Altra Timp 3

I've been a diehard Timp fan for years. It's my go-to for a regular trail trainer shoe, especially for long runs. I choose this shoe for pretty much everything over ten miles during training runs. I've raced in previous Timp models before too, but I'll be switching my racing shoe over to the new Timp Mont Blanc in the future... more on that later. 

For now, I'm happy with the Timp upgrades. It's always a bit bittersweet to move onto a new model, for fear that the next version might lose some of my favorite qualities from the last. 

But I've been happy with every Timp upgrade, and this one is no different. I'm still "behind" by one model, so I'll have to see how the 4 does in the future... the 3, though, hits the nail on the head in my opinion. 

My biggest complaint about the Timp 2 was the fit. I have a bit of an oddly-shaped foot: wide in the toes and forefoot, but really quite narrow in the midfoot and heel. This means that I need a shoe with a wide toebox to accommodate the front of my foot, but narrow in the rest of the foot. I love a wide toebox, but the whole point of that is to allow the toes to splay out. If the rest of the foot has too much rook to wiggle and slide around, then a wide toebox just turns into a way for the toes to slam against the front of the shoe. They can only splay properly if the rest of the foot is locked in tight. In the Timp 2, I felt like my midfoot and heel had way too much room. The back didn't cup my heel properly, and the midfoot was just too wide to hold my foot in place. 

In the 3, the heel cup has been completely redesigned to mold to the foot better. You can see how it's been shaped to curve with the heel, when the 2 had less of a curve in the heel cup. The midfoot is also narrower in the 3, while the toebox is actually wider. This gives more room for the toes to actually splay... not just slide.

The other main addition that I really appreciate is the rubber strip on the toe for more rock protection. I'm notorious for not picking up my feet enough off the ground... I slip into the classic "ultra shuffle" when I start to get tired. This means that I run into rocks galore and trip over my own feet. Rubber won't keep me from falling all over myself... but that structure really helps protect my toes. I haven't gotten nearly as many bruises in these shoes. I remember losing my big toenail on each foot in my last pair from stubbing it on rocks. The Timp 3 takes into account these little troubles and risks on the trail. 

That being said, I think this shoe does best as a mild trail shoe. It can keep up for hours and hours on long-distance runs, that's not the issue. It just performs better on comfortable, squishy, basic dirt rather than more technical trail. It doesn't have the kind of traction and grip to perform optimally on loose and rocky terrain, and I still don't think it's quite fitted or light enough to be nimble on super tight turns at high speeds. The Mont Blanc and the Superior make better performance shoes. But the Timp remains my training shoe of choice for its reliable comfort, ease of use, and durability. They're my workhorse shoes because I can trust them to withstand a serious beating. I expect to take these to 500+ miles, just the same as my previous pairs of Timps.