Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 Review

After putting this shoe through its paces, on a mix of hard session and easy runs, it’s time for a Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 review. You’ll find out who it’s for, what the features are and what it’s like to run in.

Who is the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 for?

The Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 review here is a high stack, plated, lightweight road shoe with bouncy foam and a pronounced toe spring. I’ll explain what those mean shortly. It is therefore designed for hard effort training sessions where you would be running faster than most of the other runs in your weekly plan. What’s that? You don’t have a plan? Perhaps consider a running coach!

It can be used for longer runs too, although you would have to be a fairly neutral runner, landing flat on top of the shoe, without much lateral bias. The high cushion / stack would make it pretty unstable for someone that pronates a lot – there’s only so much the plate can do.

How is the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 constructed?

The Speed 2 has a huge bouncy cushion to reduce fatigue, a nylon plate to provide stability and pop, plus a lightweight upper. It’s essentially a super-shoe that you can use daily. Some of the shoe is made from recycled materials for sustainability.

The outsole has a token amount of carbon rubber to provide some extra longevity, whilst keeping the weight to a minimum.

The midsole is Saucony’s PWRRUN PB foam and there’s a lot of it, giving it a high stack: 35.5mm at the heel and 27.5mm at the forefoot, making the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 heel drop 8mm. It’s a pebax type foam, so it’s very bouncy without feeling mushy.

Inside the foam, there’s a full length, nylon plate which lends the Speed 2 some stability and makes for more responsive feel.

The midsole and plate curve up sharply at the front, giving it a substantial toe-spring.

The upper is layered, engineered mesh, so it moves well to the shape of your foot and is pretty breathable.

There is a heel counter, but it’s low and not particularly firm – if you land heavily enough on your heels to benefit from the counter, you may find the rest of the shoe too unstable. However, I suspect the toe spring and general design of the shoe, that Saucony call “Speedroll”, will quickly move runners with a major heel landing bias to move towards a more midfoot stance at speed.

Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 Weight and Size

My size 11.5UK Speed 2 weight 258g, making them a very lightweight option, especially for something with this huge amount of cushion.

I’m normally a size 11-11.5UK in most running shoes. I went for the larger half size because the 11 was very snug. I’d recommend trying the half size up if you aren’t sure.

Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 vs Pro 2

Initially, I was going to purchase the Pro 2, but ended up with the Speed 2. Why? I tried them both on a treadmill and there were various difference between the Speed 2 and the Pro 2. I tried a pair of each and I also tried one on each foot so I could compare in real time.

The Pro 2 has the carbon plate instead of nylon. You can definitely feel the increased stability from the carbon version in the Pro 2 and if the shoes were otherwise identical, I would choose the Pro 2. However, the upper on the Pro 2 was too flimsy for me – the lacing felt like it wasn’t holding my narrow feet in place very well at speed. The Speed 2 upper is excellent and whilst, yes, it’s a few grams heavier and thicker, the upper wraps round my foot better and is more comfortable.

So I chose the Speed 2, because the Pro 2 carbon plate didn’t feel quite different enough to trump the Speed 2 upper.

Saucony: please can we have a version with the Pro 2 midsole / plate with the Speed 2 upper? Thanks!

Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 review – On the Run

If you’ve never run in a shoe like this before, you might find it takes a couple of runs to get used to it. The combination of bounce and rocker that tips you on to the forefoot quickly makes you want to go fast everywhere. In the fast bits of a hard session, that’s perfect.

Running at an easier pace, it took me longer to relax and find my flow. After a couple of runs I figured them out and was able to run for an enjoyable hour and a half, at low effort.

Because I’m a bit “special”, I did try an hour of mostly trail. There was a bit of mud which it obviously had no chance on, but on the dry stuff, it was fun as long as it was flat. Uneven surfaces were a bit scary on the high, bouncy stack, much Hoka et al once you get on weird cambers. This is totally not what the Speed 2 is designed for, so best we move on now!

On roads, the outsole provides plenty of grip, even in the wet. The high stack can feel odd in sharp corners, but you can be confident in the road to shoe interface.

Normally I don’t like too much toe spring in my running shoes. I’ve tried other shoes with a pronounced, sharp curve at the front and found them uncomfortable and put too much pressure on the big toe. However, the full length plate has alleviated this and I found it very comfortable at all points along the foot.

If there was an area I’d change, it would be for the big toe area to be very slightly more flared towards the inside of the body. The upper is flexible enough for it not to be intrusive, but every now and then I noticed my big toe pushing against the side of the shoe there.

In a fast session, like an hour Fartlek or a set of Interval reps, the Endorphin Speed 2 really come into their own. The forefoot tip becomes very natural and the bounciness of the cushion makes the legs eager to do more, with minimal fatigue.

I haven’t used them for racing yet. I have a 10K coming up soon, so I’ll add some more to this review when that’s done.

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