Nico's blog

A History of my Altra Running Shoes

A fun one for me, to keep track of the shoes I'm using to run - focusing on Altra.

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Why?

As said above: just for fun, to have a quick way to check which shoes I owned, the ones I liked/disliked and why, how many kms I ran with them, etc.
I change shoes every 600 to 800 kms, which roughly means every 3 to 4 months depending on my mileage.

It may be useful for other folks as well, hence me putting it on my blog.

What's the story with Altra?

I have written a more detailed explanation in this article, where I detail what is Zero Drop, and how I made my transition to forefront running.

Other shoes

I've owned and used other brands, but am sticking to Altra:

• Merrell:
  • Vapor Glove 3 and 4 - love them, perfect minimalist shoes, nice when travelling.
• Topo:
  • Magnifly 2: Zero-drop shoes à la Altra, but not super easy to find in France.

Shoes

Altra Impulse (2017/2018)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 998 Kms
• Period: Sep-2017 -> Sep-2019
• Rating: My very first Altras, I loved them - they were super comfortable and providing good cushioning.
  I loved them so much that I kept them for a while (hence the 2 years lifespan), using them once a month at the end.

Altra Paradigm 3.0 (2018)

• Profile: Road/Trail
• Mileage: 1,013 Kms
• Period: Apr-2018 -> Sep-2019
• Rating: First pair of Paradigm (I am at my 3rd now). Love this model, perfect for long runs thanks to the good cushioning.
  Also the shoes I rang the longest with!

Altra Solstice (2018)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 931 Kms
• Period: Jun-2018 -> Dec-2019
• Rating: Bought this pair in the US. Super light, but nothing remarkable otherwise.

Altra Kayenta (2019)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 903 Kms
• Period: Oct-2019 -> Oct-2020
• Rating: The only pair I almost returned as the feeling I had when trying them was weird - the toebox is narrower than other Altras.
  In the end I kept them for 1 year and liked them, as they were both light and providing good cushioning/comfort.

Altra Paradigm 4.0 (2020)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 851 Kms
• Period: Feb-2020 -> Oct-2020
• Rating: 2nd pair of Paradigm - still love them!

Altra Provision 4.0 (2020)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 652 Kms
• Period: Aug-2020 -> Mar-2021
• Rating: First pair of shoes I'm retiring not because of too many runs/Kms, but because there was a hole on the left shoe! Super annoying especially since I barely ran 650 Kms with them, which is not much compared with others.

Altra Escalante 2.5 (2020)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 656 Kms
• Period: Oct-2020 -> May-2021
• Rating: The Escalante are quite famous so I wanted to try them. Don't get me wrong: they're super nice and perfect for road running/racing up to half-marathon, but once again I was upset when I got the exact same issue as with the Provision above: a hole (I think it was again the left shoe, but I might be wrong).

Altra Superior 4.0 (2020)

• Profile: Trail
• Mileage: 495 Kms (as of July 2021)
• Period: Jan-2021 -> ...
• Rating: My first pair of proper trail running shoes - full review here. TL;DR: I love them and will probably replace them with newer Superiors once they're dead.

Altra Paradigm 4.5 (2021)

• Profile: Road/Trail
• Mileage: 446 Kms (as of July 2021)
• Period: Mar-2021 -> ...
• Rating: 3rd pair of Paradigm, what could go wrong? :)

Altra Escalante Racer (2021)

• Profile: Road
• Mileage: 107 Kms (as of July 2021)
• Period: Jun-2021 ->
• Rating: I replaced my Escalante 2.5 with the "Racer" version. So far so good, let's see how the mileage goes...

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Tags: Running