Altra Women’s Torin 1.5
Run Oregon receives and tests running shoes from time to time. This post was submitted by Beth Wendlund, who writes for us from time to time. She has recently been using the Altra Torin 1.5 .
Company: Altra
Shoe: Torin 1.5 (womens) neutral
Born in the mountains of Utah, Altra is a relative newcomer to the running shoe world and are one of the many new companies producing “non-traditional” running shoes. Altra’s focus is on a zero-drop (heel-toe drop), foot shaped shoe. The company’s founder, Golden Harper, grew up working in his family’s running store. He was constantly seeing injured runners come into the store. Eventually he started melting the outsoles off of traditional running shoes and “removed the excess heel elevation”, turning their shoes into zero-drop.
Initial Impressions:
The look is a bit different from my other running shoes, most noticeable is the very wide toe box. The shoes appear to be well constructed with no loose threads or globs of glue sticking out. A color scheme is a fairly neutral grey with green accents, which means I can pair them with jeans and wear them around town without drawing too much attention. The Torin 1.5 is marketed for running, ultramarathons, and long distance walking.
Initial Wear: the good
These shoes are wonderfully comfortable, and after numerous runs I have yet to find a single hot-spot or uncomfortable area in this shoe. They are well cushioned, run true in sizing, are very stable, and provide a could-run-in-these-right-out-of-the-box feel.
The toe box is wide enough to be comfortable without feeling sloppy, and I believe it’s the main reason for the very stable ride this shoe provides. The mid-foot was a bit wide for my average feet, but the narrow heel and use of heel-lock lacing helped keep this from being an issue.
One thing this shoe does well that I wish every shoe manufacturer would do, is have a tongue strap. There is a soft, non-stretch strap, on the inside of the shoe near the arch that attaches to the shoe tongue. This keeps the tongue from slipping off to the side during a run. My instep is very high, so this design feature was particularly appreciated.
It is virtually impossible to have a hard heel strike in this shoe. I picked up these shoes after the podiatrist I was seeing felt my heel-strike tendencies might be partially to blame for a torn tendon. Although I’ll only wear these shoes on the treadmill (unless it’s bone-dry outside, see below), they have definitely contributed to a change my running form. When I go for my weekend long run I wear a traditional running shoe, and have noticed even while wearing those that my foot strike is now much closer to a mid-foot than a heel strike. Don’t let the zero-drop fool you, with a 27mm stack height, these are a well cushioned shoe. It’s not a springy-type cushion, but definitely takes the edge off hard surfaces. This cushion provides a little less road-feel than I’m used to, but doesn’t completely mask it. If you are interested in trying a zero-drop shoe, this shoe and a couple other models, are currently on sale on Altra’s website. And for anyone new to zero-drop shoes, they offer plenty of tips to help make the transition.
Initial Wear: the not-so-good
I want to love these shoes, but two significant issues prevent it.
First, these shoes are slippery! Here in the PNW we frequently have damp surfaces. These shoes have slipped on concrete, asphalt, wood, bark chips, and lightly damp soil. As a result, I’ve started only wearing them on treadmill runs. After looking through some reviews on the Altra site, it seems I’m not the first person to experience this problem. I called Altra’s customer support to see if they had any helpful bits of advice about the slipping, but other than suggesting buying a trail shoe, they did not. Hopefully a fix for this serious problem is on the way.
note: the Torin 2.0 was just released, and I have not had a chance to see if the slipping issue has been addressed.
The second issue I experienced with this shoe is again, related to moisture. At the toe, the fabric body of the shoe has no “covering”. With the fabric going all the way down to the foam sole, the water wicks up into the rest of the shoe. This creates a wet toe box very quickly. Once I’m out of any moisture the shoe seems to dry very quickly.
With less than a hundred miles on the Torin’s I’m seeing a fair amount of wear on the tread. The cushioning is still as responsive as it was out of the box, they are still crazy comfortable, and the rest of the shoe seems to be holding up well.
These shoes hardly feel like I’m wearing shoes at all. I find myself looking to these as my go-to shoe when I know I’m going to be on my feet or walking around a lot; they’re that comfortable.
Specifications:
Men’s weight: 9.3 ; Women’s weight: 8.3 oz
Heel-to-toe offset: 0mm
Price: 20.00 (original) currently $97