Due to busy schedule and Chinese New Year Holiday, I have not been able to make an appointment with Mr. Krishnan to join the adidas early seeding program earlier.
Finally on Thursday, 5 February, I managed to meet up Mr. Krishnan, Head of Running, adidas Malaysia. I was presented with adiSTAR Salvation to try on. It is the latest high-end running shoes from adidas. The previous version was named adiSTAR.
The shoes felt heavy when I held it in my hand. After I put them on, the shoes were very comfortable. I can feel the support at the areas near my heel and ankle.
There are several features about adiSTAR Salvation as explained by Mr. Krishnan.
Firstly there is this unique feature called ForMotion. This can be seen as a separate piece of independent sole located just outer side of the heel. This piece of ForMotion can move slightly to stabilize the heel at the moment of impact to the ground. For those runners who are familiar with the word “pronation”, it helps the runners to minimize the overpronation problem. Pronation is simply a normal foot in motion, from foot-strike on the outside of the heel through the inward roll of the foot. Pronation occurs as the foot rolls from the outer edge to the inner edge. Overpronation occurs when the foot tends to roll more from the outer edge landing position to the inner.
ForMotion is located at the heel area of the sole. The black colour sole is adiWEAR.The second important feature is called “adiPRENE”. This is a piece of rubber located at the heel area. As Mr. Krishnan demonstrated, the adiPRENE sample rubber ball does not bounce when it was dropped or thrown to the ground. Instead it stuck right on the ground. The idea was to absorb the enormous impact force so that runners are protected from injury to the heel. Normally, the force of impact could be up to three times the body weight. Therefore this part of the shoes forms the important support for the runners. adiPRENE is found on most adidas running shoes.
ForMotion from the side view. You can see the adiPRENE at the heel area.The third feature found only in this shoes is the “Pro-Moderator”. It is found at the inner medial area of the shoes. This is for the medial support to prevent overpronation problem.
pro-moderator for medial support.
The fourth feature is the “adiPRENE + “. This is located near the area before the toes. The property of this rubber is that it is really bouncy (opposite property of adiPRENE). It helps during the propulsion phase when the foot is about to leave the ground.
The fifth feature is the Torsion System. This is found at inner medial support on the sole (middle area). This feature helps to distribute the forces of impact evenly to the shoes and minimize overpronation.
The Torsion System is seen here on the red and yellow plastic strip at the middle of the sole.The sixth feature is the “GEOFIT +”. This is for anatomical fit and comfort. It can prevent blisters at the ankle area.
Another feature is called “adiWEAR” located at the outer heel area of the sole. This feature is found in most adidas running shoes such as adiZERO. It has better wear-and-tear properties, particularly for runners with overpronation problem.
The last feature explained by Mr. Krishnan, it is NoSeam feature near the front of the shoes. The white and gray stripes were not stitched to the fabric part at the front of the shoes. So it provides a comfortable and irritation-free fit near the inner and outer front of the shoes. This feature can reduce or prevent blisters on some runners.
You can see that there is no stitches at the edge of the white stripe. adiPRENE + can be seen as a piece of gray-coloured rubber at the bottom of the photo.But later when I stopped by two retail adidas shops, I found out that the adidas Salvation sold there did not have the NoSeam feature. The two shops I went was one in Gardens and Sunway Pyramid. See photo below. You can see the stitches at the edge of the stripes.
This photo shows that the stitches at the edge of the white stripe. This was found on adidas Salvation on the shelves in shops in Gardens and Pyramid.
Yesterday (Saturday), I wore the adidas Salvation for my 10km morning training. The course I took was the Mizuno route. I was a little bit scare to run in new shoes; because I never knew what I will get. A wrong pair of shoes can give you problems even after an hour of running.
Once I started running, I can feel that the shoes were very comfortable to run with. The ForMotion portion of the shoes really helps to stabilize the heel to minimize pronation. My right foot tends to overpronate a little bit and I don’t have problem of pronation with my left foot. With the adidas Salvation, I feel my right foot is more stable.
One interesting note about this shoes is that it is quite "noisy". I can clearly hear the sound of the shoes pounding on the ground when it lands on ground. It is not a major issue. For me, it is a sign that the shoes are absorbing the impact and converting the energy of the impact to some other energy such as the sound generated each time my foot land on the hard surface.
I will wear the shoes for more running again soon and give more comments later. As for my first run with adiSTAR Salvation, I felt good running with them.
