Saucony Triumph ISO Review

If you are a fan of Saucony’s traditional shoe construction, then you are either going to love the new ISO or feel like you have been betrayed. I am going to opt for the former, but with some caveats. The ISO is the plushest shoe Saucony has ever made with over 20% more cushioning than any other shoe they have ever built. That is a pretty big jump, but the area they have done a really good job with is keeping their traditional running aesthetics, feel, and fit.

HOW DO THEY FEEL?

Like a glove… no really, the upper on the shoe is what Saucony calls ISOFIT which equates to a sock like feel so sliding these on is a really pleasant experience. The other nice piece about the liner is that you never get the chance to grind up against some weird section of stitching and it never feels too narrow or too wide. The ISOs feel like the adapt to the layout of your foot.

HOW DO THEY LOOK?

They are super pretty. The model that was tested was the Slime, Black, and ViZiORANGE combo and honestly it just really pops. Line it up against a bunch of other shoes and it will definitely be the standout. They also have color ways that are less subtle for those that don’t like some level of flashiness, so don’t let that stop you. I actually expected them to look a little beefier like most maximum cushioned shoes do, but they honestly don’t look that much different from most other Sauconys.

HOW DO THEY PERFORM?

My overall feeling after running a bunch in these is that these are fast shoes, just like other Sauconys. I do have some misgivings though at least personally at long distance and other reviewers did as well. Let’s jump into the actual testing.

The 5-10K Range

So my first several runs were in the lower mileage range and boom, new PRs almost across the board. The shoes performed well, rebounded efficiently, and kept me on stride effectively. I found these just great in low mileage situations especially on softer tracks, but this does lead to one of the issues I ended up feeling at distance though, it was hard to slow down… um, what?

Half-Marathon and Beyond

After several long runs on the ISOs, I can definitely confirm similar findings after most. The shoes continue to be incredibly quick, so I saw some great times. The problem I felt was that the impact protection just didn’t work for me all that well at longer distances. It could be a combination of my size along with my stride technique, but this inevitably led to a little longer recovery time than normal and a little more achilles/soleus pressure.

That being said, I do believe if you are a strong runner and used to faster times, then these will really up your game. Also, if you have run in a Saucony before, then you owe it to yourself to try these out.