Shoe Review: Nike LunarGlide+

The first time I looked at it, it doesn't seem quite looks like a pair of running shoes. I thought it was for trail running.

From the design department, it certainly looks good. But the question is whether it could perform as good as it looks.

I took it for a 12km run, and surprisingly it was light. And the time I clocked was just a minute more from the usual Saucony pair I had. I could go faster and it will allow me to go, although the soles looks a bit thick. What I didn't expect was the bouncy feeling it gave. Somehow the bounce could translate to further distance per running step, which makes you go futher.

I also did a few walks in it. Now why would one try test walking? If you are comfortable walking in a pair of shoes, running would be the same. Ever walk in a pair of running shoes and you feel tired just by standing? And walking in it does feel naturally stable. You won't feel tired, even after you had walk miles in this.

I would say it's perfect for training up to 21km, but not for fast road racing. If you ever wanted a pair of running shoes that is light, stable and attractive, it's definitely worthwhile to consider.

Retail Price MYR 399.00

Shoe Review: Nike Lunar Trainer

With countless training shoes in the market, the Nike Lunar Trainer is an attempt to give a different look and feel for runners and athletes out there.

It surely didn't fail in design department. I've had people commenting they looked 'nice.' With such a radical sole design, I thought "What was Nike thinking?" It had a few jagged lines horizontally sidelining the base of the shoe. While it does give the impression of space walking, it certainly kept me wondering on the functionality of it.

I tried out a few runs with it. While the large base sole was a bit needing getting used to it, I soon found that it is quite comfortable when running. Personally, I am not a fan of too much cushioning and support in running shoes. Too many running shoes focused too much on giving the 'running on pillow' feeling, that they lost focus on making the shoes light and responsive enough for natural running gait.

The Nike Lunar Trainer, build with very light materials, managed to keep the pair light. And not to mention was that I was wearing size 8 UK (my usual size is 7.5 UK). So it ought to be heavier but not.

After the run, my legs was still feeling great, and not worn out. Nike claims this is due to the spread of pressure points which spreads out across the shoe, on each step. This would help greatly in cutting down the micro damage when running.

To understand how this works, you've got to dissect the shoe to see what is inside. I would love to do the Shell cut half sort of thingy, where they cut the rally car into half :) But luckily for their brochure, I don't have to. Inside that fluorescent sole is actually the Lunar Lite foam core (white color). And this is the stuff that actually distributes the stress when running over a larger area. It's 30% lighter than it's outer Phylon (fluorescent) core, which makes it ultra light.





Bottom line, it's pretty good. The light weight feeling when running was great, although it did feel like running in sandals because of the large sole. And it's a trainer shoe, so you could use it for other workouts in the gym as well. Should you get it? If you wanted some attention grabbing pair of trainers, then it's not a bad idea to get them.

Retail Price : RM 389.00

New Pair of Shoes: Saucony Grid Fastwitch 3

Woohoo, I just got a new pair of shoe from Choi.

It's the Saucony Grid Fastwitch 3...My current adidas trainer is probably 1000km + mileage and is totally worn off the soles.

But the new pair of shoe must be cursing the hell out of me. For its' virgin run, ehem...I went hiking up the muddy slopes of bukit segar. My feet was still in pain, and I suspect that this injury might take longer than I thought. Walking was all I could do.

The end result was mud all over. Ok...now the shoes are pissed... I promise not to use it for hiking the next time.

Saucony Type A2 Review

Had a run at bukit aman-hartamas (20.22k):

Basic Adidas Trainer: 1:40'26
Saucony Type A2: 1:35'31

If you want to shave minutes off your run, this is the shoe to get. Period.

Get it at www.sauconysports.com

Adidas Seeding Shoes Report

Allright, to be honest, I have just ran once in the shoes. But here's my observance so far.

To summarize, it's too heavy because of all the extra cushioning build in.

Now, when running on flats, I felt it's a bit too comfy. Heavy, but comfy. With each strike, the shoe seems to absorb all the pressure of 1.5 times the body weight. I felt like running on a piece of mattress, which indeed what the inner cushioning is supposed to do, providing that comfy feeling against the unforgiving hard tarmac. And there was indeed a spring movement when the feet start to lift up.

But...because of the weight, and also all the extra cushioning which added more distance between the feet and actual surface, running in them feels very unnatural. Moving...yes, but you feel like your feet is encased or trapped in a thick heavy wrapping.

Now, let me revert back to my basic adidas shoes. I like them for 2 reasons. Light and comfortable enough. I could run with my eyes closed, and not realize I am wearing shoes. I could run uphills without feeling like an anchor had been tied to the back of my shoes. That's the best feeling. You enjoy your run, rather than thinking where to place your feet ahead. And I could sprint in them because they are light. It's not even racing shoes, but it's good enough.

