Winter Running: Road to Trail Shoes
If you’re a northerner, you know running all the way up until March can become quite a slog. A brutal cycle of snow, rain, ice, and mud makes for annoying, but also dangerous conditions while out running.
(I am a seasoned veteran at slipping on ice during a run, just ask my elbows)
This leads us to needed a certain type of shoe that can respond to pavement, but still have traction for these winter conditions.
Starting out with the Nike Pegasus
Nike released the Pegasus Trail in two versions: one with Gore-Tex, another without.
The Gore-Tex adds a layer of waterproofing and warmth, but if in conditions above freezing, you can find yourself overheating from lack of ventilation. Only buy the Gore-Tex if you *need* it.
Other than that, the shoe is the same fit and feel wise. It has great traction, comfortable upper, and some solid responsiveness.
Weight: 10.4oz
Heel-toe-drop: 9.5mm
New Balance More Trail v3
Featuring New Balance’s Fresh Foam X and a *very* large stack height, you are going to be more than comfortable knocking out the miles in these shoes.
These have solid 2.5mm lugs for traction, while not getting in your way too much. This shoe is springy and trustworthy!
Weight: 11.4oz
Heel-toe-drop: 4mm
There’s two things that matter when it comes to traction:
Surface area of your foot on the ground
Lugs on the outsole
Altra nails it out of the park with their toe boxes, and this helps immensely with traction. The huge size of the toe boxes covers a lot of surface area when putting rubber to road. Combine that with a some solid lugs, and you have a trusty winter running shoe.
Weight: 10.2oz
Heel-Toe-Drop: 0mm
Saucony Peregrine 13
Saucony is one of the most tried and true brands in the running world, and for good reason. They make simple shoes, at affordable prices, that absolutely deliver. I’ve had personal friends run full road-trail ultra marathons in these.
A great workhorse that can be used on the road and trail with ease.
Weight: 9.2oz
Heel-Toe-Drop: 4mm
North Face Enduris
North Face is *the* outdoor brand, and rightly so they have been stepping their shoe lineup in the recent years. This is a solid shoe to take on light trails, roads, and offers good traction for winter-conditioned roads with its 3.5mm lugs.
They usually have some funky colorways available, which is a plus!
Weight: 10.1oz
Heel-toe-drop: 4mm
Adidas Terrex Speed Ultra
A bit of a slept on shoe is the Adidas Terrex. Adidas doesn’t get enough mainstream hype in the rugged trail running world due to their focus on road racing shoes.
This shoe delivers in a different way than others on this list. This shoe is fast on the flat ground, like it feels like you’re wearing a racing flat. Kind of weird to be feeling the ground but still have the traction that comes with it.
It’s definitely a fun combo if you want get some speed on those winter days you don’t entirely trust the public works department to salt your road.
Weight: 9oz
Heel-toe-drop: 8mm
Shoes to be added as I wear more!
-BTR