in a rotation maybe, and then your round would be for somebody who doesn't buy a rotation. ah Yeah, I think that's it. That's quite good. yeah The way the all-rounder for me is is like, if you could only have, in a way, if you had like one shoe, this thing can do, you know, yeah like I could rate, if I had to, I'd rate a marathon in the speed four.
00:32:53
Speaker
you know It's like it can do a good range, and if you're only going to buy one shoe, and the all-rounder ticks most of those boxes. Not all of them perfectly, but... The problem remains that when we did our rotations video, we both picked the Speed 4, as I was saying. So I guess we could we could try and separate it like that. Yeah, I think it's if you don't ever rotate it. So for example, in dailies, I could put two shoots from my rotation, and because the Puma Velocity Nitro 3 would be a very good daily trainer. I would use it daily, the speed four I'd also use kind of daily, but I think they're both examples of different kinds of daily trainers, but we could maybe say, if one's very all rounder-y, let's save it for all rounders. Okay.
00:33:29
Speaker
Any other options we've got in this category are Hoka Mach 6. Beautiful daily trainer there. Beautiful daily trainer. Hoka Mach X. Another solid daily trainer, I guess, yeah. Yeah. and i guess it said you know it's a little pe For me, it's a little bit peppier than the Mach 6, so you you probably need a slightly more responsive ride that's a bit more direct for that kind of daily run than People who want, you know, with the caveats of people wanting more cushioning that Nick was talking about in this area. But again, I'd quite often do regular miles in the Mac X. Okay, so let's do best of rounders next, so because because that's the hot topic. and So in the best of rounders, we're seeing Super Blast 2 cropping up. Yeah. The, what, Speed 4 again. Rebel V4 again. So I think we've taken the Rebel V4 out of that maybe. Maybe it's not an all-rounder for lots of people.
00:34:19
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Or daily. It's more shoe that you would pair with maybe a carbon shoe to go nuts in and then a more cushion shoe for long miles. So there we go. We've cleared up a little bit. Neovista I think probably is more daily than all-rounder. I agree with you, Tom. Good. ah It is a very good all-rounder. I do think it's one of the three best all-rounders I've tested this year but if we're going to try and clear it up a bit, we can we can do that. I don't mind. Yeah. Okay. Then the other problem we have obviously with the videos is these that sometimes it's not that common. Only one person has tested the shoe. So the Boston 12 is a shoe that would feature very heavily in all rounders. but Only I've tested it. I need to add that into my algorithm don't I?
00:34:58
Speaker
Yeah, but it always gets displaced by the algorithm. to it It always gets like an also mentioned because Nick likes it, but none of us have tested it. If I worked out the algorithm, and when I say the algorithm, I mean me sat there working through a spreadsheet. the algorithm I just compute four people's votes. If I if i yeah modified it, so it uplifted things because that people only had one of them, then if somebody has completely rubbish choice, it would be massive. Yeah, exactly. yeah It wouldn't work. It can't be acceptable. So so that's why that that that does explain why the if people probably probably wonder why, you know, the Boston doesn't it because it is a very popular issue as well. But I um i think that's why that's the reason. Like, I think you guys would probably like it. But we can't we can't can't base anything on that.
00:35:42
Speaker
I see what we're saying is Adidas, can you send us all the Boston? Oh, he did. I can all agree. Love from Australia, isn't it? We haven't tested the Adidas Air SL2 either, which is supposed to be very good, but there's a big pile of shoes you have to get through. I'm not kidding myself. I'm trying to get other ones. All right, let's do an easy one then. Best cushion shoe. There's not going to be loads of debate on that. Dorfans Beat 4, next. um ah So, this is this category has got not many surprises in it, so you've got New Balance 1080 V13, which is definitely a cushion shoe. Definitely. Not one I love, but it's beloved, I think. Brooks Glycerin 21. Great shoe. Definitely a cushion shoe. On cloud-sized First Surfer 7, which just is is feels like a covered shoe. It's not like a ma max cushion shoe, but... I mean, it's a daily for me. I'm going to say that. Interesting. I'm going to say it.
