00:00this is the sakon Endorphin speed 4 and
00:04it's a top Contender for shoe of the
00:26Year yo what's going on my name is
00:28kofuzi and I'm anly Runner reviews shoes
00:30here on YouTube and today I want to talk
00:32to you guys all about the sakon
00:34Endorphin speed 4 but before I do I do
00:36want to go over some disclosures this is
00:38a pair of shoes that I bought myself no
00:39one sent them to me and no one's paying
00:41me to make this video or to include
00:43their shoe in this video and no one's
00:44going to get a chance to preview any of
00:45my footage of my thoughts before you
00:46guys get a chance to see this video on
00:48YouTube so with that disclosure out of
00:50the way let's talk about the S endorphin
00:52speed 4 and let's start with the specs
00:54this is a 36 mm stack height shoe with
00:57an 8 mm drop giving us 8 mm of Stack
01:00height in the foref foot and in this
01:02midsole we've got two main components
01:04first is power run PB which is a beaded
01:07peba foam ER rasing caliber foam and
01:10sandwich in between the two layers of
01:12beaded peba is a nylon plate which has
01:15wings which you could see both on the
01:16outside and on the inside of the shoe
01:19you can even see the wing carbon fiber
01:21plate through this little window in the
01:23bottom of the shoe and while you're down
01:25here you can also notice that we have an
01:27updated rubber outsole pattern I mean
01:30generally it's kind of the same there's
01:32a bunch of rubber in the forefoot and
01:33then two kind of like rings of rubber in
01:35the heel which carries over from the
01:37design of last year but this grid
01:39pattern is definitely different there's
01:41more overall rubber coverage and the
01:44design pattern matches what we see in
01:46the Endorphin speed 4's Big Brother the
01:49Endorphin Pro 4 moving to the upper we
01:52have a change design here which the type
01:55of mesh that we have here is a little
01:56bit different it's stretchier and softer
01:59and there's just something about it
02:01maybe it's just all the holes that are
02:03in here that kind of bother me a little
02:05bit it looks a little bit less race and
02:08speed oriented and just a little bit
02:09more daily training even a little bit
02:11frumpy if I could put it that way and
02:14that sensation carries over into the
02:15tongue we have a similar type of
02:17material that's perforated type of mesh
02:19that's in the most of the tongue but
02:22then at the top we have kind of just two
02:24pieces of fabric sewn together with an
02:26awkward triangular shape that kind of
02:28pokes out a little bit funny onto the
02:31side of the shoe it is a gusseted tongue
02:33though so it's going to stay in place
02:35and also that gusset provides a little
02:36bit of structure to the shoe when it's
02:38on your foot moving to the heel cup we
02:41have pretty much no changes that I can
02:43tell from what we saw last year in the
02:45Endorphin speed three we've got a
02:47minimal amount of padding throughout
02:49this heel cup which is great to see and
02:51then also a decent amount of structure
02:53in terms of an actual rigid cup for your
02:56heel to sit in altogether all these
02:58elements create a shoe that comes in at
03:08G now that we've talked about what the
03:10shoe is like on paper let's talk about
03:12what it's like IRL and I got to tell you
03:14this shoe is beaded peba at its finest I
03:17absolutely am loving what I'm getting
03:19out of the Endorphin speed 4 you're
03:22getting a really nice amount of impact
03:24absorption and then bounce at easy Paces
03:27but the shoe definitely shines once
03:29you're picking up the pace and moving a
03:31little bit faster that be peba really
03:33starts to come to life when you're
03:35putting a little bit more into each foot
03:37strike and pushing off a little bit
03:39harder as you are putting in more effort
03:41into the shoe that rate of compression
03:44and decompression seems to change the
03:46faster you go or the more energy that
03:48you're putting into the shoe and it's
03:49responding really nicely anytime you
03:51pick up the pace above an easy level of
03:54effort strides are really fun in the
03:56shoe the shoe feels lightweight and
03:58ready to turn over quickly and Marathon
04:00effort is effortless and Lively it's got
04:03that signature bounce that you think of
04:05when you think of a beaded peba shoe and
04:08the 4 foot mechanics of this shoe
04:10definitely remind me very much of the
04:12Endorphin Pro 3 which I really enjoyed
04:15in the last version of that super shoe
04:17now the one downside that I say that
04:19this shoe has is for me I don't love it
04:22at some of the easy paces and I know
04:24that I think that the Endorphin speed
04:25has always been more of a Tempo day shoe
04:27a shoe you might reach for for kind of
04:30anything from Easy plus to workout uh
