 Alright, here we go, ladies and gentlemen, back in the studio, welcome to the studio. If you're new to the channel and there's a lot of folks, thanks for hitting that subscribe button. It's humbling to see where this growing global YouTube running family is headed every single day and so this is where I record a lot of vlogs, a lot of videos, a lot of running shoe reviews. We're going to get to the Nikes here in a second, but anyway, today drinking green tea, not turmeric, and the movement has begun where people are tagging me on Twitter where they're drinking their tea in a beer stein as well. I love it. I just love big portions when it comes to hot drinks. So that's why I'm drinking my green tea tonight in the beer stein. Okay, today's, first of all, these are yesterday's shoes, the lone peaks, okay? Took those out on the trails yesterday, lone peak 4.5s, but today's run. Oh my goodness, in the ASICS Glide Rides, I frankly did not think I would be running in any ASICS shoes in 2019. I'm really enjoying the ride and I'm going to give you full review sooner rather than later, but today's run, 13 miles, 21K, 620 a mile or 355 per kilometer, feeling smooth, feeling strong, even, you know, what is it, six days after the New York City marathon in the ASICS Glide Rides. So very pleased with how these are performing and who knows, maybe today's run was a smidge fast six days after a marathon, but I am a little bit of a mad scientist right now, just trying to, like, this is a unique situation going from back to back marathons, which we'll talk about in a second, Amsterdam and New York, and then racing the world mountain running championships in Argentina and when you're watching this five days from now, so for all the coaches out there, for all the, you know, maybe running veterans, let's, let's see what happens in Argentina. I'm hoping that my legs can still climb a mountain and I'm hoping I picked up a little bit of leg turnover by racing on the roads for the path and the threshold runs over the past, let's say four to six weeks that I can just get those legs moving one more time before taking a break. So that's what I'm hoping. OK, let's dive into the Nike next percent versus the Nike vapor fly four percent flying it. If you didn't know, if you're new, I raced the Amsterdam marathon. Was that October? Yeah, I think it was October 20th. And then two weeks later for different circumstances, I won't get into now. I raced the New York City marathon, November 3rd. So I have very, very fresh memories in both of these shoes. And I promise myself that I would not give you a full comparison vlog between these two shoes unless I raced in them. And that is so these shoes, as you all know, they're marathon racing shoes. Now, could you take could you take them out at the half marathon distance? Absolutely. I've seen professional elite runners do 10 K races on the track like out at Palo Alto out in Stanford in I've seen it in the four percent. So you can take these shoes to shorter distances in racing, but it is a marathon racing shoe. And now that I've done Amsterdam and New York, I feel confident now to give you my full thoughts on which I would choose. Let's say in 2020, maybe you're starting to think about registering for your first marathon, what shoe I would choose. But OK, here we go. I'm excited. There's a lot happening in the running space right now with respect to shoes. So last weekend in New York, the winner of the elite women, her name, Jocelyn Gepkowski, Gepkowski. It was her, I don't know if it was her debut at the marathon distance. It may have been. Maybe it was her debut in New York. Maybe that's what it was. But she won and she's running for Adidas, not Nike. And then you look at Jared Ward, the top American to finish at the New York City Marathon. He finished sixth overall. He runs for Soccany. And yes, he was in a shoe, a prototype. It looks like a newer shoe from Soccany with a higher stack height. And and then I'm just going to mention the Hoka Carbon X, which oh my gosh, here it is, the Hoka Carbon X. I am going to be very excited to pick up the next iteration of this shoe in 2020, whenever they I guess it would be would it be about March or April? Bottom line, what I'm getting at is very excited about this. But I think 2020 is going to be a banner year for Adidas, for New Balance, for Hoka, for Soccany, for I'm even going to say, I think Reebok. I think there's a lot of good things happening in the Reebok department that will rival, maybe not maybe not beat, but rival some of the advancement in technology that's happening in the 4% and the next percent. So I don't know if you're excited, but I'm excited about the 2020 racing shoe lineup. And with that said, let's dive into some specs between the 4% and the next percent. So here we go. We're looking at a flying it upper, OK, in the 4% and a vapor weave upper in the next percent. Talk about that in a second. The drop in the 4% 10 millimeter, all right. And in the next percent, eight millimeter, which, oh, man, it does it does make a difference, everyone, especially going from the Ultra Lone Peak 4.5 from yesterday's trail run like, and I know that's very extreme, going from about eight to 10 down to zero. But I'm telling you, the more dialed in you become with your shoes, the more you will feel those slight changes in the drop. For example, the Carbon X from Hoka is a six millimeter drop and it you can feel it just a little bit in your gate cycle. Moving on to the stack height, we're looking at in the in the 4%. We're looking at 39 millimeter in the heel, 29 millimeter in the forefoot. Come back to that in a second. And then in the next percent, looking at 40 millimeter in the heel and 32 in the in the in the forefoot. So they bumped it up a little bit in the heel, and then they really bumped it up in the forefoot compared to this 4%. As far as weight goes, we're looking at six ounces in my size. Men's size, eight and a half to nine is looking at 6.5 ounces. But in my size, six ounces or 170 grams in the next percent. And it did lose a little bit of weight from the 4%. So the 4% is coming in actually at like 6.1, a little over 6.1 ounces in my size. All right, now let's talk about major differences and then the actual performance on the streets of Amsterdam and the streets of New York City. OK, major differences, definitely. All right, just going through the upper here, flying it versus vapor weave. Supposedly the vapor weave works really well in wet conditions. It wicks away the moisture better. I have not raced or even frankly trained in rain or really