New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro v5 Trail Running Shoe Review

Josh reviews the New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro v5 trail running shoes, a dependable and adventure-ready ride for neutral runnners to trade in the concrete jungle for natural terrain. This off-road running shoe caters specifically to wider foot types and features an 8mm heel-to-toe offset.

New Balance have opted for a water repellent upper over a waterproof upper – preventing splashes or light rain penetrating the lining of the trail shoe, without compromise to the airy, ventilated feel.

Fresh Foam X cushioning provides trail-ready shock absorption blended with a responsive, propulsive feel to drive your momentum forward. Collaborating with Vibram, New Balance have created a MegaGrip outsole for aggressive uphill and downhill traction.

Check out the review with full transcript below.

Hey guys, Josh here from Sportitude and today it's going to be a shoe review on the New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro v5.

This trail shoe is one of my absolute go-to shoes for trail running and the reason being is there is a lot to like about this shoe. There is a completely new take on the outsole, midsole and upper that we are going to get through in today’s review. Without further ado, let’s get stuck in.

Foot Type

We’re going to profile the foot type that could run in this shoe. No surprises here, there is a lot of variability with foot placement when it comes to trail running. In traditional trail shoes, they don’t like to overcomplicate things with extra support in the medial side or lateral side.

Usually brands will introduce stabilisers, placed equally on the lateral and medial side. This Hierro is a neutral shoe. There is no extra assistance that’s going to adjust your static position within this shoe itself.

Outsole

The outsole is an interesting topic of discussion when you’re talking about trail running shoes because the outsole needs to be really durable and also offer plenty of protection to give you confidence when your foot makes contact with the ground.

New Balance have partnered up with Vibram and they have created an outsole called MegaGrip. The MegaGrip execution features strategically placed outsole pods that help when you’re going up hills, grabbing through the forefoot to pull you up loose terrain.

When you’re coming down the hill, they provide you with more confidence. Descending a hill can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if you’re doing it with speed. We tend to overstride a little bit, therefore putting a lot more pressure through the back of the shoe.

Hence, you see this flap at the back. No, it’s not a mistake. When I first saw it, I thought, what have they done? They’ve left too much rubber on the back.

It actually helps catch the foot when you’re descending. This will slow down ever so slightly that first purchase with the ground, which then helps take a bit of load off when you transition through the gait cycle as you're coming down hills.

The outsole is very unique with a lot of surface area. Again, when we’re talking trail running, you’re going to utilise every square millimetre of this outsole, and that is why they have partnered with such a company as Vibram to execute this magnificent MegaGrip.

Midsole

Let’s move to the midsole. Fresh Foam X is the new Fresh Foam technology that New Balance have introduced in the back half of 2019. It is a combination of a couple of a few different things. It is a very soft cushioning system, but it also provides a very propulsive feel through the forefoot.

Again, for trail runners your first point of contact with the ground is going to be anywhere through the back of the heel to the midfoot and the forefoot when you’re going up hills. Therefore, you need to have a perfect combination of absorption and responsiveness or propulsion.

A lot of the forefoot engineering in Fresh Foam X is about dampening the load but also about getting out of your gait cycle, that propulsive feel through toe-off.

The shoe has a very nice feel, not too soft by any means. There’s certainly a lot of softer shoes out there in the trail market, but it needs to have some element of responsiveness. You don’t want to be sinking too much when you’re running trails. It puts too much stress on the foot, ankle, shins, knees and hips. You don’t want to have to restabilise yourself in too soft of a shoe on trail terrain.

It has an 8mm offset which I’ve touched on. An 8mm heel-to-toe drop is a little lower than the traditional running shoes out there, your road running shoes which are around 8, 10 or 12mm. There are shoes below that of course, but 8mm is a nice little drop for a trail running shoe.

Upper

Coming up to the upper, which is probably my favourite part of the shoe. I don’t usually say that when it comes to running shoes, but this shoe has got a lot of magic going on.

New Balance have laid the upper with a TPU layering. That TPU works as a water repellent. It’s not waterproof, it’s not Gore-Tex, but it’s going to repel your splashes, wet grass, anything like that when you get a little bit of water that could find its way into the top of your shoe. The water won’t sink in through the actual lining and make its way to your sock.

They’ve executed that on a breathable construction. When you go from one extreme to the other, when we think all things waterproof Gore-Tex, there is a subtle bit of breathability. But let’s be honest, Gore-Tex doesn’t breathe quite as well as your open mesh running shoe range.

This sits halfway in between the two. You’ve got ventilation for your trail running and you’ve also got your water protection which is very important for trail running. 

A couple of other features with the upper. You have a pull tab which assists getting the shoe on and off which combines with this tongue overlay, providing easy access for you as a trail runner.

Talking about the upper itself, it’s not really gusseted in but there is an attachment between the tongue and the outside lateral lining as well.

There is some security with how the tongue is attached to the midsole both medial and lateral side. It does give a bit more security on the foot because we don’t want that foot moving around too much when we’re running trails. It’s a nice execution on support without feeling too tight and too constricted.

As you come through to the forefoot, Toe Protect as New Balance have called it, is this little piece at the front. It is a slightly harder wearing overlay which is going to protect the end of your toes from sticks, rocks or twigs that we tend to cross on the trail.

You’re not going to feel everything when you have to kick a stick out of the way. It's going to protect not only your toes but the upper of the shoe as well. It’s a nice execution, not too intrusive but its certainly there to give you a bit of protection.

One thing that I’d like to touch on. If you’ve tried the previous version of this shoe and you’ve found the bootie construction a little bit too restrictive, New Balance have listened and they’ve adjusted that.

The extra space we get in the foot entry is fantastic. It allows us to execute an orthotic if need be. We had a little bit of a tough time putting orthotics in the older model, so New Balance have listened and created more real estate at the back.

One thing to touch on before we finish up the upper is the internal heel counter. Obviously heel counters are very important when you’re running trails. You don’t want the base of your heel slipping and sliding around too much. It needs to be nice and secure and therefore that internal heel counter provides a bit of extra stability which is important.

For the lining on the inside we’re talking a little bit of memory foam which is encapsulated around the back of the lining on the inside. It’s nice and soft without it being too intrusive on the foot.

Sometimes I think brands whack too much foam around the collar, which is trying to create a lot of comfort, but it can feel like your foot is being suffocated inside the shoe. There is a fine line between too much padding and not enough and I think they’ve executed it well with this padding lining through the back of the heel counter.

Widths

Let’s finish off with the width offerings in the Hierro v5. There is a D in the ladies’ and a 2E in the men’s, so we’re talking the broader widths on offer only here in Australia.

New Balance didn’t bring in a B width in ladies’ or a D width in the men’s. The women’s have D only, and 2E only in the men’s. That is not a bad thing in my opinion as there is a shortage on very good neutral mileage running shoes offered in widths in our market here in Australia.

New Balance have put themselves in a great point of difference. They’ve been known to be the width brand for a number of years and by executing this width only, I think it is a fantastic move in Australia so well done to New Balance.

There you have it guys, the New Balance Fresh Foam Hierro v5. A phenomenal new update from New Balance. A cracker little shoe.

If you have any comments, questions or queries on this shoe, please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our Sportitude YouTube channel. We love to give as much information to all sorts of people out there about running shoe selection.

Until next time, happy running. We’ll see you soon.