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Choosing The Best Running Shoes Of 2026 | We talk about judging this year's best shoes so far
2.1k Plays7 days 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, mainly to work out if the categories are nonsense.
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 Episode
00:00:04
Speaker
Hey Tommy from The Run Testers and welcome back to The Run Testers podcast. In this episode we are talking about our Best Running Shoes 2026 video. In this podcast we talk through all the different categories and work out if the categories are correct because sometimes they change on an annual basis and we talk through some of the shortlist of running shoes that we might pick for this year's video. Right let's dive in and talk Best Running Shoes.
Hosts' Recent Activities and Upcoming Events
00:00:29
Speaker
Hello guys, how are you doing? Hello, I'm well. Hello. Yeah, really good, thank you. Nice face, Tom. Well, I've just rushed back on my bike from the gym doing ah doing a one rep max bench press session. so What kind of numbers you hit?
00:00:45
Speaker
Not very good, actually. Not very good. um A 91 I hit today. lift like 131 pounds. Kilos? Yep. ah Well, yeah, I do kilos. You probably do pounds, don't you? I don't do anything. No, I have no idea what I lift. I've got i've got what two dumbbells at home and I think they are 12 kilos. You could do bench press. No, you could do a press-up, can't you?
00:01:05
Speaker
I could do a press-up on those dumbbells. I got into that, Tom. Look at that. Amazing. yeah Amazing. and Is it enjoying the sun? Yeah, I'm in the outdoor studio. Loving life out here right now. Outdoors. It's brave the outside. Yeah, well, i I've got a nice little corner that gets quite nice. I mean, everything's shady now. It's quite late in the day, obviously. But um yeah, I do like having a little film out here first thing before the sun comes over.
00:01:28
Speaker
Looks lovely. It's about 7,000 degrees in this tiny little box that I sit in. It's so hot. It's retained all the heat the last week. like I actually got a towel on my chair to catch the sweat off the back. I'm typing furiously. Right, well, we're still in the midst of the ah the World Cup and you two both are desperate to watch a match later.
00:01:52
Speaker
France, Spain. I'm still slightly hungover from England's game on Saturday, so I need to get my head down and watch this game and go to bed, so I'm ready for England's next game. Of course, yeah. Which is exactly the same. I've got a race tomorrow night. Brighton Phoenix 10Ks tomorrow night, and they're very worried that a lot people aren't going to turn up because it's 7.30. Why would they turn up? Absolutely no chance. Well, I'm going. I'm going to be... You might win, yeah. Yeah, hopefully. let's a quick whip round then because time is of the essence for football fans.
Club Updates and Training Plans
00:02:22
Speaker
Nick, what's on the cards for running at the moment? I've just finished up my club's summer league, which went very well. We got promoted. think I won the individual league and I am now into just Frankfurt training. Yeah, very Frankfurt training. I've got a half marathon in September and the rest is just... Oh, I'm pacing Kieran on Thursday. That'll be fun in a mile. Oh, what? Where's this? It's Olympic Park. Is that the track of the Olympic Park, I assume? Yeah, I believe it's. Yeah, I've assumed it's on the track. Yeah, yeah. What it? Part of the Josh Kerr-Brooks kind of... Josh Kerr's attempt to run 2-2-2, is it? Have I got that right?
00:02:55
Speaker
No, like not 2-2-2, no. what's What's he trying to do? It's 222 seconds or something. What is it? It's it's something like that it's a It's not 2-2-2, but i don't know I don't know exactly what it is, but it's it's really fast. it's Okay. 2-2-2 seconds sounds right.
00:03:11
Speaker
I'll find that out. But anyway, Nick's going to try and pace me not to 2-2-2 seconds. No, we're going at a 2-2-2 pace. Then we'll both have a little rest. So one mile? One mile. well going um I think we're going to take Kieran around in and then we'll go around at around five ten pace. Okay. Because your your previous PB was in the Ealing mile or something, wasn't it? Yeah, I've done 5-17. Okay. Yeah, so on a track, it'll be a lot easier.
00:03:32
Speaker
He's bicarbing for the first time. Oh God, I am. Am I supposed to have started that? No, no, two hours before. I'm not going bicarb because i don't want to collapse whilst I'm trying to post you. that i i not will not worried I'm not that worried about bicarb. I've never done it before. i need to make sure i do it right. And now i won't be doing it this time. But I am slightly worried because I eat so many crisps. i don't if I need all this extra sodium.
00:03:50
Speaker
you going to ah carry a little VOM bag for me just in case? No, I'll be too busy filming you. I can confirm it is. It's Project 222. So he's going to try and run. They've put it 222 seconds, which is... Oh, okay. So what is that? So 180 60... 42, yeah. So That is handy. Quite the daci world record, my world record.
00:04:16
Speaker
Okay. That's because the Marwood record is one of those like proper legends of the sport in a slightly potentially dodgy era record as well. yeah and so he's He's going to be there doing that.
00:04:26
Speaker
I don't know he's doing it at that. I think this is almost around it to promote whatever it's called. Oh, right. Okay. It'll just be that community track, won't it? I guess. Yeah, a nice track, that. It is. Although my train's down. have to cycle all the way. I don't know. Oh, dear.
00:04:41
Speaker
5.10 would be nice though. Yeah, if I can do it, if I don't yeah blow up. I've done lots that got a lot of miles in the legs at the moment. so It's only one more mile, Kieran. It's just one more mile. It's a half a thin mile. All right, well, nothing from me. I'm just doing the Frankfurt training now. Frankfurt grind. Descublie trying to get down to back under 38 minutes for a teno Nice.
00:05:07
Speaker
Project 222. Can you go for two hours 22 in Frankfurt, right, Tom? No, I'm not going for anything remotely. You're doing an autumn marathon, Kieran? I am going to be doing Berlin.
00:05:17
Speaker
so ah Not 100 miles this time. No, I'm not i'm skipping the 100-miler and I'm going straight to the to the harder one. You spend a lot of time going to the same places. Yeah. yeah but i mean, I love Berlin, though. It's a wicked city to go to, so it draws me back. and Yeah, it's a great marathon. I fully agree with you. If find one that's really good, don't take any more risks.
