Salomon Salomon Aero Glide 3 Review (70ish miles)

My size 12's came in weighing: Left 10.1 Ounces, Right 10.1 Ounces
Sample size weight: 8.8 Ounces
Heel Stack: 42MM (Per Running Warehouse, but I have seen varying reports)
Drop: 8MM
Midsole: Energy Evo Foam, eTPU type of foam
Upper: Engineered 3D seamless Mesh, that is basically constructed inside out
Outsole: Contagrip
Neutral shoe
Price: $160 USD

My first step into these shoes was straight away comfort.  The shoes felt great on and underfoot on initial walk around.  I had 2 slight concerns on first walk around, the laces were quite long and the fit was potentially a little lose.  

I proceeded with a standard lace up and started my initial 6.26 mile run.  From the get go, the bounce of these shoes was great. They provided great feedback.  My first 3 miles were very nice, with my second mile being a an easy quick tempo mile.  The shoes shifted gears very easily. 

Going into my 4th mile, I started to notice the laces slapping a bit and the shoes starting to loosen up a bit in the heel.  I made 2 adjustments. 
Adjustment 1: I threaded the laces through the extra eyelet provided on the shoes.  I felt the lock down sync right into place as soon as I did that. 
Adjustment 2: I double looped the lacing to reduce the extra length of lacing. 

After the 2 adjustments, the shoes were legit.  Lock down great, bounce great, smooth transition.  So my next questions were, how will these shoes do after repetitive runs with no rest and some long runs mixed in.  

Most shoes have the stitching's on the inside of the shoe.  For this design, Salomon mirrored how F1 glove manufacturers make their driving gloves, which is putting the stitching on the outside of the shoe.  This can give the shoe a bit of a utilitarian look.  It's a look I like, but can see where some people may not like it.  If you see the "mohawk" on the heel of the shoe, that is a tie off point for the stitching's. 

The tongue is long and actually sewn in, which is a bit different.  However I had no hot spots, no tongue movement and it was very comfortable on the runs. 

The laces are a bit long, but once I decided to use the extra eyelet the lockdown was perfect and double looping the laces when tying them, made the lacing a non-issue for being a bit long.  

The upper is one that should work for those with some wider and more voluminous feet should find this shoe great.  My more standard sized meatiness of a foot needed just that extra eyelet and the upper was in great lock down mode. 

These shoes are very comfortable.  I mean, very comfy

My runs were on a mix of black top, concrete and single track dirt.  Pretty much all dry conditions, because it is Houston and it is either steamy hot now or a downpour.  I had a little bit of a run on wet black top in a construction area, but it was just spots of wetness.  I can't claim witness to running in wet conditions. 

Salomon uses their own internally developed rubber (Contagrip) for the outsole of this shoe.  It is a thick layer, strategically placed.  Here is some information on the outsole from Salomon: https://www.salomon.com/en-us/sg/a/what-is-contagrip-r

The rubber is a softer material and has shown some wear in my high wear areas, but the rubber is thick enough that I am not overly concerned about the long term durability of it.  If you don't wear out outsoles, you will get a lot of miles out of this shoe. 

You can feel the tackiness of the rubber underfoot, is soft enough that it does not deaden the feedback of the shoe on transitions and has a nice pattern for light trail work. 

I had heard other reviewers talk about how nice of a bounce this midsole has and I 100% agree with them.  The response of the midsole is brilliant.  Underfoot it feels like a mix of the Superblast 2, Triumph 20 (only model I have ran in) and Novablast 3 (only model I have ran in).   The Asics Novablast talks about having a "trampoline pod" and effect in the forefoot, but I did not really get that feedback in my pair of version 3's.  In the Aero Glide 3, I do.  I can feel the response off of the forefoot and it is a really nice sensation.  

I was easily able to pick up the paces in this shoe, so much that I was doing faster paces than I realized multiple times.  I am not the speediest fellow, but it is nice to just shift the gear and pick up speed when you want to.....and have a shoe that responds this well.  With the lightness of the shoe in combination with this midsole, Salomon has put out a contender with much more well known models in my opinion. 

I have over 70 miles in the shoe for this review.  I ran 2 times, took a Friday off (my normal rest day), then ran in them for 6 days straight.  The first run of that stretch was the 20.5 miles.  The foam did not deaden out at all.  I tend to like to rotate shoes to keep the foam alive, allow sweat to dry and hopefully extend the life of the shoe.  This shoe did fantastic without any rest. 

I was able to use this shoe for tempo runs, easy pace runs, fartleks and walking. 

I did a 20.5 mile run in this shoe, which hit Black top, concrete and dirt single track.  I did easy pace, steady pace, tempo (my second fastest mile) and walking.   The shoe is a high performing daily trainer in that if you need a shoe, this would be a shoe I would recommend.  It can do all the runs and it travels well for everyday activities.  

As part of a rotation, this would be my work horse shoe.  I would probably look at adding a tempo/track shoe and race day shoe.....all though, I see no issues in using this shoe for Marathon distance.  My legs, feet and body felt good after the 20.5 mile run.  Coming from someone who ran his first marathon in Brooks Glycerin's, I would have zero concern using this shoe for that. 

Salomon has also released a Gravel version where they have added some additional structure to the upper and beefed up the outsole.  It is the same price, so if you think you need a bit more outsole and structure, consider the gravel version. 

They will also be releasing the Aero Blaze 3, which is a lower stack sibling to this shoe (also in a gravel version).  

I have been blessed with excellent shoes this year.  The Adidas Evo SL, Mount to Coast R1R, Mizuno Neo Zen and now this shoe.  If I had to pick a top 3, I would just pick all 4 at this point.  I like this shoe that much.