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Puma FAST-R NITRO Elite 2: Puma's In Depth Introduction
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May 23, 2024
RoadTrailRun met with Puma after the Boston Marathon and Todd Falker Director Puma Run gave us a full introduction to the FAST-R2 which goes up in stack and gets a full Nitro foam midsole. The launch colors will be different than the prototype shown and there will be changes to the windows through the front outsole in the production version Release: 12/8/2023 (Ekiden Rush colorway, limited pairs) and 2/22/2024 (Psychedelic Rush colorway will be available and larger quantity than the December drop) Price: $260 Weight: 240g Stack Height: 40mm heel / 32mm forefoot Drop: 8mm Lifespan: 400km / 250miles
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0:00
Okay, we're with Todd, who's the head of Run Puma Footwear up here in Somerville on the
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13th floor of their brand new headquarters. Todd, tell us about racing in the near future
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Yeah, absolutely. So we're in the middle of 23 right now, but of course, in product development
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we're already working on product for 2024. The FastR V1 was a really nice, innovative race shoe
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that had kind of this decoupled heel and forefoot, but we have a second version that I'm excited to
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talk you through today. So this is the FastR V2, and this is actually kind of the leak prototype
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colorway. So you won't see this for sale pretty much ever. But the key updates here, we've added
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four millimeters of thickness to the heel and the forefoot. So we're at 40 millimeters and then 32
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So we've kind of maxed it out with an eight millimeter drop according to the World Athletics
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rules. The Nitro Elite is a new and improved version of foam. Previously, we're using a Peeba
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based material. Now we're using a new innovative, I call it Beyond Peebax compound, Beyond Peebax
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but it's actually an aliphatic TPU, which is technical for the scientists to know. But we get
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the most extreme lightweight and the best rebound of any foam that we've ever measured
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And that's our Nitro Elite. So we don't have the former kind of EVA heel. That's right. Okay. Yeah
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Yeah. This shoe was designed for midfoot to forefoot strikers that would land, rock back
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and then go forward. And with that rock back, we wanted it to be firm so they could just keep going
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forward. But we heard that we can still accomplish that, but for some of the people that are heel
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striking, they wanted a little bit more efficiency. And for me personally, I do a lot of downhill
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running actually. And so, yeah, the new prototype I think is better for that. So that's Nitro Elite
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And then in terms of the carbon fiber power plate, we've actually extended this all the way
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from the heel to the toe and even a little bit beyond the toe. Oh, tell me what the thinking
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is there. Yeah, absolutely. We can maybe show you on the table, but basically if you line
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up the two shoes and go, you'll get one that will go a little bit further forward because of the
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extension. We were able to move that last contact point even a little bit further forward
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without really any effects on the running biomechanics. So it's still rigid, but now we
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have sort of a front platform. Almost like a lever. A lever. Yeah. And Karsten Warholm won the European
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Champs in the 400 meter hurdles with a track spike that had kind of a similar extra claw on the toe
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And it worked really well for Karsten and we've been doing a lot of testing in the lab
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We're over one and a half percent more efficient in Fastar V2 versus the first one. So foam is one
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part. Plate. Stack of good foam. Yeah. And then the upper, you know, we're utilizing our
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power tape and making sure your heel is locked down. Yeah, just a really, really comfortable shoe
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Again, this is a prototype. So the Ultra Weave coming off, there's a few changes
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But yeah, power tape is kind of our support reinforcement. So for the marathoner who's
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say, in the, you know, three hour plus, the four hours, is this a good choice? I mean, to be honest
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my choice would be DV Elite. DV Elite 2 in 2023. It's lighter weight and I think it works for a
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lot more foot strikes. This is really designed for the super powerful runner. It does have a few more
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grams than the DV Elite because the Fastar has so much more technology in terms of more foam
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more plate. We call the Fastar 2 our powerful propulsion model. And then the DV Elite is our
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lightweight propulsive model. And then up at the heel here, we have our... Now tell me, what are
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you doing there? That's interesting. This is an external heel counter. So instead of building up
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the plastic a lot on the inside, you know, we have good reinforcement and then, yeah, just as a way
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to... And why does it... Why... That's kind of unique extending through. I see. So it's a rigid far back
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External heel counter. Yeah. And then we have soft here and then we have the bolsters. A nice collar
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Yeah. Yeah. It's got a whole gym place. So yeah, I mean, some of this is style and it's design as well
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You can see the carbon fiber plate peeking through the heel. Yeah. But again, there will be a few
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changes. Like we're actually going to cut out some of this plate that you'll see right through here
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to make sure that it's all good with rocks and stuff. But we're at $260 in the FastRare V2
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260 euros as well. Launching with Ekedin in December of 2023, there will be a few pairs
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And then in February of 2024. Excellent. What do you got next? How can you top that? But I think you can
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