00:05:36
Speaker
Loch Ness, Slentia, London. Although Frankfurt is a risk, I suppose. All right. Shall we dive in and talk about best running shoes? Let's do it.
Podcast Background and Episode Purpose
00:05:55
Speaker
Okay, so this podcast is one we did a couple of years ago. We did do it last year. i can't remember why we did But ah the whole point of it was every year in July, we do our best running shoes of the year so far, where we pick from a series of different categories, our favorite shoes, and then we work out what the winner is and what the runner up is.
00:06:15
Speaker
And we did this podcast two years ago, which turned into absolute chaos because we couldn't decide on what the categories were and what shoes should be in each other categories. We're going to do that again and see if we've got any further or if it's even got harder. have a feeling it's got harder. It's got way harder. I've already had a WhatsApp chat with you that was just descended into nonsense immediately. So this is basically our cop-out, get-out clause for when people don't agree with the categories of the shoes in the best running shoes video. So, well, yeah we we tried. We tried tried to support the solution for it. So... Go on, Ciarán.
00:06:45
Speaker
You're probably about to say what going ask, but are we actually picking shoes here or are we just arguing over categories? Ciarán, there's nothing interesting in this podcast. You're not going to learn anything. No, no, no. Just three men arguing. No, there's two things we're going to do. So we're going to clarify what each category is. Perfect. Then we're going to create a bit of a loose shortlist because we don't want to give people too much of an inkling as to what the final ones are going be. This is niche, isn't it? This is niche podcast. But people seem to like it when we argue.
00:07:15
Speaker
Yeah, they do. Yeah, yeah that's true. yeah And there's nothing we argue more over than... Big reveal is the new Street Vibes category for this year, which is going to be very exciting. We've actually got rid of Racing Shoe. which just We will actually... We will do a Street Vibes chat in this. So... That's your promise. You've got to keep you to stay because we're going to do Street Vibes chat. We're going to about 10 minutes on every category and then we're going to about 30 on Street Vibes because there's a lot to dive into. I'm not missing France, Spain for Street Vibes, time I'm going to tell you that now. hey Well, you've not stopped the conversation yet. um All right.
00:07:42
Speaker
Let's just go straight in then with the easiest out of all of them. Beautiful. Best race day shoe. Nick, do you want to talk to us? How do we pick best race day shoe? What is that category? It's the fastest shoe for your racers, the ones that we would use when going
Debate on Race Day Shoe Characteristics
00:07:56
Speaker
for a PB. We might give a nod to shoes that we think are maybe a bit more accommodating for people who are looking for a balance of comfort and speed. Some of the carbon shoes that may be a bit more stable, but in the video, we're picking our favorite racing shoes for trying to set PB. So it's the fastest shoes in the market. They're all carbon shoes. They're all really expensive. It's the easiest category to define, would say. And, oh, go on, Gary. Gary disagrees. I'm not doing that. tend to, no, I was going to say, we also think about those, I think, in my head anyway, it's largely, a lot is focusing on the kind of marathon distance rather than, halves and marathons rather than shorter.
00:08:31
Speaker
so yeah We will talk about how kind of shorter distances, but I would say and the reason for that is nearly always the best marathon shoe in my eyes is also the best short distance racing shoe. think maybe this year there's a bit of a controversy in that. I think i do think the Mizuno Hyperwalk Pure is one of the best racing shoes in the market for short distances, but I probably wouldn't say the same for a marathon, but i don't think it's going to get too controversial this one anyway.
00:08:49
Speaker
No. Okay. That's a pretty clear overview. um So what are, let's go through some of the shoes that we have, with that we will be reviewing as part of this category then. What's our PB shoes? Oh, mine's a Sky, actually it's a Sky Paris, but Sky Tokyo, Fast R3. H Tokyo for me. and Pro Evo 3 maybe. Yeah. Metaspeed Ray as well. I've got a couple of PBs in. I do think it's very, very cool. The Pure, like I say.
00:09:15
Speaker
yeah You guys just both raced in the Elite. How did you find that? I love the Elite. I think the Elite might be my favourite shoe that's been out this year. Adolphin Elite. I love it. Adolphin Elite 3. It's a super, super super fun shoe. I'm not sure I would take it to the marathon. I think it might be a little bit too soft for me. I'm not sure it would be, I like something a bit kind of snappier, but over the 10k, I thought it raced really well. and And, you know, on route that's got a really good sort straight line, flat, pretty well. And it's not entirely straight on there are twists and turns, but on those kind of easy, easy open, like Berlin would probably be a good place to test it out over with the marathon but kieran will also be talking about his mile experiences in the hyperion elite now after we uh go bicarb on thursday we might also mention the fact that nike hasn't released a shoe for quite a while so i think we can expect the alphafly 4 coming but we won't have that for the video even if it is this year yeah have they got another vaporfly coming as well well this proto is knocking about but that was that was released last year wasn't it you did the 4 yeah which isn't going be in the running is it don't think
00:10:12
Speaker
No. All right. I think that'll do for ratios because that's it's pretty obvious and there's no arguments. We've never had an argument for ratios, I don't think. think so. Let's get into the fun ones. Actually, I'm going to save the those two difficult categories. The ones that basically the same for last, yeah. Let's see best. Well, this one's... bit um this We and Nick spoke about ah this one on WhatsApp, and this one's quite problematic now as well. The best cushioned shoes. what ah What's this category then, Kieran?
