Throughout the event, you could see each person zone in on every exercise, a testament to the Adizero Dropset Pro. The last thing you want with a new training shoe is a break in period.

During the final stage of the course, we got the chance to speak to internationally renowned coach, Chris Hinshaw, a man who knows a thing or two about hybrid sports.

We had to take a moment to pick his brain about coaching hybrid sport athletes, and what makes a great hybrid training shoe.

Back in the day, triathlon was considered hybrid. It was a multi-sport event, so we were doing swim, bike and run.

Then, when I got into CrossFit, Annie Sakamoto said to me, “All of the movements that you’ve been doing in triathlon are essentially developing the same muscle groups. Maybe if you do some hybrid training, some functional training, we can strengthen those neglected muscle groups and you can become truly functional.”

I thought that was really interesting because I thought I was developing everything, when in fact I was leaving a huge percentage of my fitness off the table.

What I love about people who are starting is telling them: “You’re just starting. Let’s take it easy. Let’s enjoy this. There’s plenty of time to suffer.”

What I want you to focus on is time. You can walk whenever you want. The reason we’re doing this is because we’re building your foundation. Base building is really about building your bones, your ligaments, your tendons and your structure so that you can eventually do the high-intensity work.

That’s what’s challenging about a hybrid shoe. It has to be able to withstand the stresses of strength-based activities, as well as endurance-based activities and true mixed-modality work.

I’m really fortunate to work with the adidas Innovation Lab and watch how they’re creating new designs and innovation around a true hybrid shoe.

The hardest thing when you’re creating a hybrid shoe is: can you run in it? That’s what’s tricky.

At the end of the running workout, I asked them, “Do you guys want to do one more interval?” Universally, they all said yes. At the end of that, I asked if they wanted to do one more, and again, they all said yes.

At the end of the workout, no one left. What I saw through observation was that they wanted to run in the Dropset Pro. That was the tell.

It’s a comfortable shoe when you run in it. And if you don’t know, just try it for yourself and you’re going to see.