00:36:29
Speaker
Okay, I think I'm on the fence with that one, I think you could go either way on that one. Brooks goes 16, you'd probably put that as a daily, wouldn't you? I think that's a cushion daily, yeah. Cushion daily, okay. Oh, no, don't cross the cushion daily. Pume magnified nitro too, that's definitely a cushion shoe. That's a cushion shoe. I think my team is good for going here quite easily. If you're on 17, you probably would have used to have been daily, but it's probably moving more towards the world with cushion shoes. I mean, that's the epitome of a cushion daily. Okay, good. So we're not really getting anywhere with these. We could do a massive Venn diagram, couldn't we? Would that be a video? Just to us drawing a huge Venn diagram? What is it? Of you drawing it? We'd all be there, Tom. We'd all be there. We'd draw the circles and we'd just keep writing and more shoes into different things. I think it could work. I think it'd be more interesting for us to probably define these categories. so you never are Men with Venn. So that is the job of the the listeners to to sign out categories for us. list i think If you think of people any more than us, is everyone's going to comment? It could be a wild disparity of views coming in. The only ones we need to know are what is a daily shoe, what is an all-rounder? Cushion shoe, I think it's fine. I think yeah i think you you can allow for a certain level of actually that might slip into daily, but it is quite a cushion shoe. A lot of the cushion shoes we like are because they have a bit more about them for daily training actually. Yeah, cushion shoes are there for, like, slower, easy, and comfortable miles. You're not necessarily going to go faster in them. Soul purpose is comfort and cushioning. So what about the Doom of Velocity Nitrate 3? Tricky one, that cushioned early, isn't it? Yeah. It's my cushion shoe in my rotation. It's the problem with it. we We haven't got enough people. yeah Well, that's it's actually a value shoe, so... Yeah, we just do always get away with the velocity dietary. Velocity dietary can easily be in all of these categories, but it gets shoved into value because it's cheap, even though it's not I think it's better than any other shoes otherwise. Yeah, that's a good point. A lot of the shoes can cross over, but they can't all win because just because a shoe can cross over the categories doesn't mean it's the best in a category. Yeah, I would really express this. A huge Venn diagram that we're all standing around just writing shoes into. can you Can you just do that on your own?
00:38:29
Speaker
I can. um but I feel I feel we wouldn't publish it. think We basically need to hire a massive crane with a top down camera giant line of circles and Nick with a big pile of shoes just putting them in different if we could art attack it here and that's i Tom's got even into a drone. oh yeah do it and easy the video but Right, let's move us along. Best value
Best Value Shoes
00:38:50
Speaker
shoes. The final category what is best value shoes. That one is very easy. It's just a shoe that's really good value. It can be any type of shoe. It's probably a mixture of being relatively cost effective, but also being durable. First off, you know you what a really good first off shoe would be, in my mind, an all rounder. Yeah, but all rounds aren't necessarily cheap, are they? The best all round is probably not going to be be yeah the cheap one.
00:39:15
Speaker
cheaper um It's the Puma of Lottie Nitro 3. It's the easier category there is. all alright so' really for you tuesday to stick it listeners If you've managed to get all the way through this video and you have views on what but makes up these categories, please comment. If you have access to several large rings and ah and a drone and you'll be canon, ideally, yeah we will we' get this done. Yeah, let us know what you think of these categories. We were originally going to say, what would you think goes in this? What would you pick with these categories? But considering we need to define the categories, so that's probably the most useful thing to get your help on. Actually, you know when we just did the list and we had all the picks and I said, maybe we should discuss this. We should never have discussed it. We should have just got all the picks. Actually, the picks were fine.
00:39:54
Speaker
yeah yeah and good to know for next year all right all right well um yeah we'll uh we've got to sort it out of the next week or so so uh i've got to edit the video we have to put the link into this uh for all the people who have complaints rightly yes yeah i mean i'm kind of confused about whether which bit of this is the meeting and which bits the video that's going to go out ah It's a real time save if you're just in the meeting, it's a podcast.
Episode Conclusion and Teaser
00:40:19
Speaker
It's just all going out, it's all going out. This is like a behind the scenes. Behind the scenes, yeah, yeah. This is how the sausage is made. And you can see why it comes out like this. Yes. All right. Well, ah god glad we cleared all that up. So in the next few weeks, we will be releasing our full guide to the best running shoes. You know what the first comment is going to be? Why isn't the Socking Endorphins speed the best daddy trainer? Second comment, would you like Tom's new doors?
00:40:46
Speaker
yeah Third comment, who always thought about Puma Vosti Nitro 3? That is true. Fourth comment would be Kieran's t-shirt. What's wrong with this? Alright, think that'll do this for now.
00:41:02
Speaker
We've got some work to do. Alright, I'll see you guys later. Oh my god, I'm sweating so bad. out there
00:41:11
Speaker
This episode was presented by Tom Wheatley, Nick Harris Fry, Kieran Auge, and Mike Saw. The podcast was produced by Tom Wheatley. The music was by Fear of Tigers.