00:10:41
Speaker
So in if in my head, when I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking about Max Stack, probably super soft, super protective, and Shoes that I would largely run easy in, you know, doing the sort of lower slower miles, something that can do shorter distances in that, but also take you kind of longer in that kind of plush sort of cushioned comfort. I'm thinking about shoes that they tend to have, you know, big soft stacks, but they also come with, you know, details like and often they have like big padded tongues, big kind of plush heel collars, all that kind of thing that you're whacking on. They're often heavier, but can be wider platform, but I guess that's, That's slightly changing now because you can have some of that in lighter shoes. You can get some of that cushion in the lighter shoe that might perform outside of that range as well. I'm thinking about comfort basically. yeah so so It's probably purpose over design in a way, isn't it? Because everything is cushioned. It's a shoe that you know is built for easy and steady daily miles max. It's not it's not meant you know he's not got an aggressive rocker for racing or something like that. yeah Thick outsole is usually a good sign as well. bit durability. Durability, yeah. Yeah, but I mean, the shoes in this category will have the same amount of cushioning as the ones in our race category. So it's not actually a like ah ah stack height that matters really anymore. so
00:11:51
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Is there ah an argument to to call this best easy day shoes? 100%. Definitely. But it's a less stimulous search it's a less popular search term. No, it's out. is We can't do it. Could I put it in brackets after ah SEO, put SEO.
00:12:07
Speaker
Best cushion shoes for easy runs. For easy days. i actually I actually thought you, I especially thought Kieran would argue about this because Kieran's normally the one who has different tendencies towards shoes and likes. Kieran spent several years trying to put the endorphin speed in this category.
00:12:19
Speaker
and managed to get away with couple of times. I mean, he he yeah he only ran the Danube to convince us we could let him put it in this category. and just But
Defining the Best Cushioned Shoes
00:12:28
Speaker
ultimately, no, we're not we're not allowing that. I mean, Tom, in his first draft, so I don't even, like the Nova Blaster is kind of this category, but also kind we're going to come on to this debate, but I think even something Nova Blaster now, for me, doesn't really count as just a pure cushion. No, it is a pure cushion. Actually, what did say? I think it is a pure cushion shoe, sorry. We've started. We've started, this is the problem. yeah the daily training category is now so full of very cushioned shoes that are also definitely the shoes that we would use as cushion shoes i don't think think you've got it you've got to you've got to get it down to the use case for it so in this in this one if you put in the brackets easy days that pretty much explains why that's yeah it's also the shoes i'd recommend to people to use for everything if they're a new runner
00:13:08
Speaker
See, I could use a Nova Blast 6 for easy days as well. but but That's why that's why i would put it in my rotation as easy days. so That's why I think i' would put it in this category. so my My thing with this is the the first three categories, this and Daily Trainer, are rotation shoes and where I put them in a rotation.
00:13:22
Speaker
Nova Blast for me would be in this category in a rotation. Yeah. I think this gets into the fact that people are going to use them for very different things. but to To me, like the the epitome of this category to me is like the Paramount Max. Yeah.
00:13:36
Speaker
You know, it's like, it's massive, it's super soft or even a a Nimbus, you know, it's that kind of area. Yes. That's what I would say. Yeah. But but we'd also say that that those are, those are not the cushion shoes that we like and use. We always tend to use slightly more stripped back ones, don't we? But I would say they're shoes that can't really function very well outside of that category. You know, and the others are, they, they scale up and down, but those ones for me, they're sort of like, they can only do that.
00:14:01
Speaker
The Bondi? Yeah. but yeah again see that that Those are definitely cause shoes. But I'd say my pick in this category are always shoes that do that really well, but are a bit more... but You wouldn't use them for tempo stuff, but I'm saying they are a bit more capable. So would be picking things like the Romero Plus. For me, that's obviously a cushioned shoe, yeah but it's pretty zingy, pretty bouncy. Yeah.
00:14:20
Speaker
But yeah, with all the ones that we we know come to mind immediately, like say, the Nimbus, the Bondi, these are shoes I wouldn't pick in any category. so I don't think they're winners for me. um But if you had if you had a rotation of four shoes and somebody said... Four shoes now?
00:14:34
Speaker
Well, I'm just throwing in... and Well, you've got Easy Day, Daily... That's right. Faster training shoe. No. god Well, you don't get an all-rounder if you're just having three. No, no, the all-rounder doesn't go in a rotation. That's a separate category, I think. this That's the highest how I think you we have to define it. The first three categories are rotation shoes, and then all-rounder is like the rotation killer shoe, which also would be a daily trainer in a rotation, yeah. Yeah, okay. So, where do we get to? Easy, fast training, race, all-rounder.
00:15:04
Speaker
Well, fast training is can do fast training, isn't it? It's a shoe that can do fast training, but also can do comfortable training, so you can take on holiday day and stuff if you want. It's your daily trainer. So you can go out you go, I'm going to run a bit faster today or I'm not going run faster. And the shoe does both. Whereas you took an easy cushion shoe out, you're stuck. You can't really go, I'm going to go out and do a fast session today. Yeah. Of course you can't that. You can't take an all round Well, i was I was arguing with Nick that we we should have another category which is fast training shoes and then a daily trainer. You're saying that instead of daily trainer, I thought.
00:15:36
Speaker
don't think you could. Well, that's because I wasn't sure if cushion shoe included daily trainers. Well, they all include daily trainers. Daily trainers is is everything. People train in anything daily. I think it's just The three shoe, my rotation was going by the rotation we put in every video that we call rotations, which is the cushion shoe, the daily trainer slash, you know, slightly faster cushion shoe and a race shoe. And that I think is the best way to do those first three categories. And then the all-rounder, there's loads of overlap with that middle shoe, obviously, but it's a shoe that is kind of a rotation killer. All right, well, let's just finish cushion shoes. Okay. Cushion shoes should be easy. Shoes for easy runs, done. Shoes for easy runs, done. yeah comfort Comfort is the main thing you're getting out of these. Comfort durability. Yeah, that's it. You're not using them for anything else. Good. Ticked. What have we got in this category then? I mean, we talked about a few there, but let's just... So I'll be in the endorphins speed five.
00:16:25
Speaker
could have been aero razor yeah so we've got bondi we've got nike vomero premium plus premium all of all vomeros i think of this shoe yeah okay nimbus uh yeah triano probably yeah yeah hurricane hurricane okay yeah uh
00:16:49
Speaker
Yeah, my saucer shoes. The gravel's going in here for me, by the way. Yeah, I think that's what was just saying. What about the Neo Vista 3?