04:33but for a lot of you guys the Endorphin
04:35speed Series has been your daily trainer
04:37of choice for me though the changes this
04:39year make it a little bit less good at
04:41that in my opinion I feel like the flare
04:43in the heel has gotten even bigger and
04:46those gills create even more volume in
04:48the heel so I feel like that heel gets a
04:50little bit clunky and that signature
04:53desire of socky shoes to add just a
04:55little hint of stability starts to creep
04:58in when I'm running with this shoe at
04:59easy efforts and I think that's a
05:01combination of that chunky heel plus
05:03that winged nylon plate working together
05:05I'm starting to feel like a little bit
05:06of like control elements starting to get
05:09into play but overall for me as someone
05:11who's very sensitive to motion control
05:14it didn't bother me so in that sense I
05:16can live with it and for some of you
05:18that actually might be a feature now I
05:20also think that the shoe got a little
05:22bit thicker through the middle of the
05:24foot like underneath the arch so again
05:26for those of you who the Endorphin speed
05:28Series has tipped in a little bit too
05:30much as you're running uh that you're
05:32going to find to be a little bit more of
05:34a positive change but for me again that
05:36all adds to like an element of
05:38clunkiness that I feel when the shoot is
05:40at easy paces and I also feel like it's
05:43consistent with the way that they design
05:45the upper but I also feel like the upper
05:47is uncharacteristically a weak part of
05:50this sakon shoe sakon normally makes
05:52some of the best fitting and most
05:54comfortable uppers and I find that this
05:55one kind of just feels a little bit
05:58lackluster it feels like it doesn't
06:00belong on an endorphin speed shoot it
06:03feels like it maybe belongs on a ride or
06:05a guide or maybe on like an endorphin
06:07shift but for the Endorphin speed series
06:09I want something that kind of feels more
06:12race oriented but with daily training
06:15materials and I feel like I'm just
06:16getting daily training materials when
06:18I'm looking at the shoe and maybe part
06:20of that is just the gray color for me
06:22gray shoes just always feel a little bit
06:25sloppy and so part of that might just be
06:27my perception of the Aesthetics but I I
06:30feel like there's a little bit of a
06:32tweak that needs to happen in the
06:33Endorphin speed because it is a shoe
06:35that I think a lot of you guys are
06:37really going to enjoy for easy runs but
06:39a lot of you guys are probably going to
06:40do a lot of workouts and Marathon racing
06:42in this shoe and I feel like the upper
06:45just isn't doing any favors it's not
06:46holding us back by any means but I feel
06:49like it could be so much better
06:51especially since I've seen so much
06:52better in Prior iterations of the
06:54Endorphin speed but overall I think that
06:57the Endorphin speed 4 is is going to be
06:59shoe that some of you guys love for your
07:01easy days that others will love for
07:04their workouts and some people will even
07:06love for their Marathon racing in short
07:08I think it's going to be one of those
07:09shoes that's going to be pretty easy for
07:11me to recommend to a very wide range of
07:15Runners out there and that's why I think
07:17it's going to be a top Contender for
07:26year now let's wrap up this video by
07:28talking about some of the the pairing
07:30options if you want to put the Endorphin
07:31speed 4 into a rotation and then we'll
07:34talk about some potential Alternatives
07:36when we get to the buying guide for
07:38pairing options I think that there are
07:40two shoes that you're really going to
07:41want to also have if you're using the
07:43Endorphin speed 4 in your rotation and
07:46that's going to be a recovery run easy
07:49run shoe something that can go even more
07:51chill than the Endorphin speed can and
07:53then also a racing shoe for that chill
07:55shoe I think we can stay in the sakon
07:57family and go with the triumph have the
07:59triumph rfg which is a more eco-friendly
08:02version of the Triumph there's just a
08:03lot more cushion in this shoe and it's
08:05definitely going to be your road warrior
08:07and then when it comes to your racing
08:10and your toughest workouts I think that
08:11you can bump up to the Endorphin Pro for
08:14with this upgrade you are getting a
08:15carbon fiber plate rather than the nylon
08:17plate and you're also getting an insert
08:19of power run HG which is sakon's other
08:23even more Premier racing foam you're
08:26also getting a quite a bit of weight
08:28reduction once you bump up to the pro
08:31level and those three will make for a
08:33pretty nice socony set for your next
08:36marathon now let's talk about the buying
08:37guide and some Alternatives the
08:39Endorphin speed 4 comes in at
