This won’t be a long review. How could it be when I’ve only done 1 km in the Salomon Vision. It’s more of a rant.
I buy maybe 6-7 pairs of running shoes a year. Usually equally split between road and trail. For many years the trail ones were Altra, Hoka, Inov-8 and Brooks. I wanted to try Salomon but every review made it sound like I’d have to remove two toes to fit into them.
Then a few years ago they came out with the Sense Pro Max. It ticked a lot of my boxes, and despite seeing very few reviews, I bought a pair. The review I did is weirdly still one of the most read month-to-month on this blog. In summary, they were awful. They squeaked constantly, the lugs were too shallow to grip on anything, the midsole was rock hard and the speedlaces grip was defective on one side. The one positive was a very comfortable upper. But they were unusable by me for one very simple reason - I constantly ankle-rolled in them. On one run, it happened 5 times. I’ve never seen anything like it. No other shoe has ever behaved that way.
Not a great start with the brand. But I always like to give second chances and eventually I got a pair of Speedcross 5s. They are great for very specific terrain - Irish bogs. Those lugs work incredibly well there. Not so great on wet rocks but not terrible. I don’t use them often but they are the right tool at the right time.
When the original Ultra Glides appeared, the reviews were solid and I liked the sound of them. I don’t have much to say about them other than I just don’t reach for them. Again, those rubbish shallow diamond-shaped lugs, a comfy upper, speedlaces and a mediocre midsole. Compared to Speedgoats, they are just not competitive. Not terrible but not brilliant at anything. Good fashion shoes maybe for Millennials.
So finally we get to the review of the Salomon Vision. I follow Salomon on YouTube and I really liked the message around the Vision. Very similar to that of the NNormal Tomir 2.0 that I reviewed positively earlier today.
I figured I needed one more backup pair of shoes for the Kerry Way Ultra this Friday, in case the rain didn’t actually stop. And they looked ideal. So off I tootled to their web-site to buy them.
A person in the EU trying to buy running shoes from a company in the EU? Don’t be ridiculous Conor. It’s not 1967 any more guys. De Gaulle didn’t manage to block our joining of the EEC the second time in 1972.
Anyway, Alltricks (also in France), had them.
Initial signs were good. Very comfy upper. Good speedlaces. Interesting recycled looking midsole. Fantastic looking deep lugs. None of that diamond-shaped nonsense.
I wore them around the house for two days and the comfort was confirmed. But being a sensible chap, I wasn’t putting a shoe on the potential backup list for a 200km ultra without testing them on a trail, even an easy one.
So yesterday morning I headed down to Courtmacsherry in West Cork for a little 3 mile amble on the Fuschia Way part of the Seven Heads. It’s one of my favourite short runs. Gravel, forest, fields, incredible views, paths and then road back down. In the past 10+ years, the worst thing that ever happened to me there was sliding on the wet mud and landing on my ass. In the Ultra Glides.
I walked the first bit to confirm my knee was still ok and once the forest appeared, I started jogging slowly. The main thought in my head was how good I felt, how my head was in a great place for KWU and how lucky I am to get to go running in amazing places.
I made it 100 metres. And then bang, the worst ankle roll I’ve had in 15 years. The pain was incredible. I had to sit down to recover. I started completely losing my shit. Had I just knocked myself out of the Kerry Way Ultra doing a test run on a backup pair of shoes? I suddenly started believing in the Greek Gods and how they love to fuck with humans.
I hobbled back to the car, drove to Timoleague, bought a big bag of ice and wrapped it around my ankle. I drove home and by the time I got there, my ankle was the size of a large grapefruit. I put on a compression sock, added more ice and did full RICE for the day.
I also took one of the Visions and placed it back-to-back to the Ultra Glides and confirmed they are centimetres narrower at the rear.
Here I am, a day later. The ankle is still fucked. But at least I can walk. I am seeing the physiotherapist in 2 days anyway as a final systems check for Kerry. I’m 90% sure what he is going to tell me - Don’t even think about it. The chances of me starting on Friday are probably 10%. But I remain an eternal optimist. And owner of many pain killers.
After spending from April-August this year diligently dealing with problems around my knee and plantar fasciitis, to be taken out by a twisted ankle on my other leg is full-blown Alanis Morissette.
I have been wondering why none of the main running shoe review channels that I follow on YouTube have covered the Vision. Has Salomon not been sending out review pairs? Why? Do they know they have a turkey on their hands?
Is it a case of them being better for the environment but not actually any good? I don’t think Salomon knows how to do high-stack shoes. They should pop down to any local running store in Annecy or Cham and check out how Hoka, Brooks, Saucony and even Asics do things.
Of course this situation is entirely my fault, I should never have put them on 6 days before my biggest race of the year.
Unless you are François D’Haene, avoid the Salmon Visions like the plague. I predict they will disappear without a trace, just like their ankle-breaking predecessors, the Sense Pro Max.
End-rant.
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