It’s been a while since I’ve been super excited about a new shoe company, and here it is... Atreyu Running Company! Here’s the quick review. COMFY! Man, it’s been a while since I’ve ran in a shoe that brought it back to the basics. It’s true that less is often more.
Plenty of room! The uppers are nice and spacious. There's plenty of room for my toes on impact. The fit of Atreyu Running Shoes is one of the most simple designs of any running shoe I’ve tried. Slipping it on, it's immensely comfortable, soft, and light. The lightweight, seamless upper is great, and fits true to size. There is nothing extra to add weight. The shoelaces are nice and stay in place vs, various other companies who make them either too long, too skinny, or too hollow. The tongue of the shoe stays put where it needs to be and rests comfortably on top of the foot.
I haven't had any issues with my socks slipping out of the heel either (to note; I do wear Feetures, though). The heel cup, or lack there of, has not been a problem as the microfelt material used inside the upper holds tight to my ankle. I had a few issues with my foot sliding inside of shoe when making sharp turns; however this isn't something that has made me toss them.
6mm offset; with a one-piece EVA midsole. This is a nice smooth ride!! For me, they are the staple trainer I can keep with me at any time, a very versatile shoe. They're light, flexible, and dry out quick.
Atreyu Running Shoes are inexpensive and straightforward, which is what the running industry needs.
Across the Terrains:
More importantly; how do they feel across different terrains? For me, being a trail runner living in Tampa Bay, it is a reality of life to constantly be mixing up runs from the streets, sidewalks, trails, grass, and the track.
Road and Sidewalk Running: It's a soft and smooth ride from runs ranging from 4 to 6 mile casual runs to the 12 mile+ long runs. It also feels great for longer progression runs too. This is definitely complimented due to the midsole; a slab of EVA. That's it. I think the midsole is an enjoyable and often quite a pep in the step type of ride. Some may say, it feels smooth like butter.
On the Track: I will say, on the track, you still don't lose anything when running at a high turnover. It feels good on the track, seems to be a direct 1:1 pick-up and put-down ratio of the shoe. It’s firm yet, cushioned.
I ran a bunch of different paces, but I felt in good stride at all of them which is really where the fun of running on the track is, so that is a big plus from the warm up, sprints, progressive build-ups, and cool down.
Whereas the Carbon Plate model, the Artist, will give you that extra push, the standard model does just fine.
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Trail Running: As these shoes are mainly designed for the roads, they do handle pretty well on the trail. The light weight absorption is a nice feel and you really don't loose to much grip. However the case, I am running on Florida trails that mainly comprise of sand, pine needles, occasional roots, and low to mid level technical difficulty (nothing like out in Colorado, North Georgia, or the Carolinas where I have raced and ran before).
Durability:
The durable factor of these shoes in actually surprising. The outsole is comprised of only exposed EVA on the outsole. Atreyu specifically declined adding a rubberizing agent on purpose, to avoid redundancy and to maintain a lightweight shoe. With that, I had assumed this would cause the shoe to breakdown a lot faster than many others, not the case. After 100 miles, the shoe has still maintained the majority of its outsole.
The Hoka One One Rincon in this case is very similar, however, the outsole on that comparable model breaks down far faster.
After the miles, with a lot shoes, the foam will become decompressed and slightly hardened vs. that brand new soft feel. At 100 miles, this model has yet to show much decompression.
As a general rule, the life of a running shoe is roughly 300 - 400 miles, although it varies with your body weight, biomechanics, gait and the surface on which you run. So far, these shoes are looking good to hold to that.
Running When Wet and How Fast Does It Dry?
Lets be honest, this matters. Even though I do rotate shoes.. we all hate waiting for days for a pair to dry out. Wet shoes and how they feel is a big make it or break it for me.
I ran on a cross country course in the morning dew and the shoes were soaked; these shoes do maintain its light weight feel when soaked, which is great. Running while wet, the inside don't feel overly soggy either. You still have a good grip as well.
As for the Florida heat and sweating, my feet also get SOAKED. Again, these do maintain that light weight feel and don't get sloshy inside.
For drying, I typically just leave my shoes outside on the porch and even in the Florida humidity, they're good to go the next morning.
I have previously ran in shoes that just felt like sand bags when wet, so I am thankful this isn't the case.
Price Point:
Here's just one of those things that may stop people from buying new shoes. The price. NOT the case here; the cost is $75 for the pair. I am always weary of buying shoes without having tried them on first, at this price point I was able to safely take that risk on my first pair.
Overall:
This shoe is definitely a sleeper until people are wearing them. It will be interesting to see where the company goes as more runners compete and train in them.
It is definitely a high value (for a reasonable price) contribution to the running shoe industry for good reason, and the incarnation of the shoe provides the lightweight, high-performing comfort at its simplest form that runners have come to expect.