Some shoes are great for the road, but not so good on trails. Other shoes are great on trails, but not so good on roads. If you run primarily on one or the other, then as long as you have a shoe that works well for what you do, that's great. A lot of runners though run on both road and trails on the same run, and it's really handy to have shoes that perform well on both. I run on trails quite frequently- if possible, whenever I don't have a speed workout I try to do all the rest of my runs on trails. There are a few trails that I frequent- a couple of them that I drive to, but the once I spend the most time on I run to- one is 3km from my house by road, and the other has about 5km of road to get to it, so I've found that it can be very beneficial to have shoes that perform well on both the road and the trail.
Over the past couple of years I've done most of my road running in the Saucony Kinvara, Brooks Pure Flow and Pure Connect, and Altra Instinct. I've taken all of those shoes off road at some point, and with the exception of the Altra Instinct, I've found that they don't work so well on trails unless the trail is very smooth. The problem isn't so much with the tread- if the trails are dry and packed, road tread is fine- it's the stability that can be an issue. Road shoes are great when you're running on a flat surface, but when you get to spots where there is any unevenness, you really can feel the side to side roll. The Instinct though is different- it's quite low and flat, and has very little side to side roll at all. As long as the trail is not slippery, that shoe is really great on trails.
For an all around, all year "door to trail" shoe though I really do think you need something with a bit more of a trail specific tread, though the one drawback with that is that trail shoes tend to use softer rubber for better grip, which wears down faster than the road specific soles on road running shoes. Over the past 2 years I've found a couple of really great shoes for bridging the gap between road and trail- the Brooks Pure Grit, the Inov8 F-Lite 230, and most recently, the Altra Lone Peak.
As with anything, when you're trying to find the best of both worlds, there are going to be trade offs, and the three shoes I'm going to write about each have their own strengths, and also their drawbacks when it comes to being an all around door to trail shoe.
First off, the Inov8 F-Lite 230.
This is a great shoe. It's very low to the ground with minimal padding underfoot, and not a super aggressive tread but definitely more than a standard road shoe.
Over the past couple of years I've done most of my road running in the Saucony Kinvara, Brooks Pure Flow and Pure Connect, and Altra Instinct. I've taken all of those shoes off road at some point, and with the exception of the Altra Instinct, I've found that they don't work so well on trails unless the trail is very smooth. The problem isn't so much with the tread- if the trails are dry and packed, road tread is fine- it's the stability that can be an issue. Road shoes are great when you're running on a flat surface, but when you get to spots where there is any unevenness, you really can feel the side to side roll. The Instinct though is different- it's quite low and flat, and has very little side to side roll at all. As long as the trail is not slippery, that shoe is really great on trails.
For an all around, all year "door to trail" shoe though I really do think you need something with a bit more of a trail specific tread, though the one drawback with that is that trail shoes tend to use softer rubber for better grip, which wears down faster than the road specific soles on road running shoes. Over the past 2 years I've found a couple of really great shoes for bridging the gap between road and trail- the Brooks Pure Grit, the Inov8 F-Lite 230, and most recently, the Altra Lone Peak.
As with anything, when you're trying to find the best of both worlds, there are going to be trade offs, and the three shoes I'm going to write about each have their own strengths, and also their drawbacks when it comes to being an all around door to trail shoe.
First off, the Inov8 F-Lite 230.
This is a great shoe. It's very low to the ground with minimal padding underfoot, and not a super aggressive tread but definitely more than a standard road shoe.
Out of the 3 I'm reviewing today, this probably fits the definition of "hybrid" best- not stellar on the road, and not stellar on the trails, but quite passable on both. The rubber seems to be a bit more durable than on some of the other trail shoes, so I haven't worn down the tread too much. The lugs are good enough to give you some grip, but when it's really wet or muddy these don't stick to the trail quite as much as the others. One other thing to note is that there is very little padding underfoot, which has its advantages and disadvantages- if you do a long road run your feet might feel a bit beat up, but on the trails it lets you have a great ground feel.
Next is the Brooks Pure Grit. This shoe is great- super comfortable and fast feeling, pretty good grip on muddy trails, but the softer rubber wears down somewhat quickly if you use it on the road a lot.
Next is the Brooks Pure Grit. This shoe is great- super comfortable and fast feeling, pretty good grip on muddy trails, but the softer rubber wears down somewhat quickly if you use it on the road a lot.
One benefit of this shoe is that it feels like a road shoe when you're running on the road- it has a very smooth ride, and because of that I've been using it for a lot of my winter training this year. Even doing speedwork I'd forget that I have trail shoes on, and they are comfortable and cushioned enough that I'd feel confident to wear them for a very long road run.
The third one is the Altra Lone Peak 1.5. I've just started using this shoe, but it feels great and seems very promising. Out of the 3 shoes I'm reviewing today, this one seems to be the most trail specific- it has the most aggressive tread, and a fairly firm ride. I don't think I'd want to wear these for a road marathon like I could with the Brooks Pure Grit, but for a few km back and forth to the trails I think they'll do just fine, and once I get on the trails, they'll be great. My only concern is how well the aggressive tread will hold up on the pavement. I know though that these were designed to be trail shoes and that's where they will excel, and I have a feeling that I'll be reaching for these more often than not when I'm headed out for a trail run
The third one is the Altra Lone Peak 1.5. I've just started using this shoe, but it feels great and seems very promising. Out of the 3 shoes I'm reviewing today, this one seems to be the most trail specific- it has the most aggressive tread, and a fairly firm ride. I don't think I'd want to wear these for a road marathon like I could with the Brooks Pure Grit, but for a few km back and forth to the trails I think they'll do just fine, and once I get on the trails, they'll be great. My only concern is how well the aggressive tread will hold up on the pavement. I know though that these were designed to be trail shoes and that's where they will excel, and I have a feeling that I'll be reaching for these more often than not when I'm headed out for a trail run
No shoe is ever going to be all things to all people, and that's fine. When I need to do a track workout, I'm not going to reach for my Lone Peaks. When I need to do a steep, muddy trail race, I'm not going to reach for my Brooks Pure Connects- that's why shoe companies make different shoes for specific needs. For those days though when I know I'm going to be covering both road and trails, it's nice to have the option of a shoe that will work well for either, and I think these three are great examples of that. I'm sure that there are many other shoes out there that fit this same description, and it's worth finding something that works for you, and that you're comfortable reaching for before heading out on a run where you don't know where your feet may take you.