Trail Running Shoes (Read 1072 times)

Hello RA community. I am currently training for a marathon and and tired of running on asphalt, thus I have decided to hit the trails. I've never done trailwork, so I need some suggestions for trail shoes. I'm currently running in Saucony Guide 2's, a stability shoe for my mild overpronation. Runner's World had a look into trail shoes this month and I liked to look of the New Balance 875. So, I guess I'm asking what I should be looking for a in a trail shoe...comfort? fit? cushioning? stability? Looks? All of the above? THANKS!!!!

What are your trails like? Smooth? Rocky? Flat? Rolling? Steep? Off-camber? For smoother trails that aren't too steep, a road shoe is generally fine. For the really gnarly stuff (steep and rocky), you want something that's up to the task. A lot of shoes will work for the terrain in-between. I recently tested a bunch of shoes for Outside Mag, and here were my 3 favorite trail shoes: Patagonia Release - My favorite shoe for the really gnarly trails. If it's steep, rocky, rooty, loose, and off-camber, this is the shoe I want to be wearing. Unfortunately it feels clunky on smooth trails and the roads. Brooks Cascadia 4 - My top pic for non-technical trails. Super comfy and very, very smooth. Not enough support for the steeper trails, though. Adidas Adistar Revolt - If I had only one pair of trail shoes, this would be the pair. They do everything extremely well. Only drawback is that they're a few ounces heavier than I'd like.

Haven't run trails in a while as my schedule these days wont allow me a drive to the trails, but when I do, I run in Salomon XA-Pro 3D. Pretty light as trail shoes go, and failry comfortable for me. I run fairly technical trails and never had issues with these.

+1 for the Brooks Cascadia 4. I found they gave great traction in the mud, going up hill or down. Very comfortable from the first run on. Great if your run is a combination of trail and road.

I love my Solomon XT-Wings. I believe they just came out with a new model of them. I wanted a second pair of shoes while I was training for my marathon, and I did a lot of my long runs on trails. I picked these in particular because the reviews I read said they were ok on roads as well. They have just about as much flex to them as my Asics GT-2140's that are my primary road pair, but they've also been great on really rocky trails. I also think they're pretty awesome looking just for wearing out and about...I probably shouldn't but I do.

I have a pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASRs for on/off road runs and a pair of Vasque Aether Techs for the muddy stuff. I like each quite a bit.

you can find inov8s at www.zombierunners.com

hahaha. yeah. that's what I meant!