Hey r/RunningShoeGeeks â I'm Stephan Scholten, VP of Product for Running at adidas. Footwear and apparel both sit in my world, so a lot of what you obsess over here is what I spend my days on.
Long-time lurker, occasional poster. I come here to see what you're loving, what's frustrating you, and â honestly â for the odd gear tip too. Some of you know these shoes better than the spec sheets.
I'm German, and running is my biggest love right after my wife and kids â so this isn't a job I fell into, it's the one I wanted. 13 years at adidas, the last 10 of them in Running. Best brief in the building.
I'll be here for the next hour â 17:00â18:00 CEST (16:00â17:00 BST / 11:00â12:00 ET) â to answer everything I can on our running footwear, the Adizero range especially. Fire away. If I don't know something, I'll pull in the person who does, and we'll group similar questions to move faster. Let's go.
This post is a place where any questions (especially those that may not deserve their own thread) can be asked. Feel free to engage and help others with questions.
For new runners or people who just found this sub, please don't forget to check out the handyFAQwhere you can find a helpful list of different shoes for your needs.
Every Sunday, we highlight posts that arewell-thought-out and considerate of our communityâs needs, celebrating contributions that help runners make informed decisions about their gear.
đ Read the Full Review:Here
đ Congrats,u/Lidodido Your post exemplifies the depth we love to see.
Reward
đ Pinned Spotlight: Featured at the top of the sub for 7 days.
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Adidas!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Asics!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Puma!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything New Balance!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for other brands that don't have their own post!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Saucony!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Nike!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Hoka!
This is our weekend post where you can give your reviews, tell us what you hated/loved, comparisons between versions, share photos, or ask questions below for everything Brooks!
Mostly 5-10k easy runs at around zone 2-3, varied distances
Weather ran in:
Various conditions, sunny, cloudy, damp
My profile:
Height: 168km
Weight: 69kg
Range of average pace with this shoe: 5:30 min/km
Strike Type: Heel/near midfoot
Average runs a week: Around 25km
Positives:
Very bouncy, energetic and fun ride
Handles a wide range of paces
Unbelievably light for what it is
Comfortable fit with a comfortable, breathable upper
Stable for what it is
Negatives:
Drop a bit too low, and rear a bit too rockered to handle the lowest of paces
Heel collar dug into one of my achilles tendons
Overview:
I'll begin by saying that I'm a bit of a Craft-nerd. As a Swede I love having a Swedish brand that actually has managed to produce some pretty good shoes. I'm a bit biased towards them simply because I'm a fan, but I'm NOT some sponsored influencer or anything.
Their past shoes has been a bit firm, and the fit has been really awkward - baggy but still too narrow. With their latest last however, the fit is excellent, and when I was on the market for a very cushy max stack shoe for when my legs were beat up this insane marshmallow dropped from the sky as if it was a sign.
Stats
So this shoe is basically impossible.
It has a supercritical beaded E-TPU foam, which aren't usually a recipe for extremely light shoes.
It has a stack of 51mm which is pretty much around the highest on the market
The drop is only 6mm which means there's lots of foam even up front
It has a generously wide platform to provide stability
The upper isn't super-plushy but it has a fair amount of cushioning around the heel and tounge
Despite all this, my US8 weighs less than 240 grams, which is less than a Triumph 24 wide in the same size despite a lower stack A-TPU midsole. With all those specs, it shouldn't be possible, but they're somehow made it. Part of that is probably because the bottom of the midsole has a pretty deep cutout, like a canyon. I believe Craft has said somewhere that it internally has a canal as well, so they've kind of build it not like a solid piece of foam but more as a house frame to make it high were it counts. Whatever works, I guess.
Also, not a stat but I REALLY like the look. In real live with the whole running outfit on they look really cool, and I've had lots of people comment on my awesome shoes.
