adidas organizational culture center | Adidas Solar Glide review

Adidas Solar Glide review

The Solar Glide is a good-not-great model by Adidas. After 300 miles of road running and around 40 miles of trail running, the upper of the right shoe has torn in half. I have never experienced this kind of tear before.

I did not notice the tear while running, so it may have happened because of some outside force, but that seems unlikely as a parallel tear has started further down the toe.

Up to this point, the Solar Glides have been a consistent, responsive trainer with only minor issues with the fit and ride.

womens adidas vigor blue blush pants black friday

I trained for and ran the 2018 Twin Cities marathon in the Adidas Ultraboost. By comparison, the Solar Glide model feels lighter but less stable underfoot than the Ultraboost.

After two months of running with the Solar Glide, I bought insoles to correct the pain I was feeling in my knee (possibly a strain in my patellar tendon?).

This solved the problem, but the insole I chose added substantial weight to the shoe. I never had this same issue with the Bostons or the Ultraboosts.

My half marathon time in the Solar Glides fell substantially compared to the Boston model. I trained for and ran the same race, the Hyannis Half Marathon in both shoes: the Bostons in 2018 and the Solar Glides in 2020.

For both races at the end of February, I started training at the beginning of January with very similar baseline fitness. In 2018, my time was 1:26:22 while in 2020, my time was 1:30:35.

I would not recommend these shoes for racing, or even tempo runs. The Boston model glitch fast and made me want to train fast. The Solar Glides feel like an average responsive trainer.

For longer runs (of 13 miles+), I would rank the three shoes: 1. Ultraboost 2. Solar Glide 3. Boston. For tempo runs, I would rank the shoes in reverse order.

adidas g26513 shoes

The adiboost material feels schedule responsive underfoot than any other I have trained with, and the Solar Glide is no exception. I immediately feel faster when I switch to the shoe from my Brooks Ravenna.

The older model of Solar Glides (which I purchased in early 2019) had a stretchable heel fabric that began to fall apart after only 100 miles. The new model (purchased in January 2020) has corrected this issue.

The wear on the Continental outsole is slightly schedule than I would have expected given the mileage. The grip was very consistent on the road. I never slipped, even on wet pavement and in slushy conditions.

My only issues came on mountain trails. I lost grip occasionally on descents studded with big rocks, which should be expected given the design on the shoe.

Still, I was able to put three trail runs of 4000+ feet of elevation gain and 15+ miles on these shoes without a real issue.

The upper is very breathable but still offered enough protection to keep my toes from getting cold on freezing days.

girls adidas copa soccer cleats blue and white

Shoe fit and schedule

The fit of the shoes is near-ideal. My heel feels locked in, but not over-tight. The toe box feels form-fitting, and the material stretches substantially to accommodate wider feet. The footbed provided appropriate support for my high arches.

The only issue I had with the toe box was while descending ~2,000 feet in the span of two miles on a trail as my foot slipped forward and put pressure on my toenails. Even after this, my toenails were only slightly sore, and none bent or blackened.

My only real complaint is that the footbed is not wider. I have wide feet, and these shoes would consistently give me small palace on the inside of both feet. This is a persistent problem with most shoes I wear.

The sole of the shoes seems appropriately wide. But, the orange guide rails on each side of the shoe cut the width of the footbed by as much as a centimeter on each side.

adidas small item pu bag size chart.