Review: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12

Intro

I’ve decided to review all of my gear starting with my oldest stuff.
This way I hope to help people should they need pro’s and cons for running gear.

First up: Shoes – Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12

This purchase dates from some years ago (Christmas gift :-)) and the shoes aren’t for sale anymore in the common stores.

Specs

  • Weight: 323 gram (=11.4 oz)
  • Profile (Heel): 35.7 mm
  • Profile (Forefoot): 22.9 mm
  • Drop from heel to forefoot: 12.8 mm
  • Price: Not relevant anymore, but I spent about €130 back in the days

Personal experience

First off, note that is a neutral shoe, which may differ with your own feet. Over- or underpronation require different shoes!

The shoes, as you can see in the specs, have a fairly big drop, which means your heel will be higher than your toes. When you are into minimal running, stay away from it, as this is nothing for you.
Plus side of this big drop is the cushioning in the heel, which is great for paving the asphalt.
Biggest downside however is that this makes it harder to land on the middle of your foot or in the front. You will easily be pushed towards a heel landing.
The cushioning catches this, so all-in-all it’s not that of a problem, but if you’re working on your running form and foot landing, I’d suggest a shoe with a smaller drop.
Last for the sole, it has a medium stiffness. Nothing much more to say there…

unfortunately, I have sweaty feet. So breathability always is an issue for me. This is not something you can test by wearing the shoes in a store for a test run, so it’s always waiting for my first long run before I can judge.
The Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 does a good job about it. I never completed a run where I could wring out my socks. And when running into the wind I could sometimes even feel the flow going through my shoes.Sadly, this automatically means it is not waterproof. Not even one bit. Running in the rain? Wet feet.
Running early in the morning through the grass? Wet feet.Not noticing a puddle? Wet feet.Good socks help you with this and I don’t mind wet feet, rather wet feet from the rain than from the sweat 🙂

Aside from sweaty feet, I have wide (fore)feet as well. This often means choosing another shoe simply because I would rip the fabric in the front.
GTS 12 is wide enough for me, so no issues there.

For racing I would advice against them. They are too bloated. A shoe with less weight, smaller drop, less cushioning would improve your race.

In term of months, I wore them for a long time, as running was only a ‘when-I-Have-the-time’ thing back then. But I think I wore them for about 1200km (750 miles).
Which is a nice average for a running shoe I’d say.

In summary:

I would definitely advice this shoe for a starting runner as it is a nice basic shoe with a lot of support in the right places.
Once you get more experienced you automatically will feel if a lighter shoe or more/less drop or … would serve you better.
Brooks is an established brand that is widely available, so finding a similar shoe shouldn’t be all that difficult.

Rating

  • Weight: 3.5/5 (4/5 only for training)
  • Cushioning: 4/5
  • Stiffness: 3.5/5
  • General feeling: 4.5/5
  • Short run (sub 15k) rating: 4/5
  • Long run rating: 4.5/5

My Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12 at the end of their life cycle