00:17:00
Speaker
three I think it's a complicated shoe and it's going argument and none of us going pick it, so let's not bring it into this discussion at all. Let's bring that one out. That's in a category of its own. Sorry. We'll put it in the review video. I was complaining to Tomo, the Mizuno have now three shoes that are around the same weight, that just do the same job, which is kind of easy runs.
00:17:17
Speaker
And I don't really like, i only really like the wave rider. Yeah. Okay. That's pretty clear. Okay. Let's get on to the, ah actually, we'll do another easy one before we get on to the stupid conversation. So best value running shoes. Good value running shoes. Next.
00:17:32
Speaker
What's good value-riding shoe? So i think we define value as against the main rivals in their area for performance. So we're not talking about like £50 shoes necessarily. It's shoes that, you know, at their price point offer more than you expect
Value Running Shoes - Performance vs. Price
00:17:45
Speaker
at that price. So there's that great, there's that tranche of shoes like the Evo Cell, the DV8 Pure, that are all offering actually performance similar to shoes like the Mega Blast and stuff like that. You know, the Dynafish is going in here, even though the value is hard to define without a fixed price. ah um Yeah, Puma shoes in the UK are always pretty good value.
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, so it could kind of be anything, but it's probably be mostly those shoes around that, I guess, £130, £140 mark the sweet. Yeah, so we're looking at shoes that are competing with the best shoes. but Yeah, could we want performance as well. It's not just value. It's not just, yeah, yeah you're um yeah yeahre like a... Because because you could you could go down the route of actually picking an expensive shoe and saying, it's so good that it is good value, but that's not what this category is about. No, we still want it to be true. Yeah. yeah cheap and I look for range you know i think for me value means it can do a lot with yeah know there's some of those kind of one shoe this is where the all rounders are I think a lot lot of those yeah pick for good value are all rounders I guess sometimes we'll factor in older shoes or shoes that have been knocked down in price as well but I often think of this do they offer value out there sort of initial RRP but Yeah, I'd say I think we go with that and then it's definitely ah an extra bonus if they're shoe lines that traditionally go on sale a lot. So there are some brands that do like Mizuno and Puma are two brands in the that seem to offer sales a lot more regularly than other brands, things like that.
00:19:01
Speaker
And this is the category that's probably shifted the most in a positive way over the past few years because of the EVOSL killers. This has become a very big category now because it's so many good value options out there that have got the premium foams in. Yeah. If you were on a budget or you say on a budget, if you were looking for the most cost effective option, you've got so many options out because for years, our best shoes videos always were Puma Velocity. Yeah. Because everything else was way more expensive and didn't really offer much. But now it's like, you know, there must be like 10 shoes in this category now. Yeah, we do also do always get complaints saying, you know, these shoes are still 130 pounds. It's like, yeah, I mean, that is a good value running shoe these days, in my opinion, because you're getting... It's not bargains. It's not a bargain category. It's best value for actual, you know, feasible pricing. And for doing a lot of running in, right? You know, if going to go and if you're, if you're not, you know, you're beginning, you just want to do three, five Ks a week on the treadmill, you probably could get better value by going and buying a decent, you know, decathlon shoe. But it's, yeah, more a shoe that think is built handle bit more, I guess. Okay, that's pretty good. So what have we got this category this year? Big guns. EVOS Kipron Tempo and Kipride Max, I'd say. Kipride Max, yeah. Anything from Kipron?
00:20:13
Speaker
Yeah, the UK Kipron in particular. in the US, they're not actually such hot value, but ah in the UK for sure, I'd say. The new Puma, deviate pure yeah the the Dyna Fashanian. EVOS L is still one of the best value shoes for sure.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So really, for the for the majority of this is a massive crossover with the other categories coming up now. It never used to be because, you know, previously, what did we used to have in this category? used to have the Puma Velocity Nitro series. Pegasus, maybe? Yeah, Pegasus.
00:20:41
Speaker
I would say every shoe in this category now is a winner in another or is in a top three and the other in other categories. So your value is now amazing, I think. Yeah, definitely. I would maybe see the Nova Blast creeping in there, even though that's at the top of this, but...
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, the one version Nova Blasters, it's such a popular shoe and it's such a major line. That's one that you will expect discounts on. Yeah, because the previous Nova Blasts, you wouldn't put into this because they weren't as versatile and as good as the new one. Whereas now it's punching a bit higher now. So you're starting to creep into that sort of. far yeah You're directly comparing it to the the crazy price issues in the ASICS range. And it's really giving you a lot of what they're giving you.
00:21:13
Speaker
It's a good time for runners. Good time to be alive. Yeah. Although they are getting more expensive now. So value range is popping up every year. It's good time to buy some decent running shoes. you want to buy a value running watch, you going to spend at least £700. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So that's a good selection. So that's locked. They're all locked in.
00:21:32
Speaker
Oh, do we do in the graphics? No. Because we did what was locked in for last time? Locking shoes in the top 10. Don't bring if you're not going to do the graphics. They get all excited. Do the graphics. I'll do one. Get the John Collins one as well. nobody's gonna if that if if people are listening to this and they didn't know about that other podcast that would be so confusing the penalty shootout graphic was absolutely incredible I mean for one there's a wall in a penalty shootout which is so rare so rare to see in a penalty it was like a load of back pass fell that's why you need a man who knows something about football doing your football graphic Infantino's gone mad. He's yeah sticking walls in. He's here and he'd do it for Argentina, wouldn't he? oh so Yeah, we'll find out tomorrow. Okay, so that's best value running shoes. And there there's there's some of the options that we've got at the running. So now we get on to the tricky ones.
00:22:19
Speaker
Best daily shoes. Someone tell
Daily Shoes vs. All-Rounders - Criteria and Definitions
00:22:22
Speaker
me what these are. Best dailies and best all-rounders. That's what we've got left. Yeah. No, i'm streetop straight for sho livess street vibes, yeah.
