- Oh, jeez, morning trainiacs, almost fell there.
These just might be one of my new favorite running shoes.
These are the Atreyu runners.
It's by a startup out of Austin, Texas,
and I really like 'em.
They're brand new, it's a really small company,
this is like a pre-release that I got my hands on,
and I'm really excited about
new things happening in the shoe industry.
(electronic music)
So trainiacs, these Atreyu shoes aren't necessarily
my favorite running shoes.
That award will go to the Vaporfly 4%,
not even the newest ones, but this is probably
one of my favorite shoe companies to follow right now
because it's actually been started by a trainiac,
somebody who has taken up triathlon
in the last few years, has been a runner historically,
and they wanted to make a running shoe that
just kind of got through a lot of the overhead,
and the red tape, and the hype of the running shoe industry
and the fake studies and the fake reports,
and really just make a good running shoe,
and that's what they've made.
So while this isn't my favorite running shoe,
it's one of my favorite running shoe companies to follow,
because it's got personality.
We see what they're going through as they're bringing
in shoes and as they're figuring out
how to stock all the shoes,
and I think it's really interesting.
So let's get into how this shoe actually performs.
The stats on it are that it is a $95 shoe,
very, very accessible.
It's a 5.6 ounce shoe, very, very light.
It has a six millimeter heel to toe drop,
being 21 1/2 millimeters in the heel,
and 15 1/2 millimeters in the forefoot.
Really good stats there.
This is a very flexible shoe.
The upper on it is one piece,
really, really light, and breathable.
On the surface, all the stats show that
this would be a really fast shoe,
a shoe that's similar to some racing flats,
but it doesn't necessarily perform
exactly like those racing flats,
and one of the interesting things about this shoe
is that Atreyu does not really pinpoint this
as a fast shoe, or a high mileage shoe,
or a daily trainer shoe, or a trail shoe,
anything like that.
It just kind of positions it, in my impression,
as a good shoe, and that's sort of my impression too.
I would say that this shoe is really good
for your general runs, not necessarily your fast runs,
not necessarily super long runs,
but just your general 30 to 60 minute runs,
and I'll get into why I think that's what it's good for.
Look at the stats of this shoe.
It starts becoming fairly comparable
to something like a New Balance Fresh Foam Zante,
or the Saucony Kinvara, something that's lightish,
decent for racing, can get a little bit snappy and fast,
but also fairly inexpensive, not a whole lot of structure,
not a lot of bells and whistles,
just a decent shoe that's comfortable.
I used these for some fast runs,
and they did perform very well,
and I'll share some stats with you on why I think that is.
I also used these for some longer runs.
I wasn't a big fan of them for longer runs,
because they are so light, that's 5.6 ounces
is not a big, burly, beefy shoe with lots of structure
to take on a lot of load, so I found that I was
a little bit beat up towards the end of a long run.
I also wouldn't really use these for trail running.
I used these a little bit on some gravel,
on some trail, like light, light trail,
and even some slick grass, and on that alone,
the sole, which is basically just designed for road,
it got a little bit slippery.
So I wouldn't really use this for off-road running.
I would use this for your general meat and potatoes
kind of 30 to 60 minute runs.
My impression of it basically is that
it's a very, very comfortable shoe.
I like a nice light shoe because I find that
a light shoe allows my feet to just feel
kind of snappy and quick.
This being 5.6 ounces is probably the second lightest shoe
that I've ever run in, the other basically being
a running slipper at three ounces,
which was not very enjoyable to run in.
But this, at 5.6 ounces, it allows you
to get off the ground really quickly.
It's also got a really nice sole.
There's not a lot to it, but what I've found
is that the sole tends to just encourage you naturally
to kind of move forward, to land on your mid
or your forefoot and just easily roll forward,
and that's kind of interesting,
because it's not as much of a heel to toe drop
as something like the Vaporflys
that are completely structured to absorb some cushion here
and then, boom, really snap you forward.
This, just with the structure of the sole,
the density, and the type of foam that they've used
in the sole, it's got a really nice natural feel to it.