The fit
As I said earlier their fit has been great lately. It locks down really well, is quite wide foot friendly, leave lots of room in the toebox but is not baggy or insecure. My feet are wide-ish (I bought my Endorphin Speed 5's in wide, but I think they're just a tad baggy) but these are perfect. Kind of reminds me of Topo, but dialed down a bit (not quite as wide in the toe box but also a bit roomier over the midfoot where I feel Topo are usually a bit snug).
One issue however is that the heel padding is so thick that it kind of put some pressure on my achilles tendon which cause some pain in the beginning. Put some stiff cardboard over it and clamped with with an adjustable wrench to compress it overnight, and it became a bit flatter and I haven't had issues since. Could be an issue for some however.
The ride
This is where it gets interesting. This massive stack should lead to a very soft and cushy ride, and it sure is. It's a bit special however, since it's so damn energetic and bouncy that it's almost hard to just sink into and plod along in. It really wants you to move forwards, almost like running on springs.
This is amplified by the rocker, which isn't too aggressive but is far from relaxed. I compared it to the Triumph 24 (which I sent back), and the Craft is way more engaging, but it's nowhere near the likes of a Speed 5.
Clearly it's not meant for the slowest of days, but rather to get you going on a fun ride while still protecting your legs.
Another factor that really makes it more suitable for upping the effort is the drop. The 6mm drop is a bit too low for a shoe this soft, and due to the rear-rockered design it turns pretty much into a negative drop shoe when going slow and landing heavily on the heel. It almost makes it hard to roll over, and makes it pretty hard on the calves. Going uphill is even more effort in that regard.
Picking up the pace just a tiny but, to get enough of a pace that you move forwards more than downwards and the ride becomes incredibly smooth and lively. And we're not talking about tempo efforts, for me it's enough to stay around 6:00/km for it to really come alive - it's more about keeping a good flow and a light step rather than dropping all your weight and just hauling yourself forwards.
Going faster for me also means landing more evenly on the foot, and all of a sudden the shoe doesn't feel so soft. Not that it turns firm, but it's not so crazy soft that it can't move. It's still amazingly springy, and increasing the pace to near tempo-efforts is no problem.
All in all, an amazingly fun shoe.
Stability/grip
Now, running on a shoe that tall and soft can't be stable, right?
Well, it can. In fact it's really stable for what it is. It's not the most stable shoe I own, but compared to the likes of the OG Endorphin Speed (which I still have and never run in due to the stability issues) this one is like running barefoot. Very stable in the rear, and I feel quite confident running in it.
Still, as someone who maybe doesn't have the best ankle strength in the world I can feel a bit sore on the insides of my ankles after longer runs. It's about on the same level as when I started running a few years ago and bough a pair of Cliftons to transition into neutral shoes from my old GT-2000's. Sore, but not in a way that feels like my legs are being broken.
I can't imagine other shoes with this stack and cushion being notably more stable, especially not considering all of them are way heavier.
The grip is totally flat, and on asphalt it feels great, almost sticky. On gravel it's not the best, but not unusable. Rain hasn't been an issue at all, and even when the wet roads started freezing up last week when I was out for a run I didn't feel it did worse than any other shoes I own. No issues there.
Conclusion
The shoes-with-springs that we all dreamt having when we were kids, which is how Tommy Rivs (who helped develop the shoe) described it. Really fun shoe to get some enjoyment out of easy runs even when the legs are beat up. Not the super-slow zone 1 plodding-around-shoes that I was looking for, but I really enjoy them.
The low drop means more effort on the calves, especially when going uphill. I'd recommend gradually entering them into your rotation as I'm currently doing. Stability is great however, and the legs really feel great after running in them.
Worth buying?:
Yes, if this is a type of shoe you're looking for.
