I had the chance to try the new Adidas Solarboost shoes on two separate occasions. I got to run with them in a park in Den Haag and through the city of Den Bosch. The Solarboost is a neutral shoe with a 10 mm drop. Adidas claims that these shoes were inspired by NASA technology, but how that translates to this shoe never became very clear to me. I have briefly ran in the Ultraboost before, but besides that I never really got a chance to try the Adidas boost series until now.
When I first put the Solarboost on I wasn’t so sure if this was such a good idea. They initially weren’t that comfortable when walking around in them. But luckily that all changed quite quickly while running, after a while they are actually really comfortable. I’m used to max cushioned shoes, so the amount of foam underneath this shoe didn’t seem like a lot to me, but it does cushion well. I especially like the cushioning and responsiveness of the shoe when you have to stop and then start running again, for example when you have to wait for a traffic light, the cushioning is great when you push off and start gaining speed again. Although I didn’t find the shoes cushioned enough while running on cobblestones, I could feel every one of those.
Adidas has completely changed the upper on this shoe and it now has a pretty roomy toebox (which I like) made of stretchy material, but with plastic strips on top to still give it some shape. My forefoot is quite wide, but I did find I had enough room in the toebox. The mid foot part of the upper is a lot more snug and adds some supports to this shoe together with the guide rail strip around the shoe. The Solarboost is partially made with recycled plastic thread, which is obviously a plus.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to keep the shoes (although maybe that’s for the best since the space underneath my bed is completely taken up by running shoes…), which means that I didn’t get to test them on long runs or test the durability of the shoe (which I’m actually quite curious about). Adidas claims that the boost foam doesn’t deteriorate with time, but only with use. So if you were to leave them in the back of your closet for two years that shouldn’t be a problem. The foam only starts to deteriorate after 500 km of running. Again, I can’t conform or deny this since I didn’t get to run that many kilometers in the shoes.
In summary, I did find the Adidas Solarboost responsive and the upper was comfortable, although the upper was a bit warm. I did like the cushioning, but I’m not sure if it would be enough cushioning for long runs. And I do like the colours it comes in (not your typical “you’re female so you must want a hot pink running shoe” kind of colours).
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