00:22:30
Speaker
I think daily trainer like is a catch-all term now. I ah you know i think Nick's right. He mentioned it. There are so many shoes that people... depend What did it used to be? What did we used to have in the daily shoes category? We used have like the plated fast trainers, didn't we?
00:22:43
Speaker
I think. Yeah. Were you still always Kev? No, I don't think we did. I think it was like Nova Blast. i no blasts No, I definitely would put in like a Dolphin Speed in this. I think it was changed this year crazily compared to even last year.
00:22:53
Speaker
i don't think a single plated shoe is going in any of my training categories. I think there's just does's too many good unplated ones. But no, I would have voted the Speed because I think we did everything in the Speed and that's what to me was ah was a good day. Yeah, the Speed did creep through. Evo Sel won this last year, I think.
00:23:08
Speaker
Yeah, but aren't both those top high running for a all-rounder? Yeah, but that's ah they they were I think we've got to set our stall out and try and make a rounder a little bit different we can pick some more of these great shoes. But they are very similar for sure, I think.
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah. Isn't there an argument to say that daily shoes have just become all-rounders? Because it crosses... I'm not going to make this.
00:23:31
Speaker
A chart with all the shoes on. You need a Venn diagram. I'm not doing a Venn diagram. If you did chart, a spectrum of all the shoes, these actually cross over a massive section of them.
00:23:42
Speaker
Whereas previously they didn't. I think daily shoes had a lot less versatility previously. And we, we looked at them for, sure do we have Pegasus? Like the Pegasus in the daily shoes? Pegasus never got I don't think. But I mean, that was, that is a daily trainer. That is a classic daily trainer. That's not what a daily trainer is. You can't have a Pegasus in with a EOSL now. It's, But like a Pegasus is like, the daily trainers are the shoes that replace things like the Pegasus and the Brooks Ghost in that they're much livelier, more cushioned, lighter, because foams are so much better. All these shoes are now like, you know, 35, 40, 45 mil stacks, bouncy, super light.
00:24:15
Speaker
So they're obviously good for everything because that's what you need for everything. So I guess we can maybe push it to be more speed leaning and then leave some of those for the all-rounder category. I think, yeah, I think it would have to be speed leaning because you wouldn't, nothing thing is going to be in there that's not speed leaning. I can't think of one that we put in there.
00:24:30
Speaker
But I wouldn't, you're not doing speed daily, are No, but also any speed leaning shoe, which these days, is still a shoe that can do everything. It's still EVOSL. In my book, that's just describing all-rounders though. so To me, daily trainer is like, it's still a catch-all term, but it's kind of the all-rounders are fulfilling that function now. They do, yeah know, there are all those shoes we've mentioned in that all-rounder category that you want go and you look in the pile and you go, I'm going to go easy today.
00:24:55
Speaker
The Azura will handle it. You go, I'm going to go a little bit faster. It will handle it. Yeah. yeah this is this is This is essentially the problem, isn't it? so i um I think the i like categoryry i think we're we're basically to go well hold on gut. and for me like so For example, the Mega Blast for me is an all-rounder, but not a daily trainer. Even though would be the best daily trainer, but i would cat in my mind, it's a shoe you buy to do everything because it's so good at doing everything. Whereas i'd buy the Evo Selfie Zone would be a good example in that Oh, some days I wouldn't fancy going that easy in that, even though I could.
00:25:23
Speaker
And I probably then would use something like the Nova Blast or the Nike for Mario Plus. Whereas there't net I've never had a day where I would go like the Mega Blast doesn't feel like I want to do an easy run in that. Although Tom disagrees on that. yeah so yeah I guess maybe they, i think they i think they can do everything, but they might not necessarily be your first choice for easy runs, a daily trainer, because they're not as cushioned and stable as some.
00:25:43
Speaker
Yeah, I would classify. I think i think we we used to classify daily training shoes as, because cushion shoes, you couldn't really use to anything but full-on easy day stuff. And the daily shoe was meant to be like, you're going ticking off the miles and you want something maybe to go a bit faster in, but they were never really speed shoes because they didn't really exist
Differentiating Daily Trainers from Fast Trainers
00:26:00
Speaker
in this category. then Then we started seeing this whole, about five years ago, this whole, like loads of actual fast training shoes that were essentially using same technology as the race shoes, but just with a bit more padding. So I think there's a bit missing here, which is the fast, this is essentially it, fast training shoes, which you're using, because some people don't won't need those. Some people only want to go as far as cushioned comfort, Noblast 6 maybe. Whereas if you're going, for I wouldn't say to know some of my friends who just go out and just do 5Ks and never really go that fast, Noblast 6, great, that's your daily shoe. Yeah.
00:26:33
Speaker
But if you're going out and like like us and you're going track and you're going going out to do tempo sessions or anything like that, I think there's a category which is fast training category, which is essentially for the goals underneath the race shoe.
00:26:45
Speaker
These are also the shoes that some mates who are the opposite of your mate say, would never recommend going you know, a massive big stack shoe because they don't like that. They don't want Nimbus. So this is the shoe they would use for their daily runs. So it's almost fast daily trainer, cushion daily trainer for people whose preference is, do you want a daily trainer that can do everything and lead speed? Or do you want a daily trainer that leans cushioned?
00:27:07
Speaker
Is that two new videos? It's said so many new videos. But I don't think that most people are running fast daily. So that's what limits it for me. That's why daily training, to me, I know i know we had the kind of speed in there. and i I often put the speed in this category way back when there weren't perhaps as many sort of shoes to choose between just because it could I found it could do everything for me. So it was a very easy one to pick up ah whatever I was going to go and do. yeah But I would say for me, like in my head, daily mileage is most of my week is running fairly easy, no faster than marathon pace. you know It's slightly lower than that.
00:27:41
Speaker
and that's what That's how I see what's kind of daily training because it's the one I'm just going to pick up and go meander around. Then for some targeted runs, I might pick a shoe that's slightly faster. but Then that's the that cushion category already cover those, I'd say.
