New Balance Fresh Foam 1980…aka “Zante”
This shoe will be a new addition to our road shoe collection soon. Check out what Kevin has to say about it.
It quickly shot to the top of my list for training shoes. I found it soft and supportive when I was looking for an easy day, but light and responsive enough that I could do intervals or tempo runs in them. I was able to use them for anything from easy slow 5 milers, to 6mile tempos to 16 mile long runs. They were great on any run I did. This was the first pair of “Fresh Foam” I have ever run in and man they were something else. If you have never worn a pair on NB with Fresh Foam, get out there and put a pair on. The foam is amazingly soft for how light the shoe is. They were not so soft through that it stole too much energy when striking, allowing response time to be just right when putting down quicker runs. The softness also resulted in feeling fresher in the later miles of a hard fast work out, and it kept the later intervals feeling light. I believe it had a 6mm drop. Like my racing flats to be at a 4mm drop and my trainers to be no more than 10mm so these are a great shoe for any kind of run.
The outer durability felt to be a bit weak through. I ran a few runs on a great packed gravel trail, the path is a little rutted out due to some service vehicles but the rest is smooth, no large stones or anything sticking out of the ground. Within these few runs, maybe 20 mi total on the trail, I wore a hole near the top of the toe, sure I may have caught my toe on something during other runs, but I noticed it shortly after running on the trails. There was plenty of traction just the outer durability felt weak and that it would break down quickly over time if they were used on the trails a lot. The fit around the entire foot was perfect. A bit tighter than most people would like but for me, I like my shoe to fit just as well as my sock. The toe box would be considered too tight for most I am sure. Around the ankles it was great, and it had a good heel fit. Check the size before settling on them. I wore a 10.5 which is normal for me and I may have needed an 11
The laces are far, far too long. I was tying them then feeding them back under the other laces to keep them from bouncing around. Everything thing else was great through. Collar height, and tong length was perfect. I feel the fit at the toe box was just a tad bit tight for most people. I enjoy this though. I like my shoes to feel fitted but I know most people do not. (So I tested these before they were out to the public so I am not sure as to what they ended up changing from when I wore them over the summer)
In the end, I highly recommend this shoe to be in every road runners line up. The versatility of this shoe is amazing.
-Kevin
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