ProView – adidas Terrex Agravic Flow

I played soccer growing up so most everything I wore was made by either Umbro or Adidas (I assume you other 90’s kids will know what I’m talking about). I think Umbro went the way of the Dodo, but Adidas has been killing it these days. Needless to say, I was excited to see if one of my first loves in sport could continue to impress with some of their new footwear offerings – the adidas Terrex Agravic Flow.

I’ve put these shoes through just about every terrain, incline, and tempo one would ever want to encounter in a given southern Appalachian summer/fall, and maybe some you wouldn’t. In the spirit of full disclosure, during the months I’ve had these shoes we didn’t see a lot of rain, and the weather was unseasonably warm, but I’ve still managed to put them through their paces (classic shoe pun).

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Fit/Comfort

I had high hopes for these shoes when I put them on right out of the box. They fit snug without being too tight, and they didn’t restrict my wide Fred Flintstone-like toes. The upper is a little thick and warm especially for a speedy trail shoe.

Look/Style

As I said earlier, I have a bit of a nostalgic soft-spot for those 3 stripes, and I think these look nice. Aside from the lugs on the bottom they don’t look overly technical and they are Adidas not inov8 or Hoka so you look more like Kanye and less like Jim Walmsley.

Features

These shoes aren’t feature rich and I think that is great. They have good rubber made by Continental, and they have laces that keep them attached to your feet.

Weight

I would expect these to be lighter, they weren’t terribly heavy, but they feel dense when you wear them, like all the weight is only under your foot.

Durability and Construction

Nothing has broken yet. The rubber on these shoes is awesome and will probably last as long as everything else. If anything these shoes are maybe a little overbuilt and could definitely shed a few grams with some upgrades and a lighter upper.

Function/Performance

The bad news first: 

These are not good shoes for technical running. No matter how tight I tied these shoes they could not hold my feet stable on quick turns or steep hills. After one particular afternoon of running repeats on a steep trail, I started getting blisters on the bottoms of my toes from how much my feet were sliding in my shoes. 

These are also not good road shoes. This doesn’t really come as a surprise. They feel clunky when road running, but it’s not too bad. I’ve got a few trails about 1 mile from my house and they commute to the trail felt a little clumsy but was well worth the effort.

Now for the good news: 

Trail tempo runs or interval training is where these shine. There is a 1 mile gravel and dirt path near my house and these shoes will tear it up. The path is fairly flat and the curves are gentle so the foot sliding isn’t a problem. This is a pretty specific type of run that this shoe excels in, but if your training for 5k speed on a gently rolling cross country course these could be a great arrow for your quiver.

Also, these are great hiking shoes. They are way lighter than boots, but still very durable and stable. They have a good fit and are comfortable even with a load (as long as you’re not running on technical terrain). My wife and I own a photography business and do a lot of mountain elopements and engagement shoots and these are now my go to shoes for those adventures.

The Final Word

These shoes weren’t the ultimate trail running shoe I was hoping for, but they are very suitable as middle distance running and hiking shoe.

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