Altra Olympus 4 Trail Running Shoes

Product Information

An engineer sometimes and hiker trash always, he lives to experience, understand, and help the Earth. The shoe doesn’t do anything “wrong” per se, but it’s just a maximally cushioned shoe that isn’t designed with maximal speed as the priority.

The O4 platform is overall wider, but the EM2 feels a little more like a bucket seat where it surrounds the foot just a bit more.The two foundational tenets to Altra’s approach to footwear design are a “FootShape” toe box and “ZeroDrop” geometry, which, in short, means that all Altra models have distinctly boxier forefoots than most shoes from other brands, and that their midsoles are the same thickness at the heel and forefoot.

Altra focused most of their attention on the Olympus 5’s upper when revamping the shoe, and for the purposes of affecting fit, I think the subtle changes they made can be considered improvements.In practice, with everything else being equal, higher stack height usually also means lesser traction in many cases. also maintains the Altra ideals of a foot shaped toe box and zero-drop platform that is standard across every shoe in they offer. Like its predecessor, the Olympus 5 is built on their Original last, the broadest of the bunch, which corresponds with everything else maximal about the model. We break up the narratives of our lives into befores and afters, divisions made by watershed events like marriage, childbirth, graduations, etc. The Olympus 4 has lots of Vibram Megagrip rubber, with metatarsal-shaped lines of lugs from the ball of the foot forward.

After about 75 miles in the shoe, I have some thoughts about where the Olympus does well, as well as where I’ve found myself reaching for a different pair of shoes. has a Vibram Megagrip outsole, but with an updated lug pattern that provides better traction in my experience. In the context of a, dare I say, hyper-maximal shoe like the Olympus 5, a model intended to coddle feet for endless miles, installing an incredibly energetic foam like EGO MAX is out of step with the shoe’s mission.Overall, for what you’re getting in terms of the fit, durability, and quality of the materials, I think the Olympus 4 is certainly worth a look if you’re in the market for a high-cushion trail shoe. The Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania was 15 miles of smooth cruising, made all the smoother by that Olympus cush. But if you like a lot of cushion and a shoe that can hold up to some serious wear and tear, you should definitely consider the Olympus 4. Every part of me was hot, except my feet - and keep in mind my pair is the black and dark blue colorway.

This is a great choice for someone using the shoe as a recovery running shoe or someone who is coming back from an injury. Its raised height and plump beds of cushioning softly embraced my Achilles, helping offload some of the stress placed on that tendon while running uphill. The Olympus 5 is substantively a quiet repackaging of its predecessor into a sleeker looking silhouette, much in the way wearing vertical stripes is said to be slimming, or maybe a more germane example, donning split-shorts with the highest inseam is said to make you run faster. Aside from a few abrasions and scuffing on the exposed section of foam on its outsole, the shoe is free from any glaring signs of wear.Currently, I am working my way into ultra distances and will be doing my first 50K and 100K trail races this season. s accommodating fit, thick midsole, and versatile outsole make it a great pick for anyone looking to run long on relatively non-technical trails. While not budging when it comes to the drop (or lack thereof) of their shoes, Altra does diversify the lasts they use, offering (from widest to narrowest): “Original,”“Standard,” and “Slim. This leaves just the foam of the midsole and a perimeter of rubber to grab the ground from arch to heel.