00:27:53
Speaker
I think I do. So my example would be the 1080 V15 that I think is quite versatile to a point. I wouldn't say it's a speed shoe. I wouldn't use it for track, but I also can go out and go do a pretty fast run in it and feel like it does the job. would only use that. That would be a cushioned easy shoe for me. Yes.
00:28:08
Speaker
So so the partly the problem is we've got the distinction between different types of runner. I think we've got two daily trainer categories basically. and One is cushion daily trainer and one is a more speed leaning daily trainer.
00:28:19
Speaker
I set some balloons off on the call. You did. yeah I've never seen that happen. and so say For example, like because the thing is, like yeah so if I was by rotation, I would do all my daily training, easy runs in something like the Puma Deviate Pure.
00:28:31
Speaker
right or asics no blast if i was you know so but they're also shoes i would use because i do like easy to steady runs quite often i do like double threshold days i'll use them for the second run of a threshold workout day that kind of thing there isn't really neat i don't need room above them for a faster daily shoe than that but then for some people all their runs would be in the cushion daily and then the one above that would be the ratio they'd use for the odd session so the but they're both daily trainers it's just one's a little bit more easy focus and one's more speed focused So maybe, yeah, you've got a little flow chart where you go from... Why are you so against a Venn diagram?
00:29:05
Speaker
i just don't want I just hate Venn diagrams. I'll have a flow chart. And it you can you can branch off and go, do you do a lot of speed work? Do you just do lots of mileage as part of your training? I think it's also just ride preference, isn't it? a lot I think for a lot of people, the amount cushioning is a bit over-cool these days. And I think there is an in-between category. though you're talking about Something like the Novblast, suppose, is a bit in between like and the 1080 in that they're not super, super cushioned, are they? But they are. So let's have a look at this then. So if we went down the route of more conventional comfort daily shoes, what would go in there? 1080 Novblast 6, what else?
00:29:38
Speaker
Nimbus. See, I separate. no i don't I don't put the Nimbus and the 1080 and those in the same bracket. I think the 1080 has got more about it than that. It's a bit more, it's more all-rounder to me than a... Yeah, yeah. Is it? It's not a... Yeah, don't think it's got any speed, that shoe. But for the date for the daily one, if if you if you're choosing between in the fast daily or the sort of standard daily, I would put the Nimbus in. I put the Nimbus in there the Easy Day shoe, but I would put the 1080 and the... mean, a Pupil Velocity Nitro 4 would go in the daily for me as well. Those shoes where there's a bit more to it,
00:30:08
Speaker
That's still an easy-day shoe, I think, for me. But ultimately, it's just different. right Yeah, so it's an easy-day shoe. It's just a cushioned shoe. It's just a little bit less cushioned than what other shoes are. But ah buy it does it does have more about it. But i think that just makes it a good cushioned shoe for me.
00:30:23
Speaker
Mm-hmm. But if I was doing our three-shoe rotation, I always put the Velocity as the third shoe in that. I never had that in the middle of it. Yeah, yeah. Where would you put the 1080 in your three-shoe? Would you have that and then an Imbus? You wouldn't build a rotation like that, would you?
00:30:35
Speaker
If I only had three shoes, I would... Because of the type of running I do, I'd need a speed shoe that's not a race shoe. Yeah. I'd essentially need... I would use four shoes in that rotation if I had an easy day. I'd use like a Hurricane. 1080 V15 would be like my shoe that use for most days where I'm going out and running like, you know, 48 minutes 10K or something.
00:30:55
Speaker
But I wouldn't go out to track with that shoe and I wouldn't use a race shoe for track. Same. the Same. i'm i I might. I might use it. But I'm kind of with Tom, like I would, and I probably wouldn't often go and pick a Hurricane or a Super Soft. I'm not going to go and pick a Paramount Max. When I go want to go and run really easy, I might just use one of the, like ah an Azure 1080 or maybe even a Red, one of those shoes, you know, that's It is cushioned.
00:31:18
Speaker
And then that would be my kind of um so versatile shoe for for every day. So slow and kind of versatile ones, those can cover that. And then I think this is where for me like the Speed 5 kicks in because it's a shoe that I could then put on if I want to go and do some track intervals, I want to do something that's going to have some sort testing higher intensity stuff mixed in.
00:31:38
Speaker
I would go for that. I think, again, it's like it's all crossover because I think some of those other shoes lower down can go faster for me. means I have to work a bit harder. I don't mind doing that. But i would have ah I would have a shoe in the middle like Tom where you go, okay, it's ah it's not lacing up a racy carbon racer. It's a step down. like Actually, I think like the Sonic Blast is another shoe that fits that bill for me.
00:31:59
Speaker
and It's just a bit firmer, a bit snappier. it's not um It's not got that kind of super, super tight, slightly uncomfortable ratio package. but I don't know we've ended up here though. I don't think we've ended up talking at differences though. I think we're about the same place.
00:32:14
Speaker
what What would you pick for this category in the video? let Maybe just give examples. So in the daily trainer category, what would what you would you guys be have floating around there for your top picks? Are we splitting out the daily trader category in this case? No, we've met with the easy as it is. yeah we've already talked we've We've already said what we'd potentially put in there. What would you guys be voting for in this category?
00:32:30
Speaker
awesome if If it was a daily trader I would class as a shoe that I use most days, I would say 10x15, Nova Blast 6, I'd probably put a few lost E4 in there because that's what I think that's pretty good at different paces. um What else would I put in there? I wouldn't put the Azura and stuff in there because I think that's a bit faster for me. I wouldn't use it every day.
00:32:49
Speaker
um i i see i I'd have to stick the Azura in. I might even put the DV8 pure in there. kind of so That's exactly where I'd put it. It's clearly a daily trainer for me.
00:33:01
Speaker
Yeah, I think the DVA Pure is. Yeah. So I'd have, mine would be, I think I'd pick these. I think I had like, like EvoCell, Pure, something like the Dynafish, maybe. um The Hocomac 7, I think is another classic example of this. Just a simple yeah shoe that does, you know, I want to roll around in daily. Rebel?
