{"id":586,"date":"2014-07-08T21:10:19","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T16:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/professorontherun.wordpress.com\/?p=586"},"modified":"2014-07-08T21:10:19","modified_gmt":"2014-07-08T16:10:19","slug":"altra-olympus-gear-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/professorontherun.com\/?p=586","title":{"rendered":"Altra Olympus – Gear Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in late-April the Mrs. allowed me a 3-months early birthday present – a pair of Altra Olympus trail shoes. I was about to run the Zion Trail Ragnar (read about how much “fun”<\/a> that was) and hoped that the much raved about max cushioning would help ameliorate impact on some of my over-use injuries. I have now put ~100 miles in them over varied terrain and thought it would be worth a review.<\/em><\/p>\n

Altra Olympus<\/a><\/h1>\n

Stack Height – 36 mm
\nWeight – appx. 11.6 ozOffset \/ Drop – 0 mmHeel Width – 94 mm
\nMidfoot Width – 120 mm
\nMSRP: $130<\/p>\n

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Grade: B+<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

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The max-cushioning movement has been picking up steam apparently over the last few years, and with a lot of ultra marathon runners swearing by the Hoka One-One shoes, the Olympus was Altra’s first foray into the max-cushioning market. Altra is known for 2 major hallmarks: 1. Zero drop; and 2. The wide toe box. The zero drop means there is no mm difference between the heal and toe – whereas most running shoes (and all shoes in general) have a raised heal. With some of their other shoes (I have put in a few miles in a hand-me-down pair of Lone Peak 1.5’s) this requires a transition and takes a bit for your calf muscles and Achilles tendons to get used to them. With the larger stack on these, however, I found little trouble making the transition.\u00a0 For me, the wide toe box was the bigger selling point. With more room for toes, the foot is able to splay out wider. I found this gave me better stability, but did lead to them feeling a bit sloppy when I was descending challenging terrain. As for the max-cushioning, I love it. They feel so nice – so squishy. I have run ~100 miles in them so far. I have taken them in mud and snow, dry rocky and dusty trail, even terrain and up mountains, and even 25 miles or so on pavement. These have been on short 3-4 mile run and longer 8-10 mile runs. 100 miles in, I have come to some decisions. They are great for easy – medium difficulty terrain, but are not the best choice for overly technical trails. I will continue wearing them on long runs (to save my joints and feet a bit) and on trails that don’t require more aggressive tread or tighter fit. When doing runs that involve climbing up and coming down – with little lateral traverses or “even” ground…I will pick a different shoes.\u00a0 Overall, however, I am quite please with the purchase. They will be my workhorse for a lot of miles.<\/p>\n

Pros:<\/p>\n