Puma Fast-R vs. Adidas Adios Pro 3

Puma vs. Adidas, a storied rivalry of the Dassler brothers and the town of Herzogenaurach. In this matchup, I compared the top super shoe from each brand...the Adidas Adios Pro 3 to the Puma Fast-R.

Testing Methods

For this case study comparison I looked at the Adidas Adios Pro 3, Puma Fast-R, Nike Alphafly, and the Nike Invincible as my control shoe. If you've been following my testing for a while, you know that I usually use the Asics Hyperspeed as my control. Unfortunately I've been transitioning labs after moving and did not have access to that shoe at the time. I tested the shoes over three separate days. I tested each of the four shoes once per day in a random sequence over 4 x 5-minute reps at 6:20/mile pace. I took the averages across the three days and expressed the running economy benefit as a percentage change in oxygen consumption (VO2) relative to the control shoe. Check out this link to see what running economy is, how it is measured, and how it impacts performance.

Results

As usual, my running economy was about 4% better in the Alphafly on average. The Adidas Adios Pro 3 and the Puma Fast-R improved my running economy by 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively.

Take Home Message/Subjective Thoughts

This is the first testing I've done in my new lab, which means a new treadmill and metabolic cart...and I'm still working out a few of the kinks with my new equipment and establishing some of my reliability numbers. In this round of testing, my economy benefit for the Alphafly was quite consistent across the three days of testing, but I found the data to be more variable for the Adios Pro 3 and Fast-R. Some of this could be my interaction with the shoes themselves, some of it could be due to variability in my new equipment. That said, there were times I felt great in the Adios Pro 3 and times where the shoe felt a bit wonky to me. I did find it more comfortable than the Adios Pro 2 I had previously tested...I felt those sort of forced me into supination a bit. As usual, this is just one person at one speed. The Lighstrike Pro foam of the Adidas does feel stiffer, so I wonder if it might do better at faster speeds and with greater ground reaction forces. As far the Fast-R, the shoe still feels a bit petite to me (similar to the Deviate Nitro Elite) compared to some of the other high stack racers out there like the Alphafly but overall I found the shoe comfortable and would enjoy running in it. The Alphafly still takes it for me personally though.