Like I say, I would compare these to a Saucony Kinvara,
a New Balance Fresh Foam Zante,
just something that's a decent feel,
a nice, comfortable feel, smooth inside,
nice, small, thin little tongue, really long laces
for a double knot or a runner's knot
that you can tie tightly, and you're not gonna have
to worry about it coming undone.
It's just a good shoe.
But where I struggled a little bit with this shoe is
in what it's kind of good at,
and what it's not so clearly good at.
I think it's that fact that it is
just kind of a generally good shoe.
It's not great at being anything.
So like I say, the long runs, probably a little bit light
to absorb all that pounding.
Also being fairly light, what I found is that
it performed a little bit like those racing flats
that don't have a lot of miles in them.
A lot of those racing flats are rated for one race.
This I'd give the benefit of the doubt
that it could last a lot longer than that.
I've probably got somewhere around 30 to 40 miles in it,
still got some snap in it, but I was certainly noticing
that after 15 miles or so it was losing
some of that early snappiness.
So with all that said, I wanted to actually see
some performance numbers.
So what I did was I actually got out the VO2 Master Mask
and I did 10 minutes with the Nike Infinity Runs.
This is kind of like a heavier daily trainer,
high mileage kind of shoe.
Then I did 10 minutes in the Atreyus,
and then I did 10 minutes in the Vaporfly 4%,
and with each of them I captured that VO2 Mask data
to see how hard I was working.
I used the Stryd foot pod to see what the run dynamics were
and I had the treadmill on the exact same settings
the entire time.
I didn't even turn it off in between when I changed shoes.
We're gonna throw out the 10 minute VO2 numbers
from the Nike Infinity Runs, because that ended up
being like a warmup, and basically it skewed
how hard I was working down, because my heart rate
was climbing in those first 10 minutes.
But some of the things that we can see are that
the Vaporflys actually put out more watts.
So I was putting out more power,
even at the same setting on the treadmill
than I did with the Atreyus,
while I was not working as hard.
My VO2 numbers, the amount of oxygen that I was requiring
to put out that power was actually lower
with the Vaporfly.
The pace that the Stryd Power Meter actually perceived
was fastest on the Vaporfly.
The leg spring stiffness was also better on the Vaporfly.
So what we see with these shoes is that
they are going faster, while it's feeling easier,
and my perception is exactly that.
But does that mean that the Atreyus are not good shoes?
No, what we're doing is we're comparing
a $300 shoe, the most expensive dollar per mile shoe
that you can possibly get, that is completely engineered
for absolute performance, to a $95 shoe,
and the difference is fairly marginal.
What we can also see is that the pace that
the Stryd Power Meter detected between these shoes
was actually faster on the Atreyu shoes
than the Nike Infinity Run.
The average cadence was also higher in the Atreyus
than it was in either of the other two shoes.
So that confirms that the lightness of the shoe
allows you to get off the ground really quickly,
and while I realize that this is n of one,
completely unscientific test, it is still data,
and it can confirm a little bit of the subjective measures
about what I feel about this shoe,
that being that this is a good shoe,
it's a comfortable shoe, but because it is so light,
because there aren't a lot of bells and whistles going on
with it, you're not gonna get a shoe that does a lot
of the work for you.
But you're getting a shoe that at $95 is still
very comfortable and very capable.
So with that said, I've got no problem at 95 bucks
recommending that people give them a try.
Where I would say that you'd slot them in,
but you'll find out where you slot them in
in your individual running, is basically in that
30 to 60 minute general kind of run,
maybe some faster brick runs, and saving this
for those certain days that you just wanna feel
kind of light, while doing a slower, shorter run.
There's a lot to be said for making those shorter
kind of otherwise plodding garbage mile runs,
or just general fitness building runs,
whatever you wanna call it.
If you can make those more enjoyable by having
a lighter shoe, you're gonna be more encouraged
to get out and do it a little bit more often.
So that's what I like these shoes for.
That said, on a dollar per mile kind of basis,
you're probably gonna go through them fairly regularly,
but it's not gonna break the bank,
because it's not a super expensive shoe
that you have to replace constantly.
So thanks, Michael, founder of Atreyu,
for sending this out.
Really interesting to follow along.
People should go follow, and give it a shot.
I think it's one of the most interesting shoe stories
that's going on out there.
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Later, trainiacs.