I remembered reading an article, whom the author did a study on running shoes. *
The revealing issue mentioned was runners have more injuries running in more expensive shoes. What the author said was, those expensive running shoes affected our natural running gait. And because we trust those cushioning so much, we were in fact not aware that we were pounding harder on the road, compared with those running barefoot. Besides, he also mentioned, try running barefoot once in awhile.

Now, in my own opinion, shoe manufacturers should build shoes starting from the bottom of our feet, and not mind how much cushioning they are piling. Our feet are build for running. More piling of cushioning creates more distance between the feet and actual surface. The more distance there is, the more unnatural the running will be.

Please read the article below. It might save your own feet.

* ATHLETIC FOOTWEAR AND RUNNING INJURIES

Adidas Seeding Shoes: Test Run

Thanks to pmtey, I got this message to obtain Adidas seeding shoes for running bloggers. We'll have to test run for 30 days, and write an unprejudiced report on them. And yes, you do get to own it as well.

Here's the message:

Hello Guys ,

I have some good news for runners who blogs or having their own webpage.

adidas had brought in some very high performance technical running shoes
to be given away to runners to wear-test them & given us their very
frank & unprejudiced opinion  about the shoes after 30 days of usage.
The sizes are limited and I have them in size UK 5.5 , 7.5 , 8.5 & 10.5.

Those wishing to possess these shoes will have to comply with the
following terms & condition :

1 ) Come to the adidas office to fit the shoes.
2 ) Undertake to give comment about the shoes after 30 days of usage.
3 ) Must be a blogger or has his/her own website.

If you are interested pls make an appointment with me or my partners
Mori Hiroshi as detailed below :


Office address:
adidas Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Block B , Level 4,
Plaza Damansara
45 Media Setia 1
Bukit Damanasara
Kuala Lumpur

Tel Office : 03 - 20804843 / 20804876

Contact Person ( 1 )
Krishnan Karuppan
Mobile : 012 - 3503668
E-Mail : krishnan.karuppan @adidas.com

Contact Person ( 2 )
Mori Hiroshi
E-mail : Hiroshi.mori@adidas.com

This offer expires on 22nd February 2008

Best Regards
Krishnan Karuppan
Head of Running
adidas Malaysia 

So, I head to their office in Bukit Damansara to checkout. And this is what I got: Adidas Adistar 6th edition.

The meeting with Mr Krishnan was pretty informative. Here's a few things I found out. I am a flat footer, and the current Adidas shoes I am using are basic. They aren't even meant for my feet.

And here's what I found out about the Adidas Adistar:

1) At the sole of the shoe is a round piece of purple rubber which absorbs every step you take. Now to put into perspective, he showed me 2 rubber balls. One green, the other purple. The green one bounced when hitting the ground. The purple ball did not. It sort of stuck to the ground where it fell. This material in the purple ball is the same used for the cushioning. The logic is, every time your whole feet hits the ground, you want your feet to stay a bit longer on the ground, absorbing more of the shock of the landing. This reminds me of taking a golf ball and letting them bounced of dirt, and on the tarmac as a comparison. It won't bounce on dirt, but definitely will bounce on tarmac.

2) If you look at the soles of the shoe, they had made a cut at the outer side heel of the shoe. The whole sole is not one piece, but two. This part is prone to wear and tear. I remember my last pair was so bad, almost half of the piece was gone. The rationale of this design is to minimize the damage done to the soles.

3) There's no stitches under the cover of the shoe. So less abrasion to your feet.

4) There's a piece of gray piece of rubber at the front part of the sole. It's meant to propel your motion once you lift your feet of the ground.

5) Under the sole, pointing inwards, is a piece of hard material, labelled QS. This is suppose to help you when taking off from the ground.

6) There's also the common support arch. My current running shoes is devoid of this. So, I'll need to get use to this.

7) The shoe is design to sort of package your feet. I can attest to this. Both my previous Adidas were hugging my feet during running. The feeling is like the shoes are your feet.

Alright, this is a lot of technology build into a shoe. No wonder it costs so much. I am just used to buying shoes, which feels good, and not an idea on what they build into them. The reason I like Adidas was the cushioning. That's it.

But with all that, let the run tell the story. Even though it's a high performance shoe, I'll put some honest opinions on how it feels to run in them.


Looks great, notice the small holes in front. They are meant to cool the shoes.
And also notice the gray material as well.


Some arch support, but not enough according to Mr Krishnan.


This reminds me of Asics. Now you can really see the soles are actually 2 part.

And here is my first Adidas shoes. The soles eaten up a lot. But...this is the pair I ran all my ultras. And it's basic.