The MOST UNDERRATED Shoe Of 2025 | Adidas ADIOS 9 After 100 Miles – welcome back to another long term shoe review video and today I am talking about the most underrated running shoe of 2025, the adidas adios 9! This is of course my opinion but I have to say, not many people are talking about this shoe and its well worth the money. Today I break down the wear and tear, how i’ve used them and if I will keep using them moving forwards!
How many miles do you have in the adidas adios 9?
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00:00 – Intro
00:50 – Sizing
02:03 – Wear & Tear
04:16 – How I’ve Used Them
06:35 – Will I Keep Using Them?
07:36 – Marathon Training – Does It Belong?
the Adidas Addios 9 a shoe that I bought into my rotation for an upcoming 5K training block throughout those 10 weeks of 5K training it absolutely excelled taking all those fast workouts and doing them in style i wrapped up that 5k training block with a 1544 a brand new shiny PB which I was delighted with but the story is not over yet for this shoe today I’m going to be giving you guys a 100 mile update on the Adidas Addios 9 and how I’m incorporating it now into my base phase of marathon training this has to be my second favorite Adidas shoe of the year but highly underrated in my opinion i’ll share why later as with all 100 mile update videos we’ll be going through the wear and tear on the shoe how I’ve been using it and then if I’ll continue using it moving forwards after that I’ll let you know the plans for this shoe on how I’ll keep using it in my training let me very quickly start off with sizing before we go through the wear and tear though because sizing is a massive issue in a lot of Adidas shoes for me now I’ve been a massive fan of Adidash shoes for a while but I’ve really got into them more so over the last year or two pro 3 was exceptional for me during my marathon block last year and the Evo SL has been a welcome addition this year to the point where I’ve actually got myself two pairs now and the Addios 9 is another absolute banger and this is the one Adidas shoe that actually fits me perfectly without me having to cut a little hole in the end for my toe now that might sound a little bit weird i’ll give you guys a little bit more context very quickly for the people that don’t know so I’m a UK size 13 adidas go 13 13 1/2 14 but in terms of actual centimeters in the length of the shoe and Adidas 13 is much shorter than any other brand so I have to half size up to a 13.5 but in some situations I still can find that they can just be a tiny bit too tight the problem is if I go to a 14 it is just way too baggy especially over the midfoot area and in and around the toe box so something I started doing last year was just putting a little slit in and around the big toe there just so there’s a bit more flexion and room for it to breathe and to be quite honest it’s done the job really well because I’m a massive fan of the Light Strike Pro foam i think Adidas shoes in general work for me their sizing is just absolutely poor so I just thought I’d mention that sizing in case you guys missed the first impressions video it’s been really good on that front let’s move on to the wear and tear of the shoe so as you can see it’s a little bit dirty it’s definitely not white anymore but as you’d expect after 100 miles no snags no frays no tears in the shoe lacing feels really good upper feels really good the laces do feel a little bit flimsy they do kind of look like they might just start fraying at some point but obviously I’ve had no issues whatsoever the only bug bear I have this shoe and it is only one and it does kind of impact things a little bit is the tongue is super super short now the tongue is sewn into the top of the shoe in and around this section here it says light lock and then just here you’ll see some stitching there you’ll also see some stitching just here that’s the tongue being sewn on from the inside so it literally does not move anywhere but the length of the tongue is just really short and as you can see here when you do a decent double knot the tongue only just covers that knot but otherwise that’s the only thing that I was a little bit worried about everything however is holding up really nicely as you’d expect with the Light Strike Pro midsole it is holding up really nicely you’ve got much less of it in this shoe 27 mil stack in the heel 20 in the forefoot so let’s just say in this day and age it’s definitely on the lower end of the stack i know a few years ago it wouldn’t have been but right now we’re spoiled for choice with much bigger stack shoes so this one you get a lot of ground contact feel in but that’s not stopped the Light Strike Pro from holding up really nicely it is doing really well as you’d expect if you’ve tried any Adidas shoe with Light Strike Pro in it you’ll know how it feels you know it takes a little bit of a while to break in but to be honest with you I didn’t feel the break-in period on this one