When I first saw that Salomon did road shoes, it’s fair to say, I was sceptical.
“No no no, Salomon don’t do road shoes, they just do trail, they’re amazing at trail, why would they deviate to the road market? The road shoe market is oversaturated enough as it is, why bother competing with other brands who are far more established and have built up such a loyal following?”
Well….as I’m sure you’ve guessed, I was wrong, almost laughably so actually.
Would you believe it if I told you that Salomon’s first road shoe was originally released 9 years ago? Well, believe it! The Salomon Sonic Pro was launched early 2016. It received mixed reviews, but what do you expect from your very first road shoe after doing 15 years of just trail. Fast forward to the present and here we have Salomon competing with the big boys, with multiple pairs of proper carbon race shoes, most recently with the Salomon S/Lab Phantasm 2.
This is all well and good but why look further than Nike, Hoka, New Balance, Asics? Well there’s one thing that Salomon have spotted that few others have… The fastest, most expensive carbon plated race shoes are built for the more elite runner. The faster you are, the more you’ll get in terms of performance out of these high end models. This leaves the average enthused runner a bit left out. For example, I personally purchased a pair of Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 2s last year, I found them springy and quick but I wasn’t reaching the better speeds I expected from a top tier race shoe. I looked up the detail about their design only to find that they were directly aimed at athletes who could reach speeds of 3:25/km/5:30/mile or faster!
The Salomon S/Lab Specturs are specifically aimed at improving the performance of runners with marathon times over 3 hours. No longer are the masses being overlooked, they’re being specifically targeted with this shoe, thank you Salomon. Now with the background out of the way, how did I find them?
As someone who’s run a marathon both over and under 3 hours, I felt I was in a good position to critique these shoes. Just coming out of injury and therefore slower, I’m definitely back in the over 3 hour bracket, so these shoes came to me at the perfect time.
The Pros.
The bounce and response.
I’ve ran over 100 miles in the Salomon S/Lab Spectur now but I remember the first 100 metres vividly and they were SO bouncy. The response from the very beginning was amazing. I felt like I was skipping along and with very little effort in relation to the pace my watch told me I was running (the dream!) It really honestly reminded me of my Nike Alphafly’s first run. Since that first run to the latest long run, the Salomon S/Lab Spectur have been brilliant. I’ve not had to exert as much effort to achieve the stats of a more successful run, which is what you hope when you put on a pair of carbon shoes. The energy feedback you get from them is top tier and they’ve really helped me bounce back to fitness. They’re now my long run shoe of choice and my legs are very grateful of the support.
The comfort.
Some shoes you really notice the comfort as soon as you slide your foot in, others you make an exception for because they have other benefits. The Salomon S/Lab Spectur fall into the instant comfort column. They remind me of the New Balance 1080 v12 and the Novablast 4. The inner material is nice and spongey, especially around the heel. The tongue of shoe is nicely padded too. I’d compare them to a nice warm hug for your feet. They’ve been true to size for me and I’ve not had any rubbing issues, no aches, nothing to report. Just a comfortable ride!
The grip.
I’ve ran in some pretty wet conditions, to the detriment of such lovely white shoes (wahhh) and I’ve not slipped once. Around corners, down steep hills, on canal tracks, no issues again. Another big tick!
The weight.
The Salomon S/Lab Spectur feel light and stable, weighing in at 240g, that’s really light, so to have the comfort and stability around that is really great.
The Cons.
I’m honestly racking my brain here. If I could have one con it would be the design at the back of the bottom end of the shoe looks a bit strange. I feel like I had to come up with at least one!
I have also worn these solely in cold weather between December and February so I’ll have to abstain as to whether they could get too hot, as I’ve just not been able to test that.
Conclusion.
Now the Salomon S/Lab Spectur are designed to be race shoes. I haven’t done a race in these but I have ran them at multiple paces between 3 hour marathon pace to 4 hour marathon pace. They’re great throughout. The design and comfort of the ride really delivers and I would highly recommend them to anybody. They’re sat underneath the higher value carbon race shoes and I can’t see a good reason as to why, especially for runners expecting to run marathons over 3 hours. I’ve worn Nike Alphaflys, Asics Metaspeed Sky Paris, Mizuno Wave Rebellion Pro 2s, New Balance Supercomp Elite v3 and I believe the Salomon S/Lab Spectur should be up for consideration amongst them.
If you want a comfortable carbon race shoe and you’re looking at a marathon time over 3 hours, then I really would look no further than the Salomon S/Lab Spectur. Looks like the 2 years of research paid off Salomon, nice job!
About the author: I’ve been running for about 7 years, I love all types of running road, trail and fell, 5K, marathon and ultra distances. I have a wife and two kids and my own accounting practice which often take a backseat to running. I’ve also recently founded a local running group, High Peak Runners, hoping to bridge the gap from Couch to 5K to running consistently and most importantly, enjoying it! Follow Robin here.
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