The Inov-8 Mudtalon Speed is designed for really muddy running – think Lake District fell races or those narrow footpaths in January that are churned up by suburban dog walkers.
Its lugs are a whopping 8mm deep and that’s about as aggressive as you’ll find. For perspective, Arc’teryx’s new Sylan trail shoe has 6mm lugs and that’s generally considered to be pretty gnarly.
The other day, I was at the world famous cheese rolling in Gloucestershire. I wasn’t stupid enough to take part, but I found myself thinking that if I was then I’d definitely choose to wear these. We’ve had a wet spring here in the UK and they’ve served me very well on all of my most recent runs, which have mainly been on bridleway slop. On that kind of stuff, they really do inspire confidence like no other shoe.
Design and Performance
Fortunately, all of the lugs shed mud extremely well and that’s likely due to the fairly large amount of spacing between them. My local trails are notoriously sticky due to the amount of chalk, but I’ve come back from runs in these with the outsole completely unclogged. I particularly like the fact that the lugs curl up the heel and the toe slightly as this adds just that bit of extra grip on sharp ascents and descents. The rubber compound does have some sticking ability on dry rock but it has its limitations, like most trail running shoes, on rocks that are greasy with moisture.
The midsole has a rock plate and a very light bit of shock absorption and cushioning – if you’re used to running in On or Hoka shoes, think the opposite of them. As such, these aren’t really the kind of shoes I’d want to run in for long on any hard trails – definitely not on road. On road, I actually could feel the lugs bending and wobbling under my feet and felt guilty about the wear and tear that this would be creating.
The upper is made from a translucent ripstop nylon that’s reinforced with a TPU. This has some durability to it but it’s still extremely thin and you therefore don’t have much protection from hard stuff protruding from the trail. OK, it’s not a shoe that’s made for rocky trails but I found that even on soft, muddy trails, the odd rock or root on the trail posed a risk and every now and then I’d feel a bit of a jab into the upper, particularly around my big toes. You do have protection around the heel, however, and that’s thanks to the stiffened heel counter. The tongue also has a fair pit of foam padding that protects the very top of your foot and there’s a bit of foam on the ankle cuff, which, in the sample I had, was pretty shoddily finished at the edges.
