#shoeporn: adidas – Springblade

Yes, okay, of course kids. Something fresh. Something out of the bizarre corner. Joggers watch out. Development? Improvement!

Somewhat essentially innovative in the running market raises the eyebrows. Whilst Triathletes appear to jump on every trend pretty easy, the general running community watches for a while and then decides pretty old-fashioned.

When I had the chance to snap a pair of the much discussed adidas Springblade I did not spend to much times wondering about clichés and mythologies. The whole thing looks way to extreme and way to diverse to not try it out.

The response is pretty much the same everywhere you turn up with these kicks. People look at this shoe and smile in mistrust. I was the same. Seeing this massive plastic blades on the bottom of a shoe is certainly something you are not used to. But saying that. Everybody who smiles and joked finally wanted to experience them.

I received the box and took ‘em out straight away. Just the resonance of the clapping spring makes you wonder quite a bit. The feeling of this shoe though is not essentially unusual. I anticipated more rebound, more mechanism and more… more… news, I guess. While running with a forefoot stride there is not too much of a new feeling towards it. The sole with its pattern does the job very solid. There is no sentiment of not feeling safe and safe with this new technique.

Then i just jogged around. More less I ended up doing a fartlek around the local route and the forest trails. I tried to hit the ground with different parts of the sole and different speeds. A solid forefoot strike, a middle one, a hit on the back. Pretty obvious you feel a new stride feeling once you run “middlefoot”. The bounce back though is not overly heavy by any means. Adidas pretty much did a good job balancing the plastic and the resistance of these blades.

In general a great publicity stunt and a enjoyable shoe to train in. Technical trails is not really the biggest friend of the springblade but other than that it is a good adding to the shoe collection. I’m not sure if the shoe is IAAF permitted but it definitely is by myself. Good fun for a lot of money, though.