Adidas Adizero Adios 6 Review

Once the go-to marathon running shoe for some of the world’s fastest athletes, the Adios line has slipped into the background in recent years as carbon-plate super-shoes have come to dominate the market.

Like its stablemate the Boston, the Adios was due an upgrade that would incorporate the tech Adidas had introduced in shoes like its top long-distance racer, the Adios Pro 2. The Adios 6 achieves that without significantly changing the feel of the shoe: it is still a firm, stable and undoubtedly fast option. 

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Adidas Adizero Adios 6 Review: Price And Availability

The Adidas Adizero Adios 6 costs £110 in the UK, which makes it excellent value compared with carbon super-shoes – they generally cost around £200 – and most fast training shoes, which tend to be around £150. The Adios has long been a shoe that’s easy to find in sales and that remains true for the Adios 6, which can be bought for around £80.

Design And Fit

The Adios 6 has changed underfoot compared with its predecessors, but the upper and fit are in keeping with the line. It has a lightweight, single-layer mesh upper and a narrow fit to maintain good lockdown for fast running. As someone who has a narrow foot it fits perfectly in my normal size, but if you have a wider foot there may be a case for going a half size up.

There is minimal padding on the tongue, but some around the heel to avoid slippage there, and the upper is made from 50% recycled materials.

The midsole is made of two different foams. At the heel is Lightstrike, a firm and lightweight EVA foam; under the forefoot is Lightstrike Pro, which is Adidas’s best material and has a soft and bouncy feel. The Lightstrike Pro extends all the way through the forefoot and there is an exposed section on the outsole, which could mean durability concerns, though I’ve seen no undue wear in that area after 70km.

While the Adios 6 doesn’t have the EnergyRods used in the Adios Pro 2 and Takumi Sen 8 racing shoes, it does have a forked plastic shank under the midsole foam. This  runs from just behind the midfoot through the forefoot, providing a snappy transition onto your forefoot and off your toes.

As with many Adidas shoes, the outsole uses Continental rubber, which provides grip in all conditions and has always proved durable in my testing of other shoes. The gripe I have here is that some sections use strips of rubber and these have a habit of catching small stones between them.

How I Tested The Adidas Adizero Adios 6

I’ve run 70km in the Adios 6 on a mix of road and treadmill. While I’ve mostly focused on speedy running, doing one track session, a long tempo and a hard progression run, I’ve also done easy training to see if it’s versatile enough to work as an all-rounder.

Running Performance

The first couple of runs I did in the Adios 6 were easy base runs, with the second progressing to a steady pace by the end. I was impressed by the level of cushioning in the shoe and I think it may work well as a versatile option for someone who prefers a firm ride and more feel for the ground even on easy efforts.

However, when trying easy runs during a more intense training week, I did find it was too hard on my body. I’d personally restrict it to faster sessions, even if it is more cushioned than past iterations of the shoe.

During fast runs the Adios 6 has a snappy ride with the torsion system firing you onto your forefoot, rather than the smoother feel of shoes with a rocker design such as the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 or Hoka Mach 4. The Adios feels firmer, more stable and more traditional than those shoes, which will be great or bad news depending on your personal taste. 

There’s no doubt the shoe is fast. I used it for one-mile, 300m and 200m reps at the track, and for a hard progression hour where I finished at 3min 25sec/km pace for 3km. As someone now used to both smooth and soft-and-bouncy speed shoes, it was almost surprising how quick a traditional shoe like the Adios 6 could be. 

However, that speed comes at more of a cost than running in a softer, springier shoe. I found that at the end of hard sessions in the Adios 6 I was more beaten up than I would be when using a shoe like the Endorphin Speed. After doing back-to-back 16km runs over two days I would hesitate to keep using the Adios for runs over that distance – just because the firmer ride is harder on the legs.

Is The Adidas Adios 6 Worth It?

If you’re a long-term fan of the Adidas Adios and Boston lines, the Adios 6 does a better job of sticking to the principles of those shoes than the new Boston 10, which has a high stack and different ride from past Bostons.

The Adios 6 does introduce Adidas’s Lightstrike Pro foam to the line, but the shoe still has a traditional ride for a speed shoe, being firm and snappy. It lacks the EnergyRods and other tech used in Adidas’s top racing shoes but still delivers a fast ride for training and racing, though I’d stick to shorter stuff in the shoe myself.

However, unless you crave that firmer, more stable feeling, there are better options: chief among them is the Saucony Endorphin Speed 2, which is comfier, faster and lighter, while many carbon racers available now protect the legs better than the Adios. The Speed is more expensive, though, at £155, and in general, it’s hard to find fast training shoes that are better than the Adios 6 at its £110 price. It’s good value and gets the job done, but it just isn’t quite the best in the business any more.