Adidas Takumi Sen Boost- The World's Best Shoe on Paper? Review

The Adidas Takumi Sen Boost caught my gaze a few months back when it was released alongside the very heavy (323g) and overhyped Ultra Boost. So far, it is the lightest shoe to come out of the Boost range (170g). Unfortunately almost no-one has heard of this potentially brilliant shoe (Except perhaps Alistair Brownlee at Yokohama- see below). Interestingly, no-one at London was wearing them as far as I could see (Kipsang, Kimetto, Mutai, Mutai were all wearing Adios Boost 2).

Alistair Brownlee sports the new Takumi Sen Boost, Gomez has the Ekiden (Japenese theme?)

So, while I think its lack of wearing among the elite marathoners for now might have let it down, I think that Adidas really haven't been pushing this model (certainly compared to the Adios or the Ultra Boost) and that has really made it invisible.

Why haven't I bought it yet? Well, I'm waiting for the price in the UK to come down from £100+ and since this *unpopular* shoe hasn't really been very fluid in pricing terms. However, I am a fan of theory and by my reckoning, this model has all the right stats to suggest it will be a success:

A study by Jason Franz, Corbyn Wierzbinski, and Rodger Kram at the University of Colorado showed that every 100g of running shoe increases VO2 by 1%.

A team at University of Calgary headed by Jay Worobets found that identical shoes apart from midsole (Adidas Boost vs EVA) differed in VO2 by 1% in favour of the Boost on treadmill and ground. The shoe was not given however the mechanical properties of the Boost (globular structure polyurethane) back this up- a running warehouse rep has confirmed the material to have the best 'energy return' of all the midsole materials.

So, we know that shaving 100g off and using Boost EACH give you 1% lower oxygen consumption (about equivalent to 1% performance). What else is there to give this shoe the edge?

When I first use the Adiprene Adios 2 (the pre-boost one) I really liked how stiff it was. Whether this is placebolic nonsense or not I don't know, but I felt that the 'pop' really helped and offset some of that weight (210g). By all accounts, this is also a fairly stiff shoe (as is common with all Adidas shoes really). According to research published in 2006 by Jean-Pierre Roy and Darren Stefanyshyn, a running shoe should be stiff but not so much as a sprint spike (sorry for being fairly numberless with this, but we will use it qualitatively later, you'll see...) so given that this shoe is usually described as 'stiff for a racing flat' (racing flats are usually flexible) you'd think this would fit the bill.

So, given that this is the lightest Boost shoe, how light would you need to make a shoe to give the same performance? Well, since a 100g loss gives the same 1% benefit, we'll go with 70g!!!! The lightest running shoe on the market at the moment is the Wave Universe 5 at 79g which I happen to own and have reviewed: http://runshoereviews.blogspot.com/2014/11/mizuno-wave-universe-5-review.html .

Since the shoe also has good stiffness, all the evidence points to this being the best shoe for short distances, but since it is also a little heavier, they've snuck some extra cushioning in there for those last miles (my calves hated me after a HM in the Universe 5s) and so Adidas markets this as a marathon shoe for faster people so this could be the best shoe for sub-ultra distances all.

Keep an eye out for the full review of the Adidas Takumi Sen Boost when I buy it (come on sportshoes.com, get that price down!) and perhaps sooner a successful life extension of the fragile Mizuno Universe 5s.

It should also be noted they have a 6mm drop- at the lower end of acceptable for fast people in a marathon.

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All the best,

Hart