00:33:18
Speaker
Say Rebel? Yeah. So that, that for me is different to Yvomero's. So, Then in that layer up, a couple of shoes, like maybe the Kipron Tempo, the Speed 5. Yeah. I have those as all-rounders. I would have those as my kind of, if I want to go like faster day shoes. Yeah, I don't find them any more zazzy than like the Evo SL, I would say. Zazzy being the key. I think the Evo SL does cross the boundaries a bit with these. I think it's mainly also because of the price because so many people buy it because it's quite cheap. For me, it is. the cushion shoe because it isn't that stable no but would i would use it as a daily shoe but i'd also use it as a fast shoe but there's some of those shoes like the kip run kips on tempo i'd put in the faster category along with the mega blast and crash don't know where the super blastery would probably in that category
00:34:08
Speaker
Super Blast 3 is an all-rounder, I think, if you're not too... I think the Super Trainers, they're Super Trainers, basically. Maybe could have the best Super Trainers instead of best all-rounders. I'd put that in daily shoe because I wouldn't use it. but Yeah, that's a daily shoe as well. but um it depends on what you're But it would be all-rounder if you're someone who's not crazily obsessed about going fast, I guess. and I think we're probably going to vote for similar shoes, although we won't. If Tom does vote for 10-18, overblast this category, there are shoes that I would put in the other category. This is always problem. There's only four of us voting. So at cross purposes, we end up with some very funny results that we then have to jury rig if we end up with like that because the overblast doesn't win any categories because two people put it in different categories. Yeah.
00:34:51
Speaker
God, it's serious stuff, this. It gets the love of that everyone. It's amazing because just people, you know even just listening to how you run and train, it's very different like to how, which is very fluid. You know, I'm not, and and I can understand where you've, you if you're doing doubles, yeah I can of understand why you're choosing the shoes in that kind of frame that I'm a bit more kind of laissez-faire, I'm sort of like that shoe, okay, that shoe's roughly going to cope with what I need to do today.
00:35:15
Speaker
And most of my runs are sort of slightly meandering, go get some volume. Occasionally I'll run The weird thing about it is is that we end up with the same dailies nearly always, I think. Because you don't like particularly cushioned shoes. I don't do loads of runs where I really value a really, really cushioned shoe because I do lots of like easy to steady. But the other I did 90-minute long run in the forest for my Sunday long run, day after a really hard double, and just went out in the DV8 Pure.
00:35:39
Speaker
Brilliant. Yeah. So supportive, so comfortable. And I did the exact same this week. Day after double I went out Skechers Aero Razor just for 90 minutes in the forest. And yeah, perfectly comfortable. No problems with that all. Like I would never feel like I've not had enough cushioning because these shoes are so much more cushioned than even when we started, i think. ah You know, so yeah it is there is that that that the yeah it is. The problem is that we have the all-rounder category as well. That needs to be something, I think, and because lots of these shoes would win in that.
00:36:06
Speaker
And then they win in the value category as well. Yeah. so I don't if all rounders has to be something slightly different. Well, we could just make it a four shoe rotation and try and slip in a fast trainer. But for me, that would just be the same as my daily.
00:36:17
Speaker
I just think there's or I think that the other thing I said, I mentioned time with fast trainers is at this point, I don't think runners buy loads a dedicated trainers because nearly everyone has. Everyone who's that obsessed with having a fast trainer rotation is using an old carbon shoe properly because they've got they've got their, you know. depends what your class is fast trainer. I know a lot of people who have a race shoe and the Mega Blast. Yeah, I mean, if like if you're that worried about, I need a shoe to go and do my track reps in, and I really want to be faster than something as good as the Pure or something like that, or the EVSL, then you're basically looking at at carbon shoe, because there aren't many shoes faster than that, I think. Track in intervals is probably... i think it depends on how many... I do do use race shoes for track, that's because i'm normally testing race shoes, but if I only had a rotation and I didn't own loads of 200-pound pairs of race shoe, I probably wouldn't use it for track all the time, because... by the ba yeah I think at this point it's such a well-seasoned market. You can go and buy Mizuno Hyperwarp Elite is now cheaper than most of these daily trainers we're talking about, for example, in the UK. Or if I wanted to buy dedicated speed shoe, I'd probably buy the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 3 or 4 in a sale or the carbon plate shoe from Kipron do, which is incredible for 120
Concluding Shoe Category Definitions
00:37:25
Speaker
quid. you end up in basically race shoes. Right, you've got like 11 minutes before your full match starts. Yeah. Okay, so let's just do a recap. say Nothing to do. Let's just say, easy day shoes, people don't have to have every single one of these shoes. For you, let's class easy day shoes is like the lowest possible...
00:37:44
Speaker
paced shoe that is purely built for comfort so for different people they might have a different lower shoe but this is like out of the population the people who are just going out of pure comfort they want a shoe that's but you know a bit stable nice and comfortable lasts a while plush all that sort of stuff not everyone needs one of those some people who like you nick will be training fast all the time won't use that very much i use them quite a lot because like to do a lot of plots where going out and just taking off the miles i do a lot i do a lot of easy running but i just do it in a shoe that i think makes those runs more fun which tends to not be just an all-out plodder Yeah.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. like the Like you had the UFO in that category. That's that's a brilliant, easy run shoot, that. But that is bit more versatile than the most cushioned shoot, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:24
Speaker
But I suppose it's more... suppose the thing about the easy day shoot, at the this sort of... on this spectrum of runners is that it has to be really accessible as well. So some of those shoes that you're using probably aren't that. I don't think the Rad UFO is particularly accessible if you're a new runner. It's a little bit wobbly.
00:38:39
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, that's true. I think a bit of stability should we should probably factor in for sure. It's got to be comfortable. It's got to be safe to use. you know so yeah ah Safe. Well, you know. Pretty safe, I'd say. ah Okay. that's just That's fine. We know what those are in that category. Then we've got... can't remember the other categories now. Race day we know. Race day we know. Value is fine. so and Then there's two in the middle that we haven't quite...