was much after a couple of runs I was really enjoying the shoe and that’s all holding up really nicely as well we have full rubber coverage on the outsole as well just to add to the durability of this shoe and again the rubber outsole is holding up very nicely still very tacky and still very grippy i will just mention on the form of this and durability shoes with less stack height tend to potentially last a little bit less time because of course when the foam compresses not only are you already getting ground contact feel when the foam is good but when the foam is bad and compressed it really is going to shake through your bones so how have I been using the shoe well the first batch of testing in the shoe or usage I should say was throughout that 5k training block and I think that took it to in and around 70 miles so I’ve put another 30 in it since that last 5k back i think it was on the 21st or 23rd of May throughout that 5k training block it took every single Tuesday session which was a fast 5K specific session usually in the realms of 200 400 600 800 meter repeats this thing did it all now I did get the Streakfly in for testing and did a little bit of AB testing with this shoe and of course as you can probably imagine the Street Fly is lighter than this shoe streetfly 2 I should say is lighter than this shoe and it does have a carbon plate so I slipped this one at the start got a few rep times done in it slipped the Street Fly on and it did indeed blow this shoe out of the water but of course I’m not looking for a carbon plated shoe to train in all the time so I went straight back to this shoe and again it just soaked up the rest of those weeks really really well in those weeks I was doing those runs I was adding a three mile warm-up and cool down on the front so I was covering a good 9 to 10 miles and every single run in the shoe i think a big misconception is because it has lower stack than some of the other shoes you’re running in you can’t run in it for that long at all well you’ll be surprised to hear some of the other runs that I’ve been doing in this shoe because they’ve been going up to in and around 13 miles so since that 5k block has finished I’ve jumped into some pre-arathon training where I’m working a lot on my threshold but on the weekend I’m doing some hill workouts as well usually 20 times 30 seconds that’ll progress as I go through the block however at the moment the first 2 or 3 weeks have been 20 by 30 seconds been putting a long warm up and cool down on the front of that and the recent run on the weekend just gone was 13 miles in this shoe and it felt absolutely brilliant i didn’t even feel like I would want to stop at that point i felt like I could carry on again I just want to encourage people to not look at this shoe and go “Oh well we’ve got the Evo SL we’ve got the Boston we’ve got the Pros they’ve got much more stack height in them.” Yes you’re right they will protect your legs better than this shoe but I still feel there’s always a place in a rotation for a shoe like this and don’t think you’re just going to get a short amount of miles in it you can definitely run a little bit longer than you think and bearing in mind I’m probably in and around that 91 92 kilo area so I’m definitely not a lighter runner at all and it’s working really well for me so the question is after 106 mi will I continue to use this shoe moving forward well absolutely it’s showing no signs of slowing down and I’m absolutely loving incorporating this into my rotation so currently in my training I’m using some bigger stack shoes for those double threshold days and the longer single threshold workout that I’m doing as well and I actually really do appreciate slipping on something like this towards the end of the week especially for that hill workout so for the remainder of this block nothing is going to change i’ll be reaching for this shoe for those hill workouts i find it to be great especially on hills i just feel like as I’ve got more ground contact feel in the shoe I’m engaging all my muscles i can definitely feel that as I’m towing off up the hill my glutes engage i feel like I’m able to get good power off the foot strike and I definitely feel when I’ve done that workout as well I’m feeling like I’ve activated and worked all the right muscles i can sometimes find that if I’m running in a bigger stacked shoe with more foam I don’t always feel that sensation i sometimes feel like the shoe is doing a bit too much work for me and that’s why I always feel like there’s definitely room in the rotation for everyone to have a shoe like this so I mentioned in the intro how I think I’m going to be continuing to use this moving forward and as I said for the remainder of this pre-base phase of marathon training nothing will change there but as I get deeper into marathon training I might find that I use it a little bit less as I’m maybe covering some of the longer longer runs however I still will have a speed workout in there