any wet and so I can't attest to that. But I could see how this vapor weave upper would help. So if you live in Scotland or you live in, I don't know, where else does it? Seattle, this vapor weave might be a better option for you over the flying it. Now, another major difference real quick is I do not love how the lacing eyelet chain on the next percent goes off to the side. Hopefully you can see that how it goes off to the side versus straight down the middle. I'm oh, man. So OK, I will just say in New York City, the morning of the race, as I was getting ready to go, I put the shoe on and then I did not tie the shoe. Then I walked around my motel room. I walked to the starting line for about 20 to 30 minutes trying to get to my my corral in New York City. So it was really interesting arriving at the starting line in New York lacing up and it felt like the vapor weave was kind of conforming to what my foot, the volume of my foot, the shape of my foot. So in the end, the vapor weave upper did work out for New York City. But I was a little concerned about the scrunching up through the toe box. OK, moving on to the midsole, so same Zoom X midsole in both shoes. But as you can probably tell, 15 percent, which is pretty significant. 15 percent more Zoom X foam in the midsole of the of the next percent. That's impressive while still reducing the weight of the shoe. Now we'll come back to that the stack height here in a second. And then real quick, moving on to the outsole. Again, if you live in Seattle or Scotland, the grooves of the outsole on the next percent supposedly are helping people get better grip, better traction in wet conditions on the roads. I can't attest to that, but I could see how that would happen just based on the grooves there through that outsole. Enough talking about specs and all that. Let's talk about actual performance on the streets of Amsterdam and the streets of New York City. Oh, my goodness, why did I go with a 4 percent in Amsterdam? I preferred the feel and the conformity to my foot of the flying it upper. That was one reason. Also, the other big reason when I put the next percent on my feet, I'm not a big guy. They just felt a little clunky. I think I use the term and they kind of felt even kind of looked a little bit like clown shoes, just like a lot of volume happening through this next percent. And so that's why I went with a 4 percent in Amsterdam. Now at my now, OK, I went 106.53 through the halfway point in Amsterdam. I went 111.20 ish, I think, through the halfway point in the next percent. So obviously the speeds were different in both shoes. Now, New York City is hillier, but I must say by mile 18, given I was going faster, by mile 18, my feet did start to hurt pretty good in this 4 percent. I, you know, the pride for different reasons. I'm not just putting it all on the shoes, but I will say that extra 15 percent of midsole in the next percent, I think did help save my legs in New York City. And with New York, you've got the hills. You've got the bridges. Also, a lot of people are reporting that their legs are recovering quicker in the next percent compared to the 4 percent. And frankly, I could not agree more. My legs, I mean, today's 13 mile run kind of proves it. Like I don't think I could have done this after Amsterdam. And once again, I had way more downhill in New York, which I thought I would be a lot more sore, a lot more tired. Now, my pacing was much more even in New York. So keep that in mind as well. But I will say, OK, so for New York, it really wasn't until like mile 23 where I was like, OK, my feet, my feet are aching just a little bit. But it is just something to note for your decision making as you're thinking. And we're going to ask the question of the day here in one second. Your decision making for your racing shoe, your marathon racing shoe in 2020. Real quick, just have to comment real quick on the Nike Alpha Fly. Supposedly the next iteration of this lineup, 4 percent next percent Alpha Fly. So that is what Kipchogi wore in Vienna. I've heard I've heard rumor mill. Don't don't this is not written in stone yet that the stack height. Oh, my, my 50 millimeters in the heel and supposedly 40 or 41 in the forefoot. Now, this is all this is not written in stone yet. But I have a feeling there's going to be a little more controversy when it comes to those Alpha Fly shoes. I also have heard maybe there's three carbon fiber plates inside the midsole of the Alpha Fly, whereas these two, of course, only have one. So I'm just saying I think there's going to be continued discussion, maybe even heated debate out there when it comes to future technology and marathon racing shoes. And yes, question of the day, 2020, what marathon racing shoe or what road, what running shoe company are you most excited for in 2020? It's knocking on the door. You know, it's coming. I just hope what I hope for just being very open. I hope for competition. I hope for not even necessarily innovation. I just hope that every company continues to push themselves so that there's options on the table for everybody. That's my that's my hope. It's kind of like the spirit of of running good competition all around. I'm not a Nike guy. I don't run for Nike and ASICs. Heck, let's throw ASICs into the mix and Mizuno and all those companies. Like, that's all I want when it comes to marathon racing shoe options. All right. There you go. There's my. Oh, OK, I better say, if I had to buy a new shoe right now, I'd probably I'd go with the next percent. All right. Just want to put that out there now. Or mostly because I think of saving my legs. I think of saving my legs. It does. It is a good thing. But again, I will I'll buy Jared Ward's prototype if it comes out, you know, in 2020 and give it a give it a shot. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe Soccany is is really pushing the envelope and we don't even know what they have coming down the pike. And with that said, we're going to sign off there. I could keep going, but I know your time is valuable. And the fact that so, so many of you come back every single day to watch these vlogs, to hear my thoughts about back to back marathons, back to back racing experiences in both of these shoes, it's just it's just humbling. So thank you. I bow down to you. All right. We're tossing it back to a racing. Actually, sorry, a time trial in the 4% from 2018 on the right. And then on the left, we'll get you my naked next percent first impressions from back in July. All right, you guys rock. See you duty, work hard and love each other. See you tomorrow.