08:42$170 which I feel like is probably going
08:45to be a really good price for this shoe
08:48but let's take a look at some of the
08:50competition now one of the shoes that
08:52comes to mind first when I think about
08:53this shoe as a shoe that's going to be a
08:55really great workout shoe for a lot of
08:57people a daily trainer for a lot of
08:59people people and a race shoe for some
09:01people is going to be the Solomon slab
09:04Spectre but unfortunately this shoe
09:06comes in at $250 or at least that was
09:09its original price I think it got
09:11$220 uh and right now I can't even find
09:14it on the solman website so it's not
09:16really a shoe I can recommend but this
09:18is another shoe that kind of checks all
09:20the same boxes that the Endorphin speed
09:22does but let me talk about some shoes
09:24that I do think you can still get and
09:26the first one that I'm going to talk
09:27about is the Puma DV8 Nitro 2 this was
09:30my shoe of the year last year and it
09:33also does a lot of the same things that
09:35the Endorphin speed does it has a race
09:38day foam up top with another really nice
09:40foam Puma's Nitro foam in the heel this
09:43one has a carbon fiber plate and a daily
09:46trainer style upper so it's RAC tuned
09:49but also at the same time built for a
09:52lot of miles and a lot of workouts this
09:55shoe's been out for a while so I was
09:56hoping that it'd be on sale but it only
09:58seems to be avail a at full retail of
10:00160 but even then you're still saving
10:02$10 over the Endorphin speed and then
10:05the other shoe that I think we should
10:06take a look at is from newcomer to the
10:08performance running market and that's
10:10tier you might know them from the gym or
10:12from the pool but they're making really
10:14great race product right now and this is
10:17their answer to the Endorphin speed for
10:19now there's the tier Valkyrie carbon
10:21which is kind of analogous to the
10:24Endorphin Pro for and this is the
10:26valkyrie speedworks now I haven't put my
10:28review of this shoe out yet but I have
10:30had a couple of runs in it already and I
10:32can tell you that these two shoes line
10:34up really closely it's got a daily
10:36training type of upper a beaded pea foam
10:39and a nylon plate in between those two
10:42layers of foam and I think these two
10:44shoes track very closely to each other
10:47and I actually thought that they might
10:48be almost clones but there are some
10:51slight differences to the valky Speed
10:54Works and I think that for those of you
10:56who want an even more neutral foam I
10:58feel like the Speed Works is going to be
11:00the option for you if you want a little
11:02bit more of that socony hint of
11:04stability then the Endorphin speed 4 is
11:08going to be for you the valkyrie speed
11:10work comes in at the same price as the
11:11Endorphin speed 4 at $170 so this is
11:14probably the closest head-to-head
11:16comparison of any two shoes that I think
11:18we're going to see in 2024 now the last
11:21shoe that I think we definitely need to
11:22talk about is last year's endorphin
11:24Speed 3 now this is a shoe that so many
11:27of you really enjoyed it's just wasn't a
11:29shoe that worked for me I'm not sure
11:31what it was about the geometry of the
11:33shoe maybe it was this little rubber
11:34strip down the center of the 4f foot but
11:37something about it after about 5k of
11:39running just created a pain in my foot
11:41and I really just couldn't run in this
11:42shoe which is a shame because when I
11:44could run in this shoe there was a
11:46really nice airiness a really nice
11:48bounce to the foam in this shoe that
11:50made it a very fun shoe for running fast
11:53and right now the Endorphin Speed 3 is
11:56$125 so that's really great bar so for
12:00those of you who can run in the
12:01Endorphin Speed 3 I'd say get another
12:03endorphin Speed 3 for now and then you
12:05can upgrade to the Endorphin speed 4 for
12:07later but for those of you who have
12:09sensitive 4-foot areas that sometimes
12:11you get hot spots and then pains in the
12:13pads of your feet I'd say go with the
12:15Endorphin speed 4 it doesn't seem to
12:17have that same issue for me that the
12:19Endorphin Speed 3 did so those are my
12:22thoughts on the Endorphin speed 4
12:24definitely going to be a shoe that's a
12:25top of a lot of Runners lists for 2024
12:29if you have any other questions put them
12:30in the comments down below or better yet
12:32stop with the last TR I do Monday
12:33through Friday over on the kofuzi Run
12:34Club Channel I'd love to talk to you
12:36guys over there in the chat that's all
12:37for today everybody thanks so much for
12:38making all the way to the end of this
12:39video hopefully you guys are staying
12:41safe out there on your runs and I will
12:42see you in the next one yo what's going