once a week alongside some more half marathon and marathon specific work later down the line and at the moment this shoe is prime contender for that as well i’m lucky enough to live in a location where I’ve got concrete on my doorstep where I can use for flatter workouts but I’ve also got some really nice fast buffed out trails i do a lot of my fart leg workouts on and some of my intervals as well and I’m just looking for maybe a bit nicer scenery or something a bit softer underfoot and having done some of those workouts already in this shoe back in my 5K block on that type of trail I absolutely loved it it did brilliantly and I would have no hesitation in going out there and again covering up to a half marathon maybe even 15 16 miles in this shoe at the moment I feel like the Light Strike Pro is holding strong as soon as I feel that it’s not then this shoe will get shelved it’s not worth an injury risk as I said I think when a lower stack shoe I’m going to say lower because of course a few years ago we’d have been used to running in these type of stack shoes but now as it’s cast as lower as soon as it starts to feel like it’s compressing too much and I’m getting a bit too much ground contact feel I won’t hesitate but to shove it so prediction on durability I think as I said I’ll get it over 200 miles it’s then going to depend on how it goes from 200 to 300 i have a feeling it will do absolutely fine but I’m certainly not going to risk anything and I’m not going to be trying to push this to any crazy numbers there we go those are my thoughts on Adidas Addios 9 after 100 miles massively underrated this year big shout out to Tim Gross he enjoyed the Adios 8 from last year and when the nine came out this year he said to me that I actually think you’ll probably get on with this shoe quite well so I took a punt and I’m very grateful for his recommendation because he was right i absolutely love it and as I said I do feel like there’s a place in a rotation for everyone to have a shoe like this i think stacking it up against its competitors going back a few years maybe you’d be looking at the Puma Liberate Nitro maybe more now so the Brooks Hyperion the Street Fight version one potentially not so much version two but the one is another good shoe to stack up against this in fact I did a comparison on all those speed shoes earlier on in the year i think this has to be cream of the crop now i’m enjoying it so much it’s absolutely brilliant i just hope it goes on for as long as possible so is this a shoe that you picked up earlier in the year if so how many miles or kilometers have you got in the shoe let me know down in the comments below or is it something that you’re thinking about picking up price point on this shoe is absolutely brilliant i’m sure you can get discounts on it already it’s well worth grabbing if you haven’t already and speaking of durability if you’re interested in seeing my thoughts on the Evo SL after 300 miles and you haven’t seen that one check out this video up here or if you want to know my thoughts on how Adidas have really disrupted the market with that shoe as well check out this video down here here and I’ll see you guys over on one of
31 Comments
Is "low stack" for you? Have you picked up a pair of these beauties?!
This is my favorite treadmill shoe of all time!
I haven't tried the Adios 9, but based purely on touch and step in feel, the Lighstrike Pro on it feels a lot more like the one used on the Pro 4. I don't know if it's the same formulation, just that it's closer to the Pro 4 in terms of initial softness. One thing about the Pro 4, which I suspect might carry over to the Adios 9, is that break in period is negligible at best. It's more a matter breaking in the internal materials just enough not to cause hot spots, which can be accomplished in less than 12mi, if even.
Because the Adios 9 is a lower stack and has a different use case to the AP4, I'm actually more optimistic about the durability of the adios 9 relative to the AP4. Albeit a different formulation of Lightstrike Pro, which is initially softer, it's still Lightstrike Pro. Meaning, it continues getting softer over time. As such, I've seen people report a slight drop in performance after the 100mi mark with the AP4. I haven't experienced that myself, but because of said reports, to be safe I'm planning on trying to keep my AP4 below 70mi before my marathon next year, since I need all the help I can take. I'll just add enough do a few races and long run race rehearsals just to ensure I'm confident with the shoe choice before the race. I currently only have 18mi on them, so I'm at a good spot to keep it below 70mi. Anyways, because of the use case of the adios 9, I think as long as you still have enough protection and the drop in performance is not too egregious, there is no reason to retire them. I'd probably take the same approach as yourself. Would only retire when it becomes so soft, the ground feel start becoming a bit much.