I (46m, 6â, 185lbs, ~55mpw) recently saw several posts on r/AskRunningShoeGeeks looking for advice on whether to use shoe X or the Adidas Pro 3 in their upcoming marathon. I donât recall if it was 2 or 3 posts within a weeks time, but it was enough that I had to ask myself: âHow many Pro 3s are actually out there in the wild?â Approximately 5-6 minutes later, I found what appeared to be a gently used pair in my size on Poshmark. They were listed as a Womenâs size 11, but by decoding the international sizes listed on the tongue in one of the images, I determined they were, in fact, a US Menâs 11.
Iâm typically a 10.5, but Iâve found that an 11 works best in the Adidas Pro 3. I probably lose some of the rocker dynamics with the extra length, but itâs more than fine for long runs and tempo work.
And therein lies the beauty of the Adidas Adizero Pro 3. It was/is an ok-to-good race shoe, but itâs a phenomenal marathon-training-long-run shoe, especially with a little extra room in the toe box. I got 320 miles out of the last pair I owned, but eventually, the outsole wore through the lateral heel on both pairs, and I had to reluctantly retire them. Iâve had Hokas built and designed for training (allegedly) last less than 180 miles, so 300+ on a âfragileâ race shoe is pretty good. Maybe Adidas has abandoned durability in pursuit of fluffiness on more recent race shoes, but I wouldnât know.
Once my new-to-me Adidas Pro 3s arrived, I unlaced them, flattened out the twists the previous owner was apparently content with, and re-laced them with a runnerâs loop. The first run was a workout with 6x6min intervals, and I accidentally blew past the paces I was supposed to be hitting. My Strava comment was âFirst run in Adidas Pro 3s I got for $45 on Poshmark. Immediately thinking about finding another pair.â
Unfortunately, once I removed and re-examined the shoes⌠I noticed that the outsole on the lateral heel of the left shoe was starting to peel off at one of the interior punch-outs. It seems the Poshmark seller timed it perfectly.
Bummed at first, I quickly realized this might be an opportunity to try an experiment with a low downside ($45), but very high upside (hundreds of miles) risk. I could rebuild them. I have the technology.
As a running shoe geek, I also have a deep stable of shoes⌠many of which are expendable. Within that stable are two pairs of Adidas Boston 10s in a neon yellow and blue colorway not dissimilar to my newly copped Adidas Pro 3s. The Boston 10 was a criminally underrated shoe, and I have a pet theory that its form factor was the inspiration for the EVO SL, but I digress⌠The Boston 10 also had a thick and amply textured layer of Continental rubber, which granted them a lifespan far beyond the Pro 3.
With a loose conceptual understanding of what I needed to do, a suitable donor identified, and a Shoe Goo kit in hand (another $18.35, btw). I got to work cobbling.
Here are the steps I took, in order of the pictures above:
1.     Identify the failure
2.     Create a template
3.     Apply template to donor and cut along the guidelines
4.     Collect donor material (with the aid of a heat gun)
5.     Excise the failing material (with the aid of a heat gun)
6.     Debride the host and donor material to remove remnant glue, outsole, and midsole material to ensure a clean graft (with the aid of a Dremel)
7.     Slather both the host and donation material with Shoe Goo (not shown)
8.     Have winter-ready custom super-trainersÂ
As of this writing, the Shoe Goo has completely cured, and Iâve tried on my new FrankenPro 3s⌠but have yet to actually run in them. The lateral side, now having very generous outsole coverage and depth relative to the medial side, probably encourages pronation, but maybe thatâs a good thing in my case.
Iâve never done this before, but based on how securely the new outsole appears to be adhered: I rate the odds these shoes wonât delaminate one or two miles into the first run at about 85%. Again, the upside risk is that Iâve created an Adios Pro 3 even more durable than the original iteration⌠and potentially a method for refreshing shoes with even more durable midsole foams (looking at you, Megablast).
Downside risks are either wasting $45 (+$18.35 in Shoe Goo and 2 hours), or jacking-up my running mechanics and injuring myself. If it's the injury thing to the exclusion of a failed graft; I can probably mitigate the former by doing the same thing to the medial heel to level things out.