Best Running Shoe Picks For Early 2019
Josh provides personal insight into his top running shoe picks for early 2019 - the New Balance 1080v9 for high mileage running, the Brooks Ravenna for tempo running and the Asics DynaFlyte 3 for race day.
He highlights the features that makes them suitable for these particular running styles - from the 1080's plush cushioning for your longer endurance runs, to the Ravenna's Guide Rails for extra stability on interval runs and the DynaFlyte 3's lighter weight without compromise to support for your next triathlon.
Check out the review with full transcript below.
Hey guys, Josh from Sportitude here and today we're going to do a sort of shoe review.
I've being doing reviews now for the best part of two years. For those of you that follow Sportitude, you'll be aware that I've run in a plethora of running shoes, because I do like to wear them before I test them.
However, there's always a group of shoes I will lean towards or gravitate towards every single season. What I wanted to do is give you a bit of a snippet into what I am currently wearing right now.
We're looking at the first half of 2019. I have three running shoes and that may sound excessive but of course I am in the shoe industry and I have access to all of these.
I'm looking at a mileage shoe, I've got what I classify as my tempo/interval shoe and then I have a race shoe for triathlon. The race shoe for triathlon does slip into some of my interval runs as well.
Without further ado I'm looking forward to showing you what I am currently running in.
Mileage running shoe: New Balance 1080v9
The first shoe I'd like to talk about is my mileage shoe. That's the shoe I clock my longer runs in. Potentially this shoe over a three or four month period will push most of my miles out.
I am absolutely fascinated by the New Balance 1080. I have used 1080s previously and I loved the version 6 of this shoe. It was one of my favourite neutral running shoes.
I fell out of love with the version 7 and the version 8, however there was a lot of runners out there that really enjoyed that shoe. However, for me that just did not work. Once the New Balance 1080v9 came around it was happy sailing again.
For me I am a slight overpronator, but I do prefer to run in a stable neutral shoe. That's just how I enjoy my long runs. I am a midfoot striker so for me it's really important to get a nice, cradled first point of contact with the ground.
The reason I love this shoe is because it has a plush cushioning system so you get plenty of dampening underneath your foot. As I come through to my toe-off phase it's got a really nice broad forefoot.
I'm using this shoe for longer runs and if I need to go for a run in my training week and I'm feeling a bit tired and a bit heavy. I'll gravitate towards this shoe because I know the forefoot stability is there for me.
I'm a big fan of New Balance 1080. One of my absolute favourite stable neutral running shoes for 2019.
Tempo running shoe: Brooks Ravenna 10
The next shoe I'd like to talk about is my tempo/interval running shoe. This sort of shoe is a shoe that I would not grab if I want absolute, ultimate cushioning. It's a shoe that I feel fast in and I feel efficient in.
It's the Brooks Ravenna. By no means is it classified as a minimalistic shoe. There's certainly a couple of shoes in this category that are a fraction lighter.
The Asics Gel DS Trainer 24 for example was a fraction lighter and it has a little bit more of a firmer feel underneath the foot. However, I still like to feel stable even though I'm looking for a lighter, quicker, snappier shoe.
My contact time in this shoe is reduced by about 20% than if I'm looking at my New Balance 1080. That being the case, you're running a fraction faster anyway so you're going to spend less contact time with the ground when you're transferring through your gait cycle.
This shoe does have Guide Rails that come into play so you're probably sitting there thinking that contradicts what I said before, I don't like to run with any sort of stability.
I could use the Brooks Launch however I just felt the Ravenna was a little bit more comfortable for me. Again, I've leaned towards this shoe for my tempo/interval runs because those Guide Rails play a more critical role for me when I'm hitting the ground with more force and more impact.
When I'm coming down a lot harder and a lot quicker in this shoe, I still like to know I have some form of stability. We aren't talking dual density blocks by any means, we're just talking those little Guide Rails that assist in keeping your foot on a nice consistent footbed. As I like to harp on in all my videos for midfoot strikers, there's full ground contact underneath.
Love it. It's nice and stable and a good amount of flexibility and rigidity through that toe box or toe-off phase as well.
The Ravenna could almost be my race day shoe. I'm looking to do a potential full Ironman this year and this may be the shoe I race in for that day. At the moment as an interval tempo shoe, I absolutely love it. Fantastic option.
Race day running shoe: Asics DynaFlyte 3
The next shoe is my race day shoe for triathlon. I do like to feel light in my shoe however, I just found previously using a very low-profile shoe for me causes some issues in the last third of my run.
When I'm looking at a race day shoe you might think, well he's going to go lighter because the lighter you are the more efficient you're going to feel.
That may be the case for the first half of the run but let me tell you, talk to any triathlete or any road runner out there, a good race day shoe is going to do most of its work when you're fatiguing or when you're feeling slopping and tired in your gait cycle. That is why I have leaned towards the Asics DynaFlyte 3 for the 18/19 season in terms of triathlon.
The reason I like this shoe is that it's very similar to the Launch however it's on a neutral platform. There are no Guide Rails that come into play and sit in any specific area. It allows me to feel the ground enough underneath because it's got a responsive layering of cushioning but also has a nice dampened feel as well.
The other reason why I like this shoe for race day is because of the internal heel counter at the back. It's a nice internal structured heel counter.
When I jump off the bike, depending on what distance I'm doing in terms of triathlon, I like to still feel nice and stable, especially that first km to 2km off the bike and you're feeling a bit wonky.
It's really important to keep that foot nice and stable and when I'm coming down hitting the ground I want the shoe to do more in the upper for me and that's what I found in the DynaFlyte 3.
Underneath again it has full ground contact. I like that lateral side giving me a nice plush feel of the ground.
The reason I've gone DynaFlyte for my race day shoe is that it is marginally lighter than the Ravenna. I think it's roughly 250 grams for the DynaFlyte and 265 grams for the Ravenna.
15 grams isn't a huge amount but having that slight reduction in weight without compromising my gait cycle is why I like to use this as a race day shoe.
If I sacrifice 40 or 50 grams to get that really light race day shoe I personally find I lose a lot of support in the back third of my race when I'm doing my triathlon.
I still like to feel nice and structured as I possibly can because let's be honest, the run leg of a triathlon at the last couple of kilometres are pretty painful. I still like to feel nice and stable and feel like I can get off and out of my gait cycle efficiently and effectively. That's what the DynaFlyte offers for me.
It's a bit of a quick, snappy review on what I'm currently running in. What we'll probably do every 6 months is I might introduce this exact review.
No doubt when we're looking at September or the middle of the back half of 2019, I might have a different mileage shoe, different interval shoe and potentially a different race day shoe.
Footwear engineering is evolving at a rate of knots which is great, it's exciting but in my humble opinion it's never been the best or the worst time to buy running shoes.
Best because there is so much advancement in footwear engineering, worse because there is a ridiculous amount on offer.
That's what we do here on Sportitude. We try to reduce that loud marketing noise or confusion in the marketplace to make the right shoe choice for you, the runner.
Hopefully it's been beneficial. I thoroughly enjoy my shoe reviews. If you have any questions or comments please contact our Sportitude shoe experts. If you haven't already subscribed, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Until next time, happy running.