Did you use this shoe for the 5K race?
My fave for 10k 🎉
The Adios 9 is a fresh breeze in my rotation. I can feel the ground but my legs also get enough protection to easily go above the 10k distance. 1,78 m 81 kg
Great review of this shoe. You answered all of my questions succinctly. Great job! Good luck with your training. Can’t wait to see what you can do at the longer distances.
Loving mine. Great for building foot strength with no gimmicks. I hear the upcoming Takumi Sen 11 is firmer than the Adios pro 4 and should be a great race shoe to pair with this for sub 10k races.
I love it! Im using it twice a week, for an easy run and the speed session. Im so glad i got it. This shoe finally makes sense of my rotation😂 (i mean whats the point of a rotation running only max cushion shoes)
Great review Andy, thank you 🙏🏾😊. I totally agree with you!! Brilliant shoe, very versatile and so good for building foot strength for using alongside the streakfly 2 and adidas pro 4s 💪🏾.
Will be interesting where the Takumi Sen 11 will fit into this group of shoes 🤔
It’s underrated because it didn’t get released in the US and USian reviewers couldn’t recommend it to people who couldn’t buy it. Adidas’s fault.
Love mine, have the turquoise green with yellow stripes. Going to debut them in 5k race on Friday 🎉
Fully agree. Nearing 200mi in mine. Update review soon. 🤙🏻
This is a wonderful shoe. It’s such a shame it isn’t available in the US. I had to get mine while on vacation.
My favourite speed treadmill shoes
Adios 9 beeing underrated is purely Adidas own fault. You can't get those shoes in USA.
Stop shouting at me 😅
I have an Adios 6. I like to run it on dirt trails. The lower stack is good when running on gravel. And good to mix the shoes for your faster runs.
I love my adios 9, but they give me Achilles grief as well as blistering on the last few runs as well as the adios pro 4 😢 I’m unsure if it’s too large, too small or foots slipping on the insole or they’re just not for me.
I’ve sidelined them for a bit to see if my Achilles iritation goes away.
They should put this stuff under every shoe! Lightweight and durable, who would have thought?
I'm at 295km on the adios 9. I tentatively expect to go to 500km. A brilliant training shoe for speed work and also just working on foot strength, form and proprioception. I don't know why adidas has removed it from the Us market.
The density of the modern midsole foams is less than classic stuff like Phylon. Reaching back in time the adios 9 looks similar to a Nike Streak 7 but it feels more toward a Streak LT.
Can’t find in USA
Bro, your mic levels. Most of your videos have a bit of clipping, but this one is worse than normal.
I also really love this shoe. Did just under 100km till now, my is silver and it looks like new. Sadly I often get shin splints after running with adios 9. I love these shoes but in my experience they are the least gentle out of my trio (Novablast 5, supernova rise 2, adios 9).
How is it for wide/flat feet?
Might try these. The novablast 5 with the very high stack and soft foam hurt my inner ankle, dealing with post tib issues now which is a bummer since i just started running. 🙁
100% I have 160 miles in mine. Use them for track speed sessions and rotated into my daily 11k commute. My favourite shoe of 2025 despite also having the EVO SL. The upper locks down much better in comparison and is less “marshmallow” like.
I found the midsole in my first pair chucked it just after 200 miles. Got a new pair, did a session in them this week. Still amazing.
Excellent shoe. I use them for off-road sessions and parkruns. That's when the close to the ground feel comes into its own. And none of the lockdown and comfort problems I have with the Takumi Sen 9s and 10s or the Pro 3s.
How do these compare to the Topo Cyclone 3, apart from the wider toebox in the cyclone 3?
I love the Adios 8, and when the 9 came out in the red colorway, I couldn't resist to order it, even though the 8 still had plenty of life.
I ran once in the 9, and loved it even more than the 8, but it was too short and gave me black toe nails, so I returned it. Now, I'm using 8, and afraid to order the 9 in bigger size, because that might be too baggy.