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah. and the The options, I guess, are is leave them as they are and try and work out where we go. or we could make a new fast trainer category out of one of them. we could have daily and fast and look at a four-shoe rotation approach.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, i like that idea. And then, so we lose all-rounder. By daily, we kind of mean all-rounder though, don't we, right? Yeah. So daily, we call it the best daily shoe slash all-rounder. Yeah. And then a dedicated fast training shoe. I think we'll have no, maybe potentially not have a lot of agreement in there, but it'll be interesting maybe to see what comes out of that because... Yeah.
00:39:35
Speaker
yeah i think it'd be interesting and if that doesn't work we uh we fix the results again we go back and try work out how to make some kind of agreement because if all four four four of us pick 12 different shoes in that category then that then it doesn't work yeah yeah okay so just before we finish so daily shoes is basically stuff like the tele tv 15 the not for me no what are you put in there that's what putting the pure for example the pure yeah if I think pure is fine in there good feel the pure is quite good for all that stuff alright in that case i i would so I would move the Evo Cell into the speed category then something like that yes that's what I was thinking yeah so you could have mega blast in the speed category you're to have Evo Cell you're going to have what I'm trying to think the other fast trainers speed 5 I think Dynafish is more of a speed trainer for me yeah yep yep yeah Dynafish predominantly you're going to be using those shoes Kip Storm Tempo then we'll put that in there as well yeah Yeah, so that's where those shoes are like performance shoes where primarily you're doing performance, you're right for either doing it an interval session or you're doing a tempo session or training. At least an easy to steady run, yeah, a progression run.
00:40:35
Speaker
Yeah, where you want a shoe that's just going to, maybe a shoe that prompts you to, or helps you just to run at that level. It's so funny because occasionally look at the screen and go, yeah, Kieran ran for Danube the Endorphin Speed 5. Whatever it was. I mean, a lot of those days he could barely walk, let alone run. But no, no, that's fine. Yeah.
00:40:50
Speaker
But yeah, we've we've now put that into a dedicated speed day category. Not even a daily trade run. But we have to caveat but this the whole thing by saying this is ah know it's not a perfect list because different runners have different things. Some some runners are going to not never touch it. Where's the Azura? Azura's a daily, right?
00:41:07
Speaker
i I put it as a daily. I would i wouldn't yeah use it. Yeah, yeah. It's it's like it's just the Speed 5 above it, isn't it? Yeah. I think sometimes you look at you look at how the brands are sort of positioning their shoes as well, and that can be a bit of bit of a help. Like Speed Zero is, I think, supposed to be a bit more accessible, bit more everyday than the Speed 5. Yeah. Skechers Air Eraser.
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's what was about to say. That's a classic one. So the brands are definitely leaning into this idea because Sketch for Errors, it's a daily miles. It says, oh, it's daily miles and fast miles. I think a lot of them positioning their dailies like that now as it's got that upper range, but it's daily because the Errorazor is like a lot of people will consider that way too lean, but it is a great daily.
00:41:41
Speaker
I think this works because if you look at the faster category, there's probably shoes in there that we can now put in there comfortably and go, well, it isn't particularly good at easy stuff, but it is good at the faster training stuff and that's when you why you'd use it. Whereas with the all-rounder, you sort of lose a bit of that because if it's not an all-rounder, if it's not good at the slower stuff,
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it opens up as well to i think we could then pick out something like that. um I think it's now called the Kip Storm Challenger, which is like a 130 carbon plate shoe, which is a brilliant fast training shoe, but it is a carbon plate racing shoe essentially. But, you know, it's kind of you would buy for fast training as well because it's fairly stable. Some of those carbon shoes that maybe don't get ah much of a looking on race day because they're not all out speedsters, but are very good for like I've used the EVA Elite Four so much this summer for fast sessions and stuff like that.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. um i not agree I mean, we're going to put shoes, we individual each each of us here is going to stick shoes in different categories anyway, and that's just the nature of it. but I think if we get our result, fits our things in first, and then if one person is clearly an outlier, we can revisit.
00:42:38
Speaker
and we We always end up with pretty decent results, I think. i think i just think that i just think it's a bit tricky. ah Looking at the shoes out of the sheer, there's a big shift in a lot of these categories. But they this leads me quite nicely to the ah my Evo SL killers video.
00:42:53
Speaker
Yeah, that's the baby. Yeah, I'd like say, think the big thing is, I suppose that speedy category does open up the chance for some plated shoes still to shine, but I just think people are so happy to not train a plated shoe and there's so many fast shoes without them now. it's that that That kind of super trainer category is, especially now the super trainers are like that that branch of amazingly good value shoes, we think, and then like 200 pound shoes and between are a whole load of plated shoes no one buys anymore.
00:43:15
Speaker
Like ah the Hoka Mac X-Ray, which is a brilliant shoe, but I think just doesn't seem to really factor factor into consideration so much anymore, I don't think. Yeah, don't hear about it much. um Okay. Okay. I think that's good. All right.
00:43:28
Speaker
Well, it's definitely more productive than last time, but... um Yeah. I'd like to know what you guys think out there. i don't. Yeah, don't. Just don't. Please argue amongst yourselves because like I can't, I don't, yeah. but One to two years is enough for this argument, I think. yeah. All right. I will compile that list and their update this sheet. And then in the next couple of weeks, we will have our refined list and our best winning shoes 2026 video app. That's a massive promise.
00:43:56
Speaker
given out Given how unproductive we are at the moment. Okay. I'm sure we're on 14th. We're going win the World Cup, Tom. Nothing's happening until next year. When's it finished, World Cup? Saturday alright so it's fine you've got two weeks before the end the month after the no you've got week and a half yeah but it's taken four weeks to do a watch versus we're really not firing all cylinders in the summer it's too hot here it's
Episode Wrap-Up and Credits
00:44:15
Speaker
very hard to film when it's this hot that's true alright that's good well go and enjoy the football while I look at running shoe spreadsheets nice one and make animations yeah make some animations Tom and don't forget the gravel when you're voting guys alright catch you later bye bye
